Flight Report: SQ19 LAX-SIN

Carrier: Singapore Airlines

Plane Model: A340-500

Flight Class: Raffles Class

Sleeper Seat: Yes



I had traveled on the Singapore Airlines (SQ) non-stop EWR-SIN flight several times before but had never tried its similar service out of Los Angeles . So when I had to travel to Hong Kong a day earlier and this was the only award travel ticket that was available, I took this as a good opportunity to try out the LAX-SIN flight. Check in at LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal was a smooth process. The agent was very friendly and chatty. Singapore Airlines uses Asiana Airline Lounge at LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal for its Raffles Class passengers. This lounge has got to be one of the most unimpressive and small lounge I have ever seen. Compared to the Swiss Air Lounge that SQ uses for its premium class passengers at JFK, this lounge does not serve any hot food at supper. It also looks very dingy and old. In fact the whole Tom Bradley International Terminal looks dingy and old. It is crying for a major renovation!

Boarding for the flight was prompt and done in an orderly fashion. The cabin crew greeted us with a warm smile and in a manner very typical of Singapore Airline (perhaps a tad robotic). Pre-takeoff drinks were served and reading materials and a packet consisting of eye cover/sock were handed out. The captain announced that the flight time would be 16 hours and 20 minutes. Interestingly, the EWR-SIN flight would usually take 17 hours and 30 minutes, and considering the flight from New York to the West Coast usually takes 5-6 hours, the EWR-SIN flight really cuts down a substantial amount of travel time by flying the polar route. Coincidentally, one of my acquaintances was co-piloting this flight, something I was not completely aware of until after I boarded the flight.

Raffles class was full on this flight save one seat, and I happened to be the lucky passenger seated next to the empty seat. The configuration is 2-2-2, and I highly recommend taking the two seats in the middle (D/G). Best ones are 12/14 D/G.

The flight attendants also handed out the menu. The choices for the meals offered on this flight were as follow:

Dinner:

Appetizer (Warm Thai Style Crab Cake, Teriyaki Chicken and Picked Turnip Maki, Rice Cracker with Smoked Salmon)

Caesar Salad

Entrée choices include:

-Duck Breast Stuffed with Porcini Mushroom and Wrapped in Bacon with Olive and Pine Nut Relish

-Stir Fried Beef

-Braised Northern Halibut in hot garlic sauce

-Pan Seared Lamb Chops
Dessert (Haagen Dazs Ice Cream)

Light bites between Meals:

1. Rice Porridge
2. Basil Pesto Omelette
3. Braised Egg Noodles
4. Spaghetti

Breakfast

Starter (An assortment of juice, mango and pear salad, candied ginger)

Choice of Cereals or Yogurt

Entrée Choices:

1. Seared Sirloin with Red Wine Butter, Sauteed Fine Green Beans
2. Selection of Dim Sum
3. Scrambled Eggs
4. Sweet and Sour Salmon
5. Freshly Baked Pastries


I actually did not take any dinner entrée choices above since I had pre-ordered my entrée from “Book The Cook” Program reserved for Raffles and First Class passengers. I ordered the Black Peppercorn Chicken which was delicious. I also recommend the Slipper Lobster Thermidor if it is offered as part of the program on one of your future SQ flights.

Service of the cabin crew is much better than that of many US airlines (as well as some Asian carriers). If you had taken SQ flights before, did you ever notice SQ’s inflight announcements were always made by female flight attendants (perhaps to keep up with the “Singapore Girl” image) in an English that is pronounced in a unique manner?

The inflight entertainment offers a broad array of audio, movie and game choices to keep the passengers occupied if they don’t feel like sleeping or reading. I slept for at least 7 hours in the comfortable spacebed. Even though SQ’s angled lie- flat bed is of an older generation compared to those offered by many of its competition, it is still one of the most comfortable lie- flat bed I have experienced inflight. I took a tour of the premium economy section and sat in one of the unoccupied seats for several minutes. The premium economy seat offers plenty of leg room and great head/leg support. It seems to be a very smart choice for a transpacific flight.

We landed at Singapore Changi Airport a little ahead of our schedule. Overall this was a very pleasant and enjoyable flight. It did not really seem like a 16 hour flight at all. Some people have mentioned that Singapore Airlines has lost its five-star touch, I disagree. I still think this is a very exceptional airline compared to many of its peers in the industry.

Trip Report: Good Morning Hanoi!

I love Vietnam . Frankly, I have a lot of respect for her people. I see myself being similar to them in some aspects. They are Asians. So am I. They work hard. So do I (I think). They love their pho bo and pho ga (soup noodles). So do I (but then again I love all kinds of food). They were fucked over by the French and Americans. I was… ahem, never mind that. I also see myself being different from the Vietnamese in some aspects. The men are skinny (looking almost malnourished if I may say). I am not. They speak Vietnamese. I do not. They have lived a very tough life. I have not (unless you count paying expensive rent and putting up with the closet apartment space as one).

After visiting Ho Chi Minh City last year, I decided to make a trip to the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi in early July this year. Much like the Chinese government, The Vietnamese government no longer enforces traditional communism on its people. In fact, it is now a free communist country. Nevertheless, you can still witness traces of communism in the country especially in northern cities, such as Hanoi . This is the very city where the much revered late leader/father of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh (also known as “Uncle Ho”) was buried. The name Hanoi is similar to the mandarin pronunciation that means ‘inside the river’. Hanoi, which is also the capital of Vietnam, is located in a bend of the Red River .

There are a few sightseeing spots not to be missed in Hanoi . Honestly you only need a full day to cover all these spots. Because I had my folks with me and the weather was exceptionally hot and humid, I hired a tour guide to take us on a city tour in a private car. The cost was very reasonable, only USD35 per person including lunch (but not drinks or tips, as stated on the invoice in bold text as if you would accidentally forget about that). We checked out Uncle Ho’s embalmed corpse at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. Frankly, at the risk of sounding disrespectful to Uncle Ho, he looked more like a wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s Museum. We also visited The One Pillar Pagoda, The Temple of Literature , Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and the famous Hoan Kiem Lake. The highlight of our day was the “cyclo” ride. It’s a pretty fun activity if you don’t mind risking your life by inhaling the bad air and having the crazy locals drive their $200 Chinese made motorcycles into your cyclo. We ended our first day by attending the much celebrated water puppet performance at the Municipal Water Puppet Theater.
The Vietnamese worshipping culture is a tad different than the rest of Asia . Besides worshipping the different deities, they also worship their late kings and emperors. Vietnamese house and worship the statue of their deities in pagodas but do the same with the statue of their late kings and emperors in temples.

Our city day tour came with an English speaking tour guide, a local named Hoang Long. He was funny, caring and really knew his stuff. We liked him so much that we hired him to take us to Halong Bay the following day. I would recommend using him if you visit Hanoi in future. His email address is longtakraw186@yahoo.com

So after a much needed rest and cooling off in our air-conditioned hotel room following a full day of touring the city, we went to Halong Bay the following day. Designated as Vietnam’s second world heritage site, Halong Bay is simply magnificent and offers such spectacular sights. Picture 3000 plus lime-stone islands rising from the water of the Gulf of Tonkin ! I wanted to go there as soon as I saw the pictures of Halong Bay on my guidebook. It reminded me of Guilin, China . We purchased a package through our hotel (using the same tour guide as the one for our city day tour). It was USD75 a person. The package included our own mini-van, boat and a seafood lunch served on the boat (again, drinks and tips not included, as stated in bold text on the invoice). The drive was three-hours each way and the cruise was about four-hours long. There was also an added bonus with the tour which came in the form of hair-raising thrills offered by our driver. The freeway, if you can call it that, for most of the journey to Halong Bay was a single lane road and we faced countless slow moving trucks en route. Drivers of smaller and faster vehicles, such as ours, would get impatient and attempt to get ahead of these trucks. Doing this occasionally is acceptable, but our driver did this for 90% of the journey. Often a time the oncoming vehicle was only within inches away. It got so bad at one point that I started praying to Buddha for our safety (as a fail safe plan, I also prayed to Jesus and Allah). Our driver, on the other hand, chatted on his cell phone and wore no seat belts. Doing this was apparently part of his daily routine.

If there is one thing about Vietnam that aggravates me, it is the way the locals drive their motorcycles and cross the streets. Cabbies honk their horns every two seconds (believe me, it’s worse than the ones in New York City ). They have to do this because the motorcycles, and there were tons of them here, would come out in the middle of nowhere and ignore the cars. The pedestrians are as bad as those riding the motorcycles. They would cross the roads or even the freeways by holding out their hands infront of the cars and expecting the traffic to stop. I am sure there are a lot of accidents involving motorcycles or pedestrians here. Unfortunately we witnessed a couple of them during our stay here.

As for the food, Vietnamese food is delicious as usual. Pho (noodles) is a must to get, as well as the appetizing salad made with lotus roots and peanuts. I did discover that there were a lot of demands for dog and cat meats here in the city which is disturbing to say the least. Because our stay in Hanoi was short, we did not get to visit many restaurants, but we did go to a few notable ones:


Indochine,
16 Nam Ngu St

, Hoan Kiem District, Tel. 9422097 ( Set in a beautifully restored colonial home; Food tuned down for foreign palate, but done well; Hard to find, located on a small alley).

Pho 24, multiple locations (Serves great chicken and beef broth noodles; Cheap, only a couple of dollars per bowl)

Brother’s Café,
26 Nguyen Thai Hoc St, Tel 7333866 (Offers Lunch/dinner buffet featuring typical Vietnamese dishes at a very reasonable cost (USD6 for lunch and USD12 for dinner, excluding beverages); Set in a courtyard of a beautifully restored 250-year old Buddhist temple).

All in all, this was an enjoyable, albeit sweaty, trip. I am glad I got to spend some quality time with my mom and dad. Although not as popular as Thailand, Vietnam definitely has a lot to offer to tourists. You will appreciate the reasonable prices, spectacular sights, great foods and rich culture here. Like any Southeast Asian country, Vietnam is hot, humid and rainy during summer. I have a lot of praises for Vietnam , but I have visited this country twice so I think it will be a while before I make another trip here, despite my affection for the country and my admiration for her hard-working and resilient people. Now I just need to convince some of my Vietnamese American friends that have never been to Vietnam to pay their mother country a visit. It’s well worth the 14-17 hours flight.

Special Report: I Met Ang Lee!

Ok, this is not any special travel report but I feel it deserves its place here. Tonight I went to the 2006 GLAAD media award ceremony for New York City held at the Marriott Grand Marquis. Among those honored were Ang Lee for 'Brokeback Mountain'. Now I have been a big fan of Ang and his work since 'The Wedding Banquet'. He actually gave a very moving acceptance speech tonight. He said that this was his last award for Brokeback and he was so glad it was from GLAAD since GLAAD had honored him twelve years ago for 'The Wedding Banquet' and this meant a lot for him. He did mention the picture missed a big award (he was referring to the Oscar) and he said it wasn't a big deal (jokingly of course). The award was handed out to him by Michael Douglas.

There were many people that approached him afterwards but I managed to cut the line and stand next to him quickly thanks to my friend who worked for the platinum sponsor Absolut Vodka. I chatted with Ang and his wife in Mandarin briefly and I told him how much I admired his work (I even trembled a bit like a little girl - couldn't help containing my excitement!). I even got to talk to the comedian Bruce Vilanch who hosted the event. He was hilarious!

I've not had this much fun in a while!

Trip Report: Surprisingly, It Was Sunny in Dublin

A USD280 fare is too hard to pass up when you can actually fly to a different country in a different continent. So when United/BMI offered this super low fare to Dublin, Ireland, I took it up without much hesitation. After all it was President’s Day weekend and Dublin, for its lack of tourist attractions, would make a perfect relaxing holiday destination over a long weekend.

As usual my friends, at least those who have yet gotten used to my travel style, thought I was crazy to fly to Europe just for a weekend. It turned out that I was not the only one doing so. On my flight from London Heathrow to Dublin, the other two passengers seating next to me were also heading to Dublin for a long weekend. Both from Chicago, one was here to drink beer (yes, that is the highlight here) and the other one to see her boyfriend (aw… sweet).

There is not a whole lot to do in Dublin for a tourist (except for drinking) but there are definitely a few things to check out here. First there is the Dublin Castle. Frankly, It pales in comparison to the other century-old Castles that I have been to in Europe. There is also Trinity College and its famous old long- room library. For avid dark beer drinkers, you have to pay a visit to The Guinness Storehouse. The National Museum and National Gallery charge no admission fees for those who want to learn the history and art of Dublin. Shopperholics will enjoy the pedestrian only Grafton Street (which frankly is much shorter compared to other shopping streets I have visited). Nevertheless, they can find a few designer and boutique stores here offering quality and fashionable merchandise. For park lovers, you have St. Stephen’s Green (a much smaller version of New York’s Central Park). Lastly, for the ultimate pub crawlers, you have the entire city of Dublin offering you traditional Irish pubs for your enjoyment, especially in the Temple Bar area. This area reminds me a lot of the neighborhood that I reside in New York (Gramercy Park) since it is filled with Irish bars, especially on the strip of Third Avenue between 14th and 34th street. Dublin is also a very walker friendly city, with a few spots to avoid however, especially late at night.

The Irish are not known for their foods unless you are a big fan of corned beef and cabbage. Fortunately there is a growing appreciation for ethnic food in Dublin in recent years, mainly Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine. When travelling abroad, Chinese know never to visit a Chinese restaurant that, in its attempt to "chink-up" the place, displays Chinese characters that are completely wrong on its window. Unfortunately there is a lot of these authentic wannabes in Dublin. Refusing to give in to the low standard of Chinese and Asian food in this city, I survived on Middle Eastern food and pizza during my stay here. They were delicious and reasonably priced. Speaking of price, Dublin is not that inexpensive of a city to visit. Food prices here are comparable to those of New York City.

No one can visit Dublin without visiting its bars/pubs. Under the assumptions that Irish were heavy smokers, I was a tad worried when I realized I had forgotten to bring my bottle of Febreeze only to breathe a sigh of relief when I found out the pubs/bars here were all smoke free. Apparently they passed the no-smoking law back in 2002, way earlier then when New York started enforcing that law. The bars/pubs here stay open until 2:30am-3:00am. Of course beer is the most common beverage ordered here, even at gay bars. There are only five gay bars in Dublin, the most famous ones being The George and The Dragon. They are both located on S Gt. George’s St., not too far from each other (both of the same owner apparently)

There appears to be many Chinese workers in Dublin. From shopping malls to gay bars, I saw many Asian faces performing chores like busting tables, checking in coats, cleaning hotels and collecting money to the bathroom. I also saw them biking everywhere and that reminded me of a typical Chinese city. I asked a local why there were so many Chinese migrant workers here. Apparently the Irish government allows foreign students to work up to 20 hours in this country. Unfortunately, many of these students abuse the system and work more than the maximum hours allowed. Many of them also signed up for English classes with institutions here but did not bother to attend classes. These institutions did not report their truancy to the government since many were set up to make money from these foreign students whose main purpose of coming to this country was to work. Well, I am sure some of them would argue that it was more effective for them to learn English from their jobs than from a lecturer. Besides the Chinese, you will see a lot of Polish migrant workers here too. They mostly work in construction and are needed to support the growth of the Irish economy.

I never had so much beer in one night until this trip. I am actually "beered" out! It also did not help that the bartender at one of the bars I went to was a Chinese guy. I spoke to him in Mandarin and he started pouring me free beer all night (never underestimate the power of Mandarin when you travel). The Dubliners are very friendly people. They also drink a lot. Who can blame them with such constant gloomy and rainy weather they get? Fortunately for me, the weather was sunny during my entire stay here. Yes I lucked out on the weather indeed.

All in all this was a relaxing trip. I drank and slept a lot (actually, passing out after getting intoxicated was more like it). I also ended up with a bigger beer gut than what I had wished for. It is time to dust off my gym membership card and put it to good and frequent use.

Flight Report: SQ996 Singapore Airlines SIN-BKK Service

SIN-BKK Service (SQ997)

Carrier: Singapore Airlines (SQ)

Plane Model: B777-200

Flight Class: Raffles Class

Sleeper Seat: No

Duration of Flight: 2 Hours

Date of Travel: Jan 10, 2006



Check-in at Singapore Changi airport was quick and efficient. I managed to check my bags all the way through JFK despite travelling on two separate itineraries. Because I had checked in pretty late, I had to go straight to the boarding gate and did not have time to use the lounge. This flight was making a stopover in Bangkok on its way to Tokyo.

Boarding was done in an orderly fashion. There were no sleeper seats installed on this flight, just the old business class seats. Pre-order drinks including a special made welcome drink were handed out, along with in-flight reading materials, hot towels and menus. A light meal was served on the SIN-BKK route and the choices were as follow:

Starter

Smoked salmon with tomato and mixed salad (mustard dill dressing)

Main Course

"Meurette" style stewed beef cheek served with baby vegetables and sauteed potato

Or

Wok fried Chilean seabass in garlic tomato sauce served with selected vegetables and steamed rice

Or

Nasi goreng (Malay style fried rice with seafood, picked vegetables and chicken satay)

A Sweet Note

Fresh fruit selection

Gourmet coffee

Selection of tea

I opted for the fried rice and it was tasty. Also make sure to order the cocktail called ‘Singapore Sling’ when you are flying on this airline. I have ordered this cocktail at many places and Singapore Airlines definitely makes the best one I have to say.

Service by the SQ flight attendants was impressive as usual. I had this Japanese flight attendant that was really friendly and attentive. The in-flight entertainment was the standard on demand (AVOD) system and there was a great variety of movies and music to choose from. We arrived Bangkok five minutes earlier than scheduled.

All in all this was a great flight. I don’t think Singapore Airline has lost its edge as many had said. It is still very much a top-notch airline that even other airlines talk about.

Trip Report: Ah Hong Kong - Asia’s World City!

I love New York. I also love Hong Kong. Hong Kong is very much my second home (sorry Malaysia). Known as Asia’s World City, or in my opinion Asian Manhattan, Hong Kong is a vibrant city packed with people and filled with life. It is very much the Asian counterpart to the Big Apple. Hong Kong is really where East meets West.

I travel to Hong Kong every year. There is so much to do here. For the urbanites, this is a shopping and food paradise. Clothing wise, there are all these mega-malls, boutique shops and chain stores that you can check out. Among the noteworthy shopping malls to visit are IFC Center resting atop the airport express check-in center in Central, Times Square mall in Causeway Bay, the new Long Hou Fong in Mong Kok and Yau Yat Seng in Kowloon Tong. All are reachable by the convenient and extensive MTR system. You can also get your suits custom-made in many of the tailors available in the city. For antiques and handicrafts, you should check out the stores in Soho area as well as Stanley market. What about electronics, you ask. The shops in Mong Kok should have every electronic item you are looking for, but just be careful with the quality of the merchandise you want to purchase and make sure you haggle for lower prices.

The food in Hong Kong is simply amazing. From western food to the Chinese food of various provinces, you can find restaurants of all kinds to satisfy your cravings. My personal favorites are the wonton noodle shop named Ho Hung Kee in Causeway Bay, Red Ants (Hong Ma Yee) in multiple locations, the famous hotpot offered by Siu Fei Yong (translated as "Little Fat Lamb") in Causeway Bay and the inexpensive hole-in-the-wall Shanghaiese restaurant Yau Yat Dim in Tien Hau. Also check out the famous Jumbo Floating restaurant in Arbedeen. It actually serves very good dim sum despite being a tourist trap.

There are amazing nightlife spots in Hong Kong as well. Bars in the Lan Kwai Fong and Soho area are the most popular among locals and tourists alike,

Besides shopping, eating out and partying the night away, there are also many tourist attractions and activities to do in Hong Kong. The Big Buddha statue in Lantau Island is not to be missed. The new Disneyland you can skip however. It is really small compared to those in California and Florida. Hong Kong is also good for avid cyclists and hikers, especially in its new territory area.

Hong Kong has one of the most spectacular harbor views in the world. Just go to Victoria Harbor in Tsim Sa Tsui at night and enjoy the view of Hong Kong island from Kowloon. You will see tall mountains nestled behind the many skyscrapers with great lighting decorations. Also go up to Victoria Peak at night and see the beautiful city lit up in the dark. Trust me it is very romantic.

Since I speak fluent Cantonese, I feel really comfortable being in this city. But those who don’t speak Cantonese need not fret. Since this city was a British colony prior to the 1997 handover to China, all the street signs and public transportation announcements were made available in English and Chinese (Mandarin / Cantonese). If you are coming to Asia for the first time, I highly recommend coming to Hong Kong first. It will be a very easy transition.

I have a few close friends from college who live in this city. Therefore I see them every year in late December. Incidentally, the best time to come to HK (weather wise) is November – February. Summer is Hong Kong is very humid. All in all, this is a place that I can definitely call home if New York City doesn’t work out for me.

Flight Report: AY0092 Finnair BKK-HKG Service

BKK-HKG Service (AY0091)

Carrier: Finnair

Plane Model: MD11

Flight Class: Business

Sleeper Seat: No

Best Seat in Business Class: 1E/H

Duration of Flight: 2 Hours and 20 Minutes

Date of Travel: Dec 29, 2005



I had never paid for an actual business class ticket before. I had always used my points or my transfer upgrade certificates to fly business class. I purchased my very first business class ticket however for this trip. After all, who could resist a US$300 deal for a roundtrip business class ticket between Bangkok and Hong Kong?

Check in for Business Class at Bangkok International Airport was smooth and easy. I was looking forward to trying the new sleeper seat on Finnair but was told that the seats had yet to be installed on this flight (the airline is installing sleeper seats on all their MD-11s from Dec ’05 to Apr ’06). By the way, Finnair has got to be one of the very few airlines that are still using MD-11s for long haul flights.

Finnair enables its business class and premium frequent flyers to access the Qantas Lounge (since they are part of One World) at the Bangkok International Airport. The interior design of this lounge was really chic. They also offered a great selection of refreshments here. I ran into a really friendly Aussie (Rob) from Melbourne who was heading to India for the first time and we chatted for a few hours and exchanged business card as usual. I was telling him how great living in New York City was. Just doing my bit to promote the Big Apple.

Like check-in, boarding was smooth and easy as well. Even though I was told at check-in that the new seats were not installed on this flight yet, I was still disappointed to come across the old seats. The standard pre-boarding drinks were handed out as well as a wine and dinner menu. The meal selections were as follow:


Appetizer:

Grilled marinated prawns with coriander vinaigerette and green papaya salald



Main Course:

Fried red snapper with mustard butter roasted potato and ratatouille

Or

Roasted breast of duck with oyster sauce stir-fried noodles



Dessert:

Baked ricotta raisin cake and chantilly cream

Coffee, cappucino, espresso and tea

They have a good wine list as well considering the short duration of the flight. I opted for the roasted breast of duck and it tasted great.

The inflight entertainment selection was only moderate compared to other carriers that I had flown on. There were a few channels of documentary, sitcoms and cartoons available. The inflight service was good but not really personable. The service on Finnair reminded me of the American carriers like United and Delta. The flight attendants were more senior than their Asian counterparts.

We arrived a little earlier than scheduled. All was good save baggage handling. They forgot to stick a priority tag on my luggage so it was probably the last few ones that came out. I had to wait for almost half an hour for my checked luggage.