Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong trip

[Haplo]

I have been sent by work to visit these three places over the next two weeks and I will be posting photos whenever I find something interesting. (But during work days I'll probably have minimum updates as I will be either in the hotel or in the office)

11/05/2017

SYD - MAN QF 19 Business Class (1K)

Check in was a non event and the passage of immigration and security check like any other days. However there is significantly less people in the airport today, maybe because it is a Wednesday.

Qantas Business class lounge hasnt changed for the last 10 years so didn't take any photos there.

Start off with the customary AFF leg shot



Pictures as the plane was approaching Manila Airport







I was quite late to get to the plane so only took pictures of the business class seats when we arrived at Manila



Traffic to the hotel was terrible. The hotel is only 10km away from the airport but took 2 hours for the hotel car to take me there. The driver event went through the back street to save some time but the traffic is just bad.

 

[Haplo]

Basic room of Shangri La The Fort





This is my third visit so I knew exactly what I was expecting. The room is very big and the bathroom well equipped. It is definitely 5 star standard. i'll post pictures of the lobby and executive lounge tomorrow when I visit them.

 

[Haplo]

Happy hour in the horizon lounge. The lounge is huge (photo to be added later) and the hotel basically set aside half a floor for it. On the other hand, the lounge is relative empty (one waiter told me proudly that since the lounge opened in September last year they had a peak attendance record of 25 people(!?) and was scrambling to meet everyone's needs) and there was 7 service staff serving about 8 people in the lounge.

The service is rather excellent but given you have almost a one to one ratio I doubt it can be anything but good.

Impossible to take good photos because the sun is shining directly into the food/drinks station.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I
Traffic to the hotel was terrible. The hotel is only 10km away from the airport but took 2 hours for the hotel car to take me there.

Yikes

I'm arriving in MNL at 11.15am in a couple months... hotel is 3 km from the airport. not looking fwd to the transfer. The way back to the airport is at 4am, hopefully traffic will be very quiet then.

 

[Major]

I hope you have some spare time to relax

 

[whughes3]

Yikes

I'm arriving in MNL at 11.15am in a couple months... hotel is 3 km from the airport. not looking fwd to the transfer. The way back to the airport is at 4am, hopefully traffic will be very quiet then.

Unfortunately QF19 arrives in MNL smack in the middle of evening peak; traffic is always horrible around then. Things will be better at 1115, though still not great. Just one of many reasons I have been avoiding QF19 lately!!

 

[Haplo]

Falling behind on the posting so I'll try to catch up

On Sunday I walked around the BGC (Bonifacil Global city) High street and took a few interesting photos. The area was previously a military fort but in the last 3 years the government decided to do a master plan of a new CBD in Manila (the old CBD is Makati) and after a few years of building they are almost there.

A warning what you see there is NOT representative of general Manila. BGC is designed for expats and international companies, hand comes with extreme security measures ..... photo to follow

This is the start of the pedestrian street that runs through the middle of BGC, lots of branded shop and cafes









Picture of the Jeepney, the traditional "bus" of Phillipines.

 

[Haplo]

Extreme security measures in the BGC

Entering the hotel requires a full body scan and bag scan



You have to go through security scan and bag search to enter a shopping mall



Every bank has at least a few soldier carrying AK 47 patrolling the floor and the door.



I will be glowing green at the end of this trip .....

 

[Haplo]

Photos of the Horizon lounge in Shangri la the Fort.

The lounge is the largest lounge in the Shangri la chain and spans half a floor or about 1000sqm.

 

[Haplo]

More photo of the lounge.

 

[Haplo]

17/05/2017

MNL - HKG - SIN (CX900 x CX 711)

Arrived three hours before the schedule departure flight to HK and the airport was basically empty. Immigration and security check took 20 minutes and we were in the lounge two and a half of hour before the flight.

The cathay lounge in NAIA 3 was recently built and is a very good lounge. You can order dim sim / congee / noodle soup from the kitchen along with a small buffet and ofcourse it comes with a full bar serving the usual stuff.








Prawn dumpling and noodle soup



Pork Sui mai and Congee

 

[Haplo]

I thought i'll finish this post rather than leave it half done, so more pictures and story coming:

15/05/17 - HK The Wing Business Class Lounge

The lounge is actually quite good, with a section for hot food and cold food, plus a real coffee stand. The food is served by waiters as opposed to a buffet style. The lounge is huge and is on par with the Qantas Sydney Business Class lounge in terms of size, with much better food served.

 

[Haplo]

17/05/17

I arrived at Singapore that night and unfortunately all of the rooms in the entire city was booked out, but luckily I was able to secure the last suite in Conrad Singapore. The suite is large for Singapore standard but fairly worn out. Personally if there was more choices I'd go for the new JW Marriott that recently opened or even Hotel Jen Tanglin where I stayed for a holiday a few months ago.

Breakfast spreadsheet is good but once you see the Shangri La Manila standard everything else is deemed sub par.

 

[Haplo]

More pictures of the suite and breakfast

 

[Haplo]

Breakfast at Conrad Singapore

 

[Haplo]

18/05/17

SIN -> HK

Didn't take too much photos because I was in a rush to the airport after client meeting, but would like to say the Qantas Singapore Lounge is really good - almost the level as Qantas First in Sydney. Hospitality in Asia is second to none.

 

[Haplo]

This would be the last post in this thread, as I didn't do much other than work for the rest of the trip.

I had half a day in HK prior to flying back to Manila, so I spent that time in HK (only park center of HK) park and also the Victoria peak. I was disappointed that they drained the artificial pool, otherwise it would have been an place to take pictures of natural aquatic animal. Peak was also slight disappointment due to the extensive fog on that day, but nevertheless it was an enjoyable trip.

Enjoy the pictures:

 

[Haplo]

Final post for this thread (I promise): I found that during business trips it is hard to keep real time update of the travel log, as you are working longer hours than normal and most time just want to hit the pillow and sleep when you get back to the hotel, but I'll try my best for my next trip report.

 

[kermatu]

Enjoyed what you posted. Thanks.

But must take you up on your comment that the QF SIN lounge is on par with the SYD F lounge. Surely you jest??

 

[Irishbazz]

Thanks for the effort, nice post!