Carfield
Sep 10, 01, 4:08 pm
Sydney
As a treat to myself, I stayed at the W Sydney, which was definitely quite expensive, compared to all my other accommodations during the trip. But I really need another AA’s partner and therefore, I chose W Sydney. The price was still about $150USD/night and I would never afford to stay at another W hotel in the US. The service was definitely world class and, it took only a short time to do the check in and out. The lobby was very nice and the room was equipped with VCR cassette player and CD alarm clock. The bathroom was huge and the bed was very comfortable. My only complaint was its location, which was a bit away from the downtown area.
I noticed that walking in Sydney was a bit different from other Australian cities. There were a lot of slopes and constantly walking uphill and downhill. Since my stay was brief, I starter off the day with a walk to the King Cross because I needed to mail some postcards and parcels, and then I discovered that the souvenirs were a bit cheaper in that particular area. I had a Japanese noodle soup for lunch. And then I headed back to the hotel and walked towards Botanical Garden. Then I took the legendary coffee cruise and got a quick tour of Sydney. Unfortunately, it was raining and I was only able to sit on the deck for a little while. Sydney was definitely a big city. Then after the tour, I walked to the Rock area and then towards the QVC building and the disappointing AMP tower. It costs AUD$20 to get to the top of the tower and the tower was rather poorly designed. I did not find it too interesting. Anyhow, the night view of Sydney city was spectacular. But it was hardly comparable to the AMP tower in Auckland. I decided to walk back to the hotel after dinner, and I lost my sense of direction. I somehow walked back into King Cross, which was very different at night. I was not impressed by the Red Street District and many men tried to lure me into those strip joints. For those who knew me, those are definitely not my cups of tea, and I was also very tired as of this point. I just wanted to be back to my hotel. After an hour, I finally got to W.
This marked the end of my Australian’s trip.
August 29, 2001; Wednesday
AN 887 SYD-HKG Lv1110 Arr1805
Boeing 747-400 VH-ANB
An exciting day for me… I finally got to try the legendary service of Ansett International. I took a cab, which took me to the check in counters of Ansett. The international terminal was definitely busy and it was the peak hour for flights to Asia. Of course, my bag went overweight as of this point and I had to repack a bit, but the agents were very kind. She found me the seat 1A and told me that there was possibly no one sitting next to me. Then I received the invitation to the wonderful lounge operated by Air New Zealand. The lounge had a cozy décor and nice sofas. There was food buffet, which consisted of sandwiches, fruits, deli and cheese platter. I had a ginger ale and it was almost times for final boarding.
A bit about the planes – VH-ANA with the Olympic livery was on its way to Kansai this morning, so I was stuck with the second 747 – VH-ANB. They were all nice anyway. Spotting list –
JAL’s Boeing 747-300 – two in total and one of them with the Resocha livery (JL8186)
CI’s A340, QF’s Boeing 747s, including the red Aboriginal 400, AC’s Boeing 767-300 (ex-Canadian C-FPCA), SQ’s Megatop, BA’s Boeing 747-400 with the ribbons design and the Calligraphy design
Air Pacific’s Boeing 767-300ER (DQ-FJC), United’s Boeing 747-400 (William A. Patterson to SFO), Cathay Pacific’s Spirit of Children, Egyptair’s A340, Emirates’ Boeing 777-200, PR’s A330-300
All the parking spaces on the international terminal were occupied and it was very nice to see so many planes. Unfortunately, I did not have any camera with me yet.
As I boarded the plane, boarding had almost completed and the frontal section of J class was pretty filled up to capacity. The service director, Mike, and the Chinese F/A, Nick, welcomed us. As publicized, the inflight chef, Justin, was already wearing his chef uniform and welcoming folks in J class. To Carfield, this flight was definitely the best in my flight. Very handsome F/As… Justin is definitely the best looking one on board. Gosh, I wish all the chefs will look like him. To tell you the truth, it was hard not to look at him. There were three other flight attendants serving our flight, who included Sharri, a gentleman from Canberra, Cecilia, and one other F/A (sorry, I forgot to jog down her name). Enough stupid talks, I walked towards my seat at 1A, which was definitely the best seat in house. The legroom was limitless and the seat almost reclined to be a bed. The cabin décor was nice and the seats used AN’s earthly color upholstery. An amenity kit (the weakest link on this flight – not too impressive, worst than United) and a pair of real slippers were placed on the magazine pouch. I was immediately offered a choice of champagne, orange juice, and water in real glasses (of course), and a bowl of nuts with Japanese rice crackers (the legendary AN white bowl viewed on ad). Then the newspaper and magazine trolley came by, and Justin, the chef, handed us hot towels – the SQ thick type, not the flimsy one used on domestic flights or United flights. The door was closed five minutes early and we pushed back two minutes later. As you could tell, there was some traffic in front of us today. Then surprisingly, Justin the chef stood by the video screen, as they showed the safety video. Align with other AN flights, Justin showed the exit locations and demonstrated the use of oxygen mask. I guess the chef received the flight attendant training as well. And prior to arrival, Justin changed back to the normal AN’s F/A uniform. I guess the chef simply got a bit more training in food preparation. Maybe AN@SYD can explain a bit.
We stood in line for Runway 16R and was surprised that we did not taxi full-length. We took off at 11:25am and nice rainbow accompanied us on our climb to 35,000ft. I watched the Sky Map, which actually included some information about major cities we passed by. Very interesting! Flight route today took us across Northern Queensland and Northern Territories. We passed by Cunnamalla and Lawn Hill, and then left Australia at Darwin, which we climbed to 39,000ft as we flew into eastern Indonesia (Avalan). Then we flew into Philippines and passed by El Nido and then into Hong Kong. We hit some modest chops passing by Indonesia and prior to arrival into Hong Kong, due to stormy weather in the South China Sea. Flying time was eight hours and twenty-five minutes.
Shortly after the pilots signaled the beginning of flight attendants’ activities, Cecilia came and took our drink orders. I decided to have a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne and some freshly squeezed orange juice. Then Justin passed out canapé, which include a sesame seed coated prawn stick and a goat cheese and sun-dried tomato on toast, with a creamy dipping sauce. Of course, Carfield spilled the sauce – first incident on the flight. Fortunately, it did not spill over my body. I only need to wipe the armrest console and the personal TV. Then Justin came again to take our main course order. The flight attendants wasted no time in setting up our table with real china and glassware. Then Sharri came by with the wine trolley and bread basket, which consisted of Damper (Australian bread), wholemeal rolls, rye bread and brown toast. And then they pushed out the appetizer cart and I chose the fish. Here was the transcript:
Lunch
Appetizer
Proscuitto and Mixed Melon Salad
Belgium endive, sesame bread stick with chili & coriander vinaigrette
Cummin & Fennel Crusted Baby Barramundi Fillet
Oven baked eggplant, avocado, tomato & lemon vinaigrette
I chose the fish, which was very tasty and not smelly at all. The vegetables were fresh and the presentation of each course was very nice. Just like a fancy restaurant…
Salad Bowl
Freshly Tossed Mixed Leaf Garden Salad with choice of
Black sesame seed soy dressing or truffle oil vinaigrette
The salad was not prepared in advance, but tossed in front of you, like the old United First. There were two bowls of salad, which accompanied the two different dressings.
Main Course
Char Siu Pork & Hokkien Noodles
Char siu pork neck with crispy stir fry hokkien noodles
Chinese broccoli, carrots and char siu sauce
Pan Roasted Kangaroo Loin
Pan roasted kangaroo loin with baked pumpkin gnoochi, steamed spinach & chilli plum sauce
The kangaroo loin was not too bad, but the meat was a bit tough.
Mixed Seafood Bundle with Pesto
Bundle of ocean trout, coral trout, lobster & zucchini with potato, oyster mushroom, tomato and lemon butter sauce
Baked Winter Vegetable Brioche
Sautéed mixed vegetables rolled into brioche & baked with spicy red capsicum coulis
Side order
Steamed Vegetables and Rice
Like a restaurant, there was actually a side dish containing steamed vegetables and rice. It was nice, but the vegetables were off green and rice was tough. Not a successful one.
Cheese and fresh fruit
Trio of Australia’s Finest Cheese – Vintage Cheddar, blue, and Camembert with crackers, brown cake, and dried fruits
Dried fruit and crisp
Mixed nuts, apricot, and sultanas cooked in spiced toffee
Abundance of cut fruit – Strawberry, blueberry, star fruit, pineapple, cantaloupe, and grapefruit
Chef’s dessert buffet
Green Tea Sponge & Mascarpone Layers
Strawberry compote and vanilla tuile
Warm Almond and Amoretto Tart
Vanilla poached pear and blueberry coulis
I chose the green tea tiramisu, which was recommended by Justin. Yes, Justin passed out the dessert cart. It was delicious and the presentation was unbelievable, with nice crisp biscuits and strawberry sauce.
The meal service ended with tea and coffee, accompanied by chocolate and cookies. The meal was restaurant style and the presentation was the best you could expect in the air. Then another round of hot towels finished off the lunch service. It was certainly an excellent meal. The entertainment on board was similar to Singapore Airlines with various channels of movies and short subjects. I did not watch any movie, but read books instead. The F/As did refill your beverage, although it was not like Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines’ 15 minutes checks. The F/As were as attentive as one could reasonably expect.
Available on Request
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Selection of finest flavors – they passed out ice cream during mid-flight and I declined because of the full meals I had previously.
Choice of Noodle Shops
As times passed by, we hit a couple rough spots, and most passengers did not sleep too much, due to the daytime flight. Then lights were turned on an hour and fifty minutes prior to arrival. Hot towels were passed out, followed by the set up tray and bread. Then the F/As rolled out the refreshment cart. There were four choices of hot main courses. As assumed, everyone would possibly get to try a bit of each, but Justin immediately informed Sharri that they were short of some of the items. Only two choices per person… Than Sharri told me that they usually had lots of refreshments, and I guess that was the minor glitch on this flight. Nevertheless, I was the lucky one to get one item each.
Refreshments
Prawn combination soup
It was basically a Chinese style thick soup with shredded char siu pork, prawn, waterchestnut, bamboo shoot and tofu. It was delicious.
Marinated Beef & Mango Salad
Beef tenderloin, baked red onion, mango, mixed leaves and thyme cream dressing
Another freshly tossed salad… I had a bit of it and the mango worked well with the beef and vegetables.
Vietnamese Style Rice Paper Rolls
Spicy chicken tenderloin, finely shredded salad of carrot, cucumber, iceberg lettuce and spinach onion with sweet chilli & coriander dipping sauce
The rice paper rolls seemed to be freshly prepared on the flight, but the trick about Vietnamese rice paper was that it would go dry quickly, especially on a dry environment. It was a good try.
Steamed Chicken bun
Ginger and soy dipping sauce
They used the traditional steamed bamboo container. It was pretty cute.
Fresh Seasonal fruit
Cut and prepared on board by our in flight chef
Yes, Justin cut the fruits. I saw him cutting the fruit, as I was heading to the restroom in the back. Banana, orange, pear, papaya, kiwi and apple were featured on the fruit basket.
Lamingtons – I took a lamington, as recommended by Sharri. It was basically a chocolate cake with coconut topping.
Banana Muffin
Boutique Plum Jam
King Island Triple Jam
The flight went by quickly and the F/As passed out candies before we began our final approach. Due to rainstorms and heavy traffic, it took a while before we touched down in Hong Kong. We landed on 5:50pm local time, and we taxied into Gate 35. The flight was certainly a perfect one and I highly recommended Ansett to everyone. The service was certainly legendary and even economy class menus looked impressive. Here was an end to my down under trip report. I hope you enjoy it.
As a treat to myself, I stayed at the W Sydney, which was definitely quite expensive, compared to all my other accommodations during the trip. But I really need another AA’s partner and therefore, I chose W Sydney. The price was still about $150USD/night and I would never afford to stay at another W hotel in the US. The service was definitely world class and, it took only a short time to do the check in and out. The lobby was very nice and the room was equipped with VCR cassette player and CD alarm clock. The bathroom was huge and the bed was very comfortable. My only complaint was its location, which was a bit away from the downtown area.
I noticed that walking in Sydney was a bit different from other Australian cities. There were a lot of slopes and constantly walking uphill and downhill. Since my stay was brief, I starter off the day with a walk to the King Cross because I needed to mail some postcards and parcels, and then I discovered that the souvenirs were a bit cheaper in that particular area. I had a Japanese noodle soup for lunch. And then I headed back to the hotel and walked towards Botanical Garden. Then I took the legendary coffee cruise and got a quick tour of Sydney. Unfortunately, it was raining and I was only able to sit on the deck for a little while. Sydney was definitely a big city. Then after the tour, I walked to the Rock area and then towards the QVC building and the disappointing AMP tower. It costs AUD$20 to get to the top of the tower and the tower was rather poorly designed. I did not find it too interesting. Anyhow, the night view of Sydney city was spectacular. But it was hardly comparable to the AMP tower in Auckland. I decided to walk back to the hotel after dinner, and I lost my sense of direction. I somehow walked back into King Cross, which was very different at night. I was not impressed by the Red Street District and many men tried to lure me into those strip joints. For those who knew me, those are definitely not my cups of tea, and I was also very tired as of this point. I just wanted to be back to my hotel. After an hour, I finally got to W.
This marked the end of my Australian’s trip.
August 29, 2001; Wednesday
AN 887 SYD-HKG Lv1110 Arr1805
Boeing 747-400 VH-ANB
An exciting day for me… I finally got to try the legendary service of Ansett International. I took a cab, which took me to the check in counters of Ansett. The international terminal was definitely busy and it was the peak hour for flights to Asia. Of course, my bag went overweight as of this point and I had to repack a bit, but the agents were very kind. She found me the seat 1A and told me that there was possibly no one sitting next to me. Then I received the invitation to the wonderful lounge operated by Air New Zealand. The lounge had a cozy décor and nice sofas. There was food buffet, which consisted of sandwiches, fruits, deli and cheese platter. I had a ginger ale and it was almost times for final boarding.
A bit about the planes – VH-ANA with the Olympic livery was on its way to Kansai this morning, so I was stuck with the second 747 – VH-ANB. They were all nice anyway. Spotting list –
JAL’s Boeing 747-300 – two in total and one of them with the Resocha livery (JL8186)
CI’s A340, QF’s Boeing 747s, including the red Aboriginal 400, AC’s Boeing 767-300 (ex-Canadian C-FPCA), SQ’s Megatop, BA’s Boeing 747-400 with the ribbons design and the Calligraphy design
Air Pacific’s Boeing 767-300ER (DQ-FJC), United’s Boeing 747-400 (William A. Patterson to SFO), Cathay Pacific’s Spirit of Children, Egyptair’s A340, Emirates’ Boeing 777-200, PR’s A330-300
All the parking spaces on the international terminal were occupied and it was very nice to see so many planes. Unfortunately, I did not have any camera with me yet.
As I boarded the plane, boarding had almost completed and the frontal section of J class was pretty filled up to capacity. The service director, Mike, and the Chinese F/A, Nick, welcomed us. As publicized, the inflight chef, Justin, was already wearing his chef uniform and welcoming folks in J class. To Carfield, this flight was definitely the best in my flight. Very handsome F/As… Justin is definitely the best looking one on board. Gosh, I wish all the chefs will look like him. To tell you the truth, it was hard not to look at him. There were three other flight attendants serving our flight, who included Sharri, a gentleman from Canberra, Cecilia, and one other F/A (sorry, I forgot to jog down her name). Enough stupid talks, I walked towards my seat at 1A, which was definitely the best seat in house. The legroom was limitless and the seat almost reclined to be a bed. The cabin décor was nice and the seats used AN’s earthly color upholstery. An amenity kit (the weakest link on this flight – not too impressive, worst than United) and a pair of real slippers were placed on the magazine pouch. I was immediately offered a choice of champagne, orange juice, and water in real glasses (of course), and a bowl of nuts with Japanese rice crackers (the legendary AN white bowl viewed on ad). Then the newspaper and magazine trolley came by, and Justin, the chef, handed us hot towels – the SQ thick type, not the flimsy one used on domestic flights or United flights. The door was closed five minutes early and we pushed back two minutes later. As you could tell, there was some traffic in front of us today. Then surprisingly, Justin the chef stood by the video screen, as they showed the safety video. Align with other AN flights, Justin showed the exit locations and demonstrated the use of oxygen mask. I guess the chef received the flight attendant training as well. And prior to arrival, Justin changed back to the normal AN’s F/A uniform. I guess the chef simply got a bit more training in food preparation. Maybe AN@SYD can explain a bit.
We stood in line for Runway 16R and was surprised that we did not taxi full-length. We took off at 11:25am and nice rainbow accompanied us on our climb to 35,000ft. I watched the Sky Map, which actually included some information about major cities we passed by. Very interesting! Flight route today took us across Northern Queensland and Northern Territories. We passed by Cunnamalla and Lawn Hill, and then left Australia at Darwin, which we climbed to 39,000ft as we flew into eastern Indonesia (Avalan). Then we flew into Philippines and passed by El Nido and then into Hong Kong. We hit some modest chops passing by Indonesia and prior to arrival into Hong Kong, due to stormy weather in the South China Sea. Flying time was eight hours and twenty-five minutes.
Shortly after the pilots signaled the beginning of flight attendants’ activities, Cecilia came and took our drink orders. I decided to have a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne and some freshly squeezed orange juice. Then Justin passed out canapé, which include a sesame seed coated prawn stick and a goat cheese and sun-dried tomato on toast, with a creamy dipping sauce. Of course, Carfield spilled the sauce – first incident on the flight. Fortunately, it did not spill over my body. I only need to wipe the armrest console and the personal TV. Then Justin came again to take our main course order. The flight attendants wasted no time in setting up our table with real china and glassware. Then Sharri came by with the wine trolley and bread basket, which consisted of Damper (Australian bread), wholemeal rolls, rye bread and brown toast. And then they pushed out the appetizer cart and I chose the fish. Here was the transcript:
Lunch
Appetizer
Proscuitto and Mixed Melon Salad
Belgium endive, sesame bread stick with chili & coriander vinaigrette
Cummin & Fennel Crusted Baby Barramundi Fillet
Oven baked eggplant, avocado, tomato & lemon vinaigrette
I chose the fish, which was very tasty and not smelly at all. The vegetables were fresh and the presentation of each course was very nice. Just like a fancy restaurant…
Salad Bowl
Freshly Tossed Mixed Leaf Garden Salad with choice of
Black sesame seed soy dressing or truffle oil vinaigrette
The salad was not prepared in advance, but tossed in front of you, like the old United First. There were two bowls of salad, which accompanied the two different dressings.
Main Course
Char Siu Pork & Hokkien Noodles
Char siu pork neck with crispy stir fry hokkien noodles
Chinese broccoli, carrots and char siu sauce
Pan Roasted Kangaroo Loin
Pan roasted kangaroo loin with baked pumpkin gnoochi, steamed spinach & chilli plum sauce
The kangaroo loin was not too bad, but the meat was a bit tough.
Mixed Seafood Bundle with Pesto
Bundle of ocean trout, coral trout, lobster & zucchini with potato, oyster mushroom, tomato and lemon butter sauce
Baked Winter Vegetable Brioche
Sautéed mixed vegetables rolled into brioche & baked with spicy red capsicum coulis
Side order
Steamed Vegetables and Rice
Like a restaurant, there was actually a side dish containing steamed vegetables and rice. It was nice, but the vegetables were off green and rice was tough. Not a successful one.
Cheese and fresh fruit
Trio of Australia’s Finest Cheese – Vintage Cheddar, blue, and Camembert with crackers, brown cake, and dried fruits
Dried fruit and crisp
Mixed nuts, apricot, and sultanas cooked in spiced toffee
Abundance of cut fruit – Strawberry, blueberry, star fruit, pineapple, cantaloupe, and grapefruit
Chef’s dessert buffet
Green Tea Sponge & Mascarpone Layers
Strawberry compote and vanilla tuile
Warm Almond and Amoretto Tart
Vanilla poached pear and blueberry coulis
I chose the green tea tiramisu, which was recommended by Justin. Yes, Justin passed out the dessert cart. It was delicious and the presentation was unbelievable, with nice crisp biscuits and strawberry sauce.
The meal service ended with tea and coffee, accompanied by chocolate and cookies. The meal was restaurant style and the presentation was the best you could expect in the air. Then another round of hot towels finished off the lunch service. It was certainly an excellent meal. The entertainment on board was similar to Singapore Airlines with various channels of movies and short subjects. I did not watch any movie, but read books instead. The F/As did refill your beverage, although it was not like Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines’ 15 minutes checks. The F/As were as attentive as one could reasonably expect.
Available on Request
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Selection of finest flavors – they passed out ice cream during mid-flight and I declined because of the full meals I had previously.
Choice of Noodle Shops
As times passed by, we hit a couple rough spots, and most passengers did not sleep too much, due to the daytime flight. Then lights were turned on an hour and fifty minutes prior to arrival. Hot towels were passed out, followed by the set up tray and bread. Then the F/As rolled out the refreshment cart. There were four choices of hot main courses. As assumed, everyone would possibly get to try a bit of each, but Justin immediately informed Sharri that they were short of some of the items. Only two choices per person… Than Sharri told me that they usually had lots of refreshments, and I guess that was the minor glitch on this flight. Nevertheless, I was the lucky one to get one item each.
Refreshments
Prawn combination soup
It was basically a Chinese style thick soup with shredded char siu pork, prawn, waterchestnut, bamboo shoot and tofu. It was delicious.
Marinated Beef & Mango Salad
Beef tenderloin, baked red onion, mango, mixed leaves and thyme cream dressing
Another freshly tossed salad… I had a bit of it and the mango worked well with the beef and vegetables.
Vietnamese Style Rice Paper Rolls
Spicy chicken tenderloin, finely shredded salad of carrot, cucumber, iceberg lettuce and spinach onion with sweet chilli & coriander dipping sauce
The rice paper rolls seemed to be freshly prepared on the flight, but the trick about Vietnamese rice paper was that it would go dry quickly, especially on a dry environment. It was a good try.
Steamed Chicken bun
Ginger and soy dipping sauce
They used the traditional steamed bamboo container. It was pretty cute.
Fresh Seasonal fruit
Cut and prepared on board by our in flight chef
Yes, Justin cut the fruits. I saw him cutting the fruit, as I was heading to the restroom in the back. Banana, orange, pear, papaya, kiwi and apple were featured on the fruit basket.
Lamingtons – I took a lamington, as recommended by Sharri. It was basically a chocolate cake with coconut topping.
Banana Muffin
Boutique Plum Jam
King Island Triple Jam
The flight went by quickly and the F/As passed out candies before we began our final approach. Due to rainstorms and heavy traffic, it took a while before we touched down in Hong Kong. We landed on 5:50pm local time, and we taxied into Gate 35. The flight was certainly a perfect one and I highly recommended Ansett to everyone. The service was certainly legendary and even economy class menus looked impressive. Here was an end to my down under trip report. I hope you enjoy it.