Hkg - bkk - cmb - sin - hkg - pek - ddg // fnj // she - pek - hkg - sin - hkg

[ermen]

Prelude
So I moved up to HKG for work at an investment bank at the turn of the year - work paid for J, upgraded myself to F on the QF A380 using QF points - awesome product (+ played with the auto shutters about ten times )

Until the good old Europeans spoilt the fun in May :evil: (well one must say its surprising that it wasn't the French this time). Ended up being made redundant in July and got put on three months gardening leave. Throughout my career, I have always been told that one should get out and smell the roses - I guess thats what gardening is for?! Problem is, one tries not to breathe the air over here - and getting the "fragrant" in fragrant habour is about as rare as QAN priority boarding I am told

Not having much love for investment banks of late, I decided to check out the occupy wall street movement. :evil:
:idea: Voila! An epiphany! Why not go to North Korea to learn the ways of the anti-capitalist revolution!

Having a lot of time, zero SCs to date, two weddings in two weeks in SIN, I decide to see how to route my itinerary. Spent many days thinking about how to do a SC run that makes sense, and I recalled that CX flights ex CMB were meant to be good value in J. Checked it out and saw that it made sense for me based on what I was trying to accomplish (so, I had to go to SIN, and had to go to DDG to go into North Korea, and then had to think of how to get positioned in CMB)

Visa Applications
North Korea: Easy to get - just fill in some details, email it off and all done through my tour agency

China: This is slightly more problematic. Despite being a resident of HK, I need to apply for a visa. I want a multiple entry visa into China but from what I hear, not the most straightforward to apply for (turns out to be wrong advice). Go to Chinese representative office in Wanchai. Form filled, queue number handed out. Wait for twenty minutes and witness the customary scene when two gweilo arguing with the Chinese bureaucracy. Number called, my turn! Approach the counter, attempt to be friendly. No response. Just a staple, stamp and flick of the pen and an acnowledgement slip for my multi entry visa. Happy at the outcome but shocked at the unfriendliness - after all wasn't this we were expecting for visits to China?

Visa set, North korea trip booked. Now just needed to find my way to CMB relatively cheaply on a Friday and avoiding a long layover in CMB - I found out, not the easiest... until I found AirAsia + Sri Lanka air combination with a perfect 6 hour layover in BKK! Offered to do a bit of shopping for my wife (to get her buy-in to my solo sojourns through weird ports)!

The Trip
HKG - BKK - CMB - SIN - HKG - PEK - DDG /// PNJ /// SHE - PEK - HKG - SIN - HKG


Segment #1 (HKG - BKK: FD3713 | 27 Jul 1045HRS)

Apprehensive for this flight because will not have i) lounge access, ii) no FF points and SCs, iii) Joe Public on the SMH comments section tells me that they only fly QAN and pay a premium to do so? Whatever, I paid less to not fly QAN but booked myself into an emergency exit seat for ~A$10, which I think its good insurance in case I need to bail out of the aircraft early


Arrived at the airport and shock, horror - find that there was no queue at the Air Asia check in desk!



In any case, given my boarding pass and cleared immigration with plenty of time to spare and instinctively turn left to head to the Wing F lounge. But wait, no lounge access! Panic starts to hit. What do I do and where do I go? Nonetheless, I steady myself and realise that I have a Priority Pass card courtesy of Citibank. I find my way to the travellers lounge - surprisingly impressed - was not that bad with a relatively good selection of food and nice open space




Air Asia Flight was relatively uneventful apart from the fact that I thinnk their seat seems to be a tad smaller and the guy sitting beside me kept hogging the armrest But my annoyance abated somewhat when I remembered someone saying that the guy in the middle was probably entitled to both arm rests given he got the short end of the straw??? :!: Anyway it was only a 2:30 odd hour flight so tolerable in any case

 

[ermen]

BKK
Landed in BKK without much of a problem. However wanted to get my boarding pass air-side prior to heading out to the city, which would theoretically save the need for me to come back early for my onward fligh tot CMB. To my dismay, found out that BKK airport did not have the clearest instructions - directions to the transfer desk seemed to involve walking around in circles :shock:



Ended up being directed to a place which involved clearing security and heading towards the departures level upstairs to retrieve my boarding pass there??? Not wanting to risk being stuck in the departures lounge for six odd hours, I give up my plan to get my onward boarding pass and clear customs. Was surprisingly efficient and got out within 20 mins or so.

Got out of departures and found out there was a big crowd waiting! Found out that they were waiting for some pop star to arrive - I realised that it wasn't me as I didn't come out to rapturous applause and shrieks from teenage girls Justin Bieber live on Sunrise in Australia [Interview] 17th July 2012 - YouTube :shock:



Took a slight detour to the departures level - to see the off-chance that the UL check-in desks were open 6 hours early - they weren't and ended up making my way to airport train station. Paid 45 baht for a one way train to the city.

 

[ermen]

BKK continued
Headed straight to Siam Paragon to do some shopping for SWMBO - would not know the consequences if I did not accomplish her mission! :shock: But a hungry man is an ineffective man - so I decided to check out the food court at the basement. Found this really cheap Thai sausage place - with each selling for only THB15!



Headed upstairs and executed my shopping mission with not too much damage to the credit card (it's not my fault - they don't carry that line anymore )

Afterwards, I headed over to MBK to finish off the shopping and decided to have some lunch. Was always looking forward to good Thai food and ended up eating three meals at the food centre upstairs



Stomach filed, shopping complete, I head back to the train station to get back to BKK airport. I must say that the train is fairly efficient and does get you to central BKK within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price - wouldn't hesistate to use it again!

 

[LadyC]

Nice TR - that pad thai looks great! I'm looking forward to reading about North Korea.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

yes yes - north korea please!!

 

[moa999]

Great start.
Share the present disdain for IBs.

Love the youtube vids
Bring on the PRK.

 

[Heleigh]

Yes, bring on more great reading

 

[ermen]

Segment #2 (BKK - CMB: UL889 | 27 Jul 1935HRS)
Arrived back at BKK airport and proceeded to UL check-in counters. There weren't a lot of people in front of me per se (only 2 "groups") in the economy line with PLENTY of check-in baggage. Now I recall over at FT that people were saying the CMB route was a very popular cargo route (which was apparently why CX continued to fly 777s there depiste fairly low loads) - perhaps this is the reason why! :shock:



Thankfully i was waved through to checkin at the J counter when it became available. I enquired about the possibility of checking through my onward flight from CMB to SIN but the check-in counter person said it was not possible because they did not have access to CX's systems. Privately, I thought that that was probably wrong because I think that UL does have an interline agreement with CX + I did not have any check-in baggage which would probably make the process easier (happy to be corrected on this point though!) Hopefully will change once UL get into OW

Made my way past immigration without too long a line (especially on a Fri evening). Was positively surprised as the consensus did seem to be that Thai immigration lines were notoriously long. Headed to the newly opened Priority pass lounge (Louis Taverner) in concourse G (only lounge which I believed had shower facilities). Very nice I must say - not crowded when I went and was very spacious with two levels. Even came equipped with a mini putting range to whittle away your time and to maybe practice a few strokes Downside was maybe the internet connection (didn't really figure out how to work their computers)

 

[ermen]

Segment #2 (BKK - CMB: UL889 | 27 Jul 1935HRS) continued

Saw that my flight was boarding and proceeded to make my way from the lounge to my gate - 10 minutes at a leisurely pace so not that bad. Arrived at the gate only to be found out that I was deceived by the flight monitors! No sign of boarding at all! Good thing this wasn't the QF F lounge or I would be most annoyed to be cheated of time to savour my last bit of some Neil Perry inspired desert (as an aside, I miss not being based in SYD anymore!)
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....lyer-program/current-f-lounge-menu-40325.html

In any case, boarding commenced around 15 minutes later. Apparently plane was delayed coming in from PEK. Was not a very full flight. Spotted an Australian passport holder travelling with his daughter - resisted the temptation to ask why he was going to CMB and whether it was for a SC run! Anywa, was really interested to see what UL could potentially offer given that they are soon to join OW. Perhaps will open up more opportunities for SC runs?

Plane was an fairly old A340 but I was fortunate to have been able to choose a seat at the bulkhead in the mini cabin - plenty of legroom and didn't have to pay a cent to select this seat. Seat was fairly comfortable (though on the harder side) which was ok given the flight time was around 3+ hours only. Tried to snap a picture of the business cabin before they closed it on us poor Y pax FYI - looks like a recliner style seat (can't really tell)?





Menu seemed to be well prepared with interesting names... Good first impression. I chose the Thai Style Lamb Curry (afterall, I would expect that catering staff on an ex BKK flight should be able to competently cook a curry?). Alas that was not to be. Main course also didn't turn out the best as the meat was all dried out. Maybe there were some issues in the kitchen? :shock: Only thing that was OK was the desert. Even the "Hors d'ouevre" was a few paltry vegetables with salted fish. Tried the Sri Lankan local beer as well - was branded "Lion"- unfortunately the Lion in this case could not compare to the Tiger IMHO




Based on this flight, I would think Skytraxx probably have it right in rating it a 3 star airline (IMO maybe 3 to 4 star is where it is at). Better than budget though (I paid US$160 one way which I thought was reasonable). Hard product was old but adequate and soft product was OK though there were some lapses in the pre-departure takeoff (e.g. not ensuring my neighbour's iPad was turned off until the very close to takeoff (this was most annoying given that she did not even use her headphones in the first instance and I was waiting for the cabin crew to shut her iPad down for takeoff) - if this was QF, I think they would have been onto her in a flash!). Would fly them again intra-Asia if they offered competitive prices.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Enjoying the read and the pics so far

 

[boylero]

subscribed

 

[Greggsy]

subscribed

Me too. Great work.


Greg.

 

[ermen]

Original Segment #3 (CMB - SIN: CX710 | 28 Jul 0040HRS)
New Segment #3 (CMB - SIN: UL306 | 27 Jul 2320HRS)

Arrived into CMB at around 2130 local time. First time in CMB and first impressions was that it was a pretty standard small airport. Visited the bathroom and smelled cigarette smoke - alas two securities officers / guards were openly smoking in the toilets! :!: Great I thought - typical backward Asian country mentality with little regard for the rules and regulations. Strike #1. Well at least they were friendly though as one of them did ask where I was from. Regret not being able to take a picture of the two officers for my TR.

Proceeded to make my way to the transfer counter - plenty of time I thought to try the Lotus Lounge and the Araliyah lounges after collecting my boarding pass. Now, from what I understand, the former is a Priority Pass lounge though is used by OWE passengers whilst the latter is used by J and OWS passengers. Very strange setup I thought. I arrived at the counter only to be told something along the lines of "your CX flight has been delayed by 6 hours to 0700 the next morning!". I thought maybe they misunderstood and asked again - which was reconfirmed! Just great I thought as the prospect of staying overnight in a country which I had never been in, whose currency I did not possess started to sink in. But not to worry! At least I still had a credit card on me (you know that there are some things that money cannot buy... but a credit card could potentially reserve a hotel room)!

I spotted a free internet terminal nearby - I was thinking that I could book a hotel room near the airport. At the very least, I could potentially hang out in the lounge till the next morning- so I asked the agent if they could please at least issue me a boarding pass for my next flight. "Please take a seat sir while we contact CX for you, will take around 15 minutes". No problem I thought, why not use this time to see if there were hotels nearby to be had for a reasonable price? Alas the internet browser was not working properly. Strike #2.

So after 15 minutes I approach the counter again - by now they had changed shifts and this time was staffed by a heavily pregnant lady. Told her I was waiting for CX to issue a boarding pass and she gave them a follow up call to find out what was going on - answer was to wait and CX will give then a call back. So much for efficiency I thought!

By this time, another UL flight had just arrived the transfer desk was getting crowded with many passengers trying to clamour to get the attention of this poor transfer agent. Amongst the issued having to be dealt with amongst the vanilla transfer requests:

Pax #1: I chose XYZ seat how come I did not get it?
Agent: Sir, there was an equipment change and we had to change seats

Pax #2 to Pax #3: Please line, stop pushing and await your turn!

Pax #3: I'm here to collect my boarding pass for my next flight to the Maldives
Agent: Sorry, your onward flight is overbooked we can't give you a seat
Pax #3: But how can that be? I booked, paid and confirm and my friend has got a seat. I have booked a charter flight in the Maldives which departs soon after I am meant to arrive. If I miss that, I will hold UL responsible for all the costs
Agent: Sir we understand, we will try to do something about it
Pax #3 (getting rather desperate): You must do something please
(Update: I think Pax #3 did get onto his flight - I think the transfer agent made a call to the gate agent to offload someone else) :?:

Note: My respect for this lady increased immensely for the way she was able to multi-task a whole bunch of passenger requests - though I thought that the stress must not be very good for the baby!

Anyway after some time, CX did get back to the transfer agent and made a decision they will rebook me onto the UL flight departing at 2320HRS which was one hour earlier than the original CX departure. Great service CX! Problem was that this was now around 10:30pm with less than one hour to departure - and CX had to get UL to issue a ticket which apparently was not that easy a process (UL wanted my CX e-ticket number which I did not possess at that time). More waiting time (and at which point, my lounge time was well and truly over) Meanwhile, I spotted a sign in the distance "transit hotel". A ha! Why not make use of that :idea: At this time, I was begining to think that maybe a 7 hour layover would not be that bad if UL did not issue me my boarding pass on time - at least I could get a good night's rest in the transit hotel. :idea: In fact, I was secretly hoping that my boarding pass would not come through on time!





Finally, at close to 11pm, UL managed to issue my ticket together with my boarding pass. As CMB was a small airport with everything close by so I managed to arrive at the gate within 2 minutes and just as the last passengers were entering.

The UL plane was a new 738 with a standard 2-2 J configuration. Not dissimilar at all to the QF 738 though they had more rows of J (around 5 to 6 from memory)! Seats were the standard leather recliner seats with the only difference being that the IFE unit was at the back of the seat in front. Service was good though I declined dinner as all I wanted to do was catch some rest. Service on this leg was very good with the hard product being very new - on the basis of this one flight sector, I would have rated UL a 4 to 5 star airline! On take-off, I spotted an SQ plane at the gate (was a big 777) - did regret my poor thinking as I should've asked to be rebooked onto a SQ plane - from what I understand, they use angled flat bed on their regional product!









On hindsight, I think that I was only recovered onto this UL flight because I was a OWE - which was further confirmed by the fact that the UL J cabin was only 65% full. Upon scanning my boarding pass at CMB, I noticed their computer saying something like "CX F Pax" against a few of the passenger names (mine included). I also noted them writing the words "CX" on the boarding pass portion that they retained.

In the end was not the most pleasant experience to have especially being the first time in this airport - but was glad everything worked out well. Still not sure why the flight was delayed by 6 hours given that the inbound CX711 was on-time. The lady at the transfer desk said it was something to do with the CX Captain - but not sure if this was likely reason??? Thankfully, maybe OWE status does count if something goes wrong!

I won't hestitate to go back to CMB again to get cheapie flights, if there was a further delay like this time, I would simply book myself into the transit hotel - at least will get a good night's rest on a fully flat bed - in fact one could argue that it is actually a better outcome (unless of course you desperately needed to be in SIN at the next morning)!

 

[RB]

Good to read your report.
We found CMB to be pretty efficient in Feb. The Priority Pass lounge is a good setup aalthough the food at our time was so so. There are bank counters that operate 24/7. The transit hotel was booked out when we would have needed it but the 6hr charge blocks work out dear compared to nearby hotels-not that this would be considered if you just lobbed there at 11pm! The duty free(big fridges, tv etc) is a bit of a shock with the goods available for sale to the expats arriving home

 

[MEL_Traveller]

... alas two securities officers / guards were openly smoking in the toilets! :!: Great I thought - typical backward Asian country mentality with little regard for the rules and regulations. Strike #1. Well at least they were friendly though as one of them did ask where I was from. Regret not being able to take a picture of the two officers for my TR.

lol no respect for the nanny state doesn't mean they are a backward country just a healthy dose of people being free to do what they want!

thanks for the continued report. looking forward to North Korea! Waiting to book my own tour! (particularly interested to know how the small tour company was compared to some of the bigger more expensive ones).

I agree on UL business class. I suspect CX protected you on UL because they have very competitive j class fares. Intra Asia they are my carrier of choice now, with flights from BKK to CAN, HKG and PVG. CAN/HKG is less than $500 return (in J), PVG anout $700 and the service is fantastic with tasty food and pretty good recliner seats (more than enough for an hour's sleep on those short flights). The lounges are the only downside - pretty coughpy in HKG.

 

[ermen]

SIN

Surprisingly, UL landed into SIN T3 (was expecting T1 or T2) and we disembarked at around 615am. Always happy to come into SIN as such a pleasant airport. Customs hall was not full but taxi rank started to get crowded due to all the arriving SQ flights from Europe - fortunately it did not take too long for me to get into a taxi.

Didn't do too much exciting stuff in Singapore apart from a wedding. Other highlight was the Banana Leaf Apolo in Little India! Hadn't been there in a while on my previous visits to SIN - so was looking very forward to it. Its on the tourist trail so not obscure at all.

 

[ermen]

Segment #4 (SIN - HKG: CX734 | 31 Jul 1605HRS)

Took a train to the airport and found the CX check-in counters fairly easily. First time I have flown CX out of SIN (normally 3K and QF) so not sure if the check-in area was new (thought it certainly did look so).





I originaly booked myself onto CX716 departing 1825hrs but upon checking Expertflyer, I noticed that the earlier CX734 was scheduled to have the new J seats in the 1-2-1 configuration. Now I have heard great things about the new CX J cabin and wanted to give it a try (perhaps I would meet the elusive Nadia on board?) To my disappointment, the agent informed me the aircraft was changed to the old 1-1-1 coffin style J cabin. Second time this has happened (victim of a last minute equipment change on my last HKG - SYD sector on CX last time) :!: Can never trust the equipment plans for CX I say!

Anyway, I acknowledge the above is definitely a first world problem. Remembered that I had to take a few pictures of the SIN staff canteen for our fellow AFFers. Still, that did not prevent me taking pictures of my most familiar Jetstar counter (which shock horror was not very crowded!) and the new kinetic sculpture at SIN T1 on route.

 

[LadyC]

SIN
Other highlight was the Banana Leaf Apolo in Little India! Hadn't been there in a while on my previous visits to SIN - so was looking very forward to it. Its on the tourist trail so not obscure at all.

Love Banana Leaf Apolo - only discovered it recently but will be a staple on a SIN visit from now on

 

[ermen]

Segment #4 (SIN - HKG: CX734 | 31 Jul 1605HRS) continued

Boarding pass and lounge invite in hand, I make my way to the Skyview lounge which is also a Priority Pass lounge and contract lounge for other airlines. Spread of food was ample though I did not eat anything as was filled up from lunch. Lounge also had an "indoor" section which was less crowded than the main foyer.

Overall, this lounge was nothing special and obviously not comparable to CX J lounges in HKG. I am still deciding whether I would have preferred to hang out at the current QF J / F lounges instead. I am sure that there will be many different opinions (downside of the QF lounges of course is that they only open at 3pm so not that practical for a 4:05pm departure). Looking forward to seeing what the new QF lounges in SIN throw up though! :shock:

Using the Michelin star rating system, the Skyview lounge is probably only worth a star - a good place to stop on one's journey

 

[ermen]

Segment #4 (SIN - HKG: CX734 | 31 Jul 1605HRS) continued

As mentioned, the CX plane had the old J coffin style seats. Not the end of the world as at least it had the new entertainment system and was not a regional J plane! Service was standard CX J with nothing out of the ordinary - a distinctively CX trait however is to come around with a wheeled trolley of drinks / food. Entree was a very delicious prosciutto with marinated vegetables and parmesan. Main course was a prawn and pork rib in noodle soup. Ordered this more for the novelty of having a bowl of noodles soup at 30,000+ feet than the taste (which sadly was not the best). Still one cannot complain. :-|

Overall a pleasant flight and ended up landing into HKG on schedule. Gave the HKG CX Arrivals lounge a miss apart from taking a few directions photos - I wanted to rush home to submit an original routing credit to QFF for my changed CX CMB-SIN flight and to do some last minute packing for my the next day to China / North Korea.