violist

UA 171 BOS SFO 0610 1000 319 2D Ch9^^

I rather dazedly found my way through security (which took
all of five minutes, even with our crew cutting in front)
and to the club, where I bestowed my annual Christmas
tribute of Sweet Sloops upon the desk people. Then to the
gate, where boarding had begun - about a dozen people in
the red line, of whom some were rather curtly turned back
during the process. The captain, whose name started with a
T, was out on the freezing jetbridge greeting and shaking
hands with all the pax. Set the scene for caring service
throughout. I'm still not sure about doing transcons
in the little 319 but coped with my misgivings by going
straight to sleep, missing the omelet or fruit plate dance.
Woke somewhere over the Great Plains, where the solicitous
crew offered me the fruit plate, all that was left (turns
out that every one of the other pax had requested the hot
breakfast). I asked for a croissant and a Courvoisier; the
former came speedily; they had to get some of the latter
from the back. Back to sleep. Woke to find us docking at
G ninety something in the international terminal, which was
nice, as it gave me extra time to enjoy the SKL, whose
vigilant gatekeeper welcomed me just as she turned away
some lesser soul, banishing him to the RCC down the way.

Catering was uninspired: peanuts, chips, granola, Special
K, assorted Danish. I had a George Dickel #12 followed by
a Remy VSOP - the booze selection is better than at the
RCC, and the price is right. Shortly before I left, some
savories came out: hummus and vegetables and a breakfast
selection of scrambled eggs, home fries, and sausage.

There were 5 guests in the club, outnumbering the staff
by 2.

I decided to catch the beginning of boarding so hoofed it
back to gate 100; on the way, I met restlessinRNO, Fredd,
and Mrs. Fredd. restless had row 16 upstairs, and the
Fredds, irroped from the day before, had been demoted from
row 15 to row 6. With the new alignments, there really
isn't that much difference any more, truth to tell.

UA 837 SFO NRT 1128 1530 744 15A Ch9

We got to the gate to find boarding delayed due to some kind
of IFE issue, which prevented F from boarding; so we C
people got to board first, and I saw the curious sight of
an F pax being turned away a la gate lice. He took it
surprisingly well.

Eventually we all got aboard, but then it was announced that
a valve in the #2 engine had to be replaced, so we all had
to chill our jets, as it were. We took off an hour late.

Good service of an Asian standard.

Warm nuts (lots of pecans, no macadamias) with seconds.

to begin
smoked salmon and vegetable crudite
With a sun-dried tomato dressing

Good salmon, abundant, strewn with capers. The cruddities
were as usual dry and pathetic.

fresh seasonal greens
Lite Ranch or Roasted Garlic Red Wine Vinaigrette

OK, a little wilted.

main course
[b]mustard thyme scented chicken T[b]
With warm horseradish potato salad

grilled sirloin steak with three peppercorn sauce
Au gratin potatoes and steamed broccoli with carrots

The beef was extremely strange, a big knob of mystery meat:
usually I can tell a cut of meat by its fat if nothing else.
This was chuck (not sirloin by any stretch of the
imagination - more like what UA serves under the name "short
ribs"), identifiable only by its fat in an incredibly acrid
pepper sauce. The sides were salty spinach and salty cheesy
potatoes mit viel nutmeg. Bear in mind that since my recent
health issues I have had trouble tasting salt (mixed nuts,
for example, taste sweet to me); these things tasted, well,
salty. I shudder to think. I should have had the Japanese
meal, but I'd decided to take pity on the assorted 1Ps and
things aboard.

washoku zen selection
Appetizers of barbecued eel in layered eggs, grilled scallop,
lime-flavored beef tenderloin, shrimp with vegetable sushi
rice, poached tuna with karashi miso, steamed leeks,
buckwheat soba noodles with marinated Japanese vegetables.
A main course of salmon teriyaki, braised tofu, simmered
shiitake mushroom and daikon, green beans, fresh julienne
ginger served with steamed rice and Japanese pickled
vegetables. Served with green tea. Items in this meal may
contain traces of MSG.

dessert
international cheese selection
Sartori Bellavitano, Montchevre Sun-dried Tomato and Basil
Chevre

Eli's tiramisu

I passed on dessert.

midflight snack
honey roasted turkey with baby Swiss cheese
Sandwich may be served either hot or cold

assorted sweet and savory treats are available
throughout the flight

hot noodles are available upon request

The crew provided little cups of grapes, leftover formerly
hot nuts, and a few other things, in addition to the foil-
wrapped sandwiches (heated on request) and the noodle
bowls. Also Ghirardelli 60% chocolate squares, Kit Kats,
and raisins. Most welcome.

prior to arrival
stir-fried chicken and vegetables
With egg noodles

Quite good-tasting though dry soy-sauce chicken with
nice baby bok choy and a big tangle of extremely salty
noodles. I ate a few noodles, and my ankles swelled up
immediately. Well, they swelled up worse immediately. One
issue I am having is swelling in various public and not
public limbs owing to the heart problem.

fresh seasonal fruit plate
With creamy yogurt

The wines on offer were a tolerable fairly dry Masterpeace
Shiraz 2007 (SE Australia), with some fruit and a bit of
oak, and a most disappointing bright cherry-ful Trapiche
Oak Cask Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (Mendoza). There was also
advertised a Medoc, which didn't appear on either flight.

The guy next to me watched some amusing martial arts movies
while I kept the map on. We periodically stole glances at
each other's giant screen. How can you not like a film that
invents a kung fu move called BBQ pork hock? and that
contains the line "You said you cared for me. Now I know
you're not." (According to the subtitles.)

We landed half an hour late, but there was no line at
transit security, so that sort of cancelled out. restless
went hunting for Lori_Q off the Chicago flight at the ANA
lounge, but I, in my dubious condition, chose to stick
closer to home. There was no line at the shower, so I had
one: the water pressure kept me going from scalding to
low cool, but all in all running water after a long flight
is a good thing. Then on to the Amazing Beer Machine, yay,
and then to gate 46 - which as it turns out is right by
the ANA lounge anyway, so whoops.

chuck1

Nice report.
Thanks.

AMRivlin

Welcome! Hope you the shiny new Luggage Tags stayed intact, see you at Concord/Newtons

violist

Having too much fun to write a report. More later.

Fornebufox

Tease!

violist

I may have more time to type, as I'm cooling my jets in the ER at
Mass General awaiting treatment for congestive heart failure. But
right now it's difficult.

RCyyz

Whoa - dude, take it easy! Get better soon! I'll see you on *A MegaDo II if not sooner!

bseller

You KNOW that you have my best wishes for things to go well, but I am almost 1000% certain that you have ALL FTers best wishes too!! ^

Get well soon, my friend!!

Dave

violist

preliminary report:

heart: CHF, degree of decline if any to be determined tomorrow

lungs: touch o' fluid, no biggie; nodules! - probably encapsulated junk
from ancient injuries, certainly benign

pulmonary embolism: negative

DVT: negative

violist

UA875 NRT SIN 1750 0020 777 9J Ch9

It took me a while to get to the plane, as I was walking
at about 1/3 rate. I could quite possibly have been the
slowest person on the moving sidewalks. Easy red-carpet
boarding. restlessinRNO, in the row ahead of mine,
reported failure to detect any of the expected FTers in
the ANA lounge; he remarked on my being winded after the
walk from the RCC. Hello, ejection fraction under 30,
what do you expect. Juice, water, or cheap bubbly were
offered. We were enjoying our PDBs when Lori_Q and shortly
after upup&away came puffing in: their flight had been
delayed first by "positive bag matching" and then "another
aircraft occupying their gate"; whatever, they made it,
and our little party was ready to head to Singapore. The
nice gent in 8H gave up his seat to Lori, so with upup&away
in 9H we had a little FT bloc there in the cabin. A nice chat
and a nice meal and then a nice nap.

The Fredds were in the bigger C cabin, I think, and fellow
FTer Ted unfortunately was in the wayback.

A decent flight with decent food and pretty good service.

to begin
fresh seasonal greens
French vinaigrette

main course
Trader Vic's sweet and sour braised short ribs
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes and glazed carrots and peas

Trader Vic's shredded chicken in Thai green curry sauce
Jasmine rice and roasted mushroom and vegetable medley

salmon topped with chestnut paste
Hanagata rice with white sesame seeds, grilled eringi
mushroom, green beans and carrot flower

dessert
Eli's cherry frangipane tart
With creme anglaise and pistachio

Today's menu features beef from Australia

Trader Vic came through with a palatable chunk of chuck; the
sweet-sour wasn't very sour but thankfully not very sweet
either. The potatoes were substantially garlicky. I did try
the tart, which was okay if a little dry.

We landed a bit late and went our separate ways, I to
check out the broadband (Wireless@SG was misbehaving for me
so I had to find a wired connection) and then to the T3
transit hotel at 3. Nice room, though a bit spartan. In the
morning, more Internet and then the airport outlet of the
renowned Rong Chen Bak Kut Teh. I had poached pig liver and
vermicelli in a rich, peppery pork bone stock - terrific.
Then to T2 basement, whence the #36 bus gets you to Suntec
for a buck and half. It takes perhaps 15 more minutes than
a taxi.

At the Conrad I was pleased to be given a business room
overlooking the Fountain of Wealth. The view was good, the
bed very comfy, and the bathroom extra nice. I recall the
room I was given here when I was gold (I'm now lowly
silver) was not so good as this one.

Amenities: a rubber ducky, a teddy bear, a fruit bowl (good
banana and kiwi, a couple mediocre-looking apples, an okay
orange, and a pear that could just as well have been made of
wax or wood), and a little box of extremely luxurious
truffles - white chocolate mango, dark chocolate hazelnut,
milk chocolate honey, and gilded milk chocolate pineapple,
all of which I gobbled down in minutes.

Met Lori_Q for drinks at the lobby but then was informed
of the executive lounge party by restless. Old friends,
an excellent time. I was really tired, and the wine was
free, so the 10 pm Concorde meeting got knocked off the
agenda. We shared taxis to Newton for the midnight event.
I had a few skewers of satay and a beer and then it was
time to cab it back for a nightcap and bed. I blame my
dazedness on the heart failure rather than inebriation
or the jetlag.

Fornebufox

Gack!! Sending healing thoughts your way. Tell the tale when you can.

SanDiego1K

I'm no doctor, so let me see if I have correctly read the above. The heart is a definite worry; the rest seems relatively positive?

Don't let the medics pry the computer from your hands. We need periodic updates!

Downunder girl

I love your trip reports, they are so well done ^. Before I had even been to SIN DO (first time was last year), I read one of your reports to get a flavour of what the DO might be like (thanks to bseller pointing me in the right direction). I remember being amazed at how much eating there was . Now I have lived it, twice .

As I posted on your get well thread, I am wishing you a very quick recovery and may you be flying at the pointy end and writing again in no time at all.

Take care.

CMK10

Best wishes from one of your phans in PHX. Thanks for the updates (I wasn't thinking when I wrote "updates" and it came out "upgrades" ).

violist

Went to look for friends (particularly boxo, who had wanted
an early breakfast). Started off at the business class area
on 4, but they hadn't seen her. They suggested I try Oscar's
downstairs, which I did. There were other FTers there, but
no boxo. I expressed interest that the likes of opushomes,
a Diamond, had chosen to dine with the polloi, but he
gleefully told me that it was an open secret that the coach
meal was the best of the lot, having a better selection than
the business one and both better selection and less crush
than the first-class one.

I found a table with chchkiwi and SEA777GUY (I think), and we
had a substantial and fairly yummy meal, the notable features
for me being a dragon fruit (nobody else wanted any, so I ate
the whole thing myself) and VSOP Cognac ice cream (available
with or without Belgian waffle). The rest of the spread was
a good one, with Chinese (shumai, congee, fried rice) and
American (smoked salmon, bacon, eggs, sausage, an omelette
station) staples, a wide variety of fruit, and abundant
and nice-looking breads and sweet pastries. Bade various
folks good day (I had no interest in a walking tour, in the
heat, given everything) and went off again to try to find
boxo; it turns out that she had apparently overslept and
had gone downstairs about the time I was returning up; after
a certain amount of elevator tag, she was found in time to
take the biz breakfast; I joined her but ate only a couple
pieces of grapefruit. The kindly staff (who said that the
Oscar's breakfast was the same, and if we wanted to prove
this to ourselves, nothing was preventing us from taking
meals both places) didn't close up until past 11, at which
time we began our day's outing. She was hotel-hopping, so
we cabbed to the IC and got her situated in her quite nice
room (accompanied by a most obsequious concierge named
Danny I think); then I proposed to go to Boat Quay for the
beer part of the do. boxo was tired but game, saying that it
didn't make sense to sleep all afternoon, with Singapore
beckoning. We took a quick tour of the Raffles Hotel, then
walked down to City Hall, where we bussed across the river.
I hadn't counted on the stairs down to the quay, but she
negotiated these heroically. There was nobody at the Thai
place where we usually get our S18 pitchers, and we were
sitting moping among the Botero sculptures and beginning
to regret our wild goose chase, when alex0683de and
bschaff1 came around the corner with the news that
there was a place down the way with S15 Tiger pitchers.
We tried to get the Thai place to match, but the hostess
smilingly declined our offer, so off to the seafood place
up the quay and its ... well. We ordered a Tiger pitcher,
and what came was 3 mugs of something that wasn't very
good. Alex thought that it was Anchor, which was on offer
at S8 the pitcher. boxo's coffee and ice came as coffee
with a side of water; sooner or later her order was
rectified, but ours wasn't. Presently bseller came by, and
we ordered another Tiger pitcher, which was at least
different from our previous beer. The situation wasn't
conducive to continued drinking, so we returned to the
executive lounge at the Conrad (where our Diamonds and
Golds had taken over a conference room as our private
club, complete with secret handshake) until Jumbo time.

We met at Jumbo Riverside (a jumboer Jumbo than last
year's) at 8. Five tables had been reserved, of which one
went unused by us, but the restaurant had no trouble
turning it, which made us feel somewhat less guilty.

The no-fish table was segregated from us by the empty
one, which is as it should be.

I was at the middle table, which enjoyed a shellfish-heavy
menu, thanks in large part to my suggestions, which were
pretty normal but a little on the extravagant side.

Chili crab is less sweet and more tomatoey than at other
places, so it's more to my taste than at either Jumbo
East Coast or either of the No Signboards we've used; still
I prefer the adult pungency of black pepper crab, whose
blackish sauce contrasts rather than competes with the
natural sweetness of the excellent Sri Lankan crabs.

Two kinds of prawns, because some preferred shell and head
on, and some off. Salt-pepper prawns I thought substantially
yummy (we got these with); cereal prawns were different from
usual, as we'd gotten them shelled, but still pretty good.
Garlic roast chicken was as advertised, a little salty for
me, but nicely garlicked and pretty tender. Sauteed kangkong
with hot pepper and fish sauce was very savory as our
obligatory veggie. I'd ordered broad noodles with seafood
as filler for the end, but it came early in the meal. I
saved mine for later: it was fine as filler goes, but the
amount of shellfish was disappointing.

With abundant beers, we spent about S50 each; I think
we were the second most expensive table.

Need I add that we returned yet again to our haven for an
afters that lasted pretty late. Thank goodness for the
excellent and long-forbearing staff, Deakin Estate Caberet,
lili's getting the staff to offer up substantial amounts
of it, and Baxter&Bessies'Mama's discovery of the mother
lode of same. I don't recall staggering back to my lovely
room, but I must have done so.