Dag

This will be another picture report from me, with some comments here and there. You are hereby warned, if you don’t like negative comments and disappointments, stay clear of this trip report. I try to make a balanced review of the trip, not just glorify everything. For those of you who find my comments to negative, there are plenty of other TR that are positive from beginning to end.
It will be as a free standing sequel to my trip to Kuala Lumpur 5 weeks earlier, as it was similar in some ways. That TR is found here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...x-nh-tg-f.html

Part 1, Oslo to Shanghai
Check in and security at OSL was fast, and then off to the Scandinavian lounge for some breakfast. I was not impressed with the cleanliness of the restroom, I guess to many tourists and kids compared to the regular businessmen filled lounge.


21.07.2011
Oslo-Frankfurt LH859 10:25-12:30
Boeing 737-530 Seat 2F
Even if the business section was not full, I had problems finding space for my carry-on. The gentleman across the aisle had filled up the entire overhead bin. Really considerate.
Had some good views of Oslo heading south. Here is Oslo downtown, Royal Castle in the middle, city hall lower left and the parliament at the bottom. I could see the building I lived in at the time, and I can also see the building I currently live in, in the picture.This was the day before the terrorist attack in downtown Oslo and at Utřya, so the city we left was not the same we came back to 3 weeks later.


Another picture, this is the western part of Oslo. Note the peninsula with the green fields. Not many capitals have areas like that, just meters away from downtown.


This peninsula was Oslos previous airport, Fornebu. Closed in 1998, when OSL Gardermoen opened the new airport. Fornebu was really close to the city, and is now used mostly for offices etc.


This flight had some kind of early lunch. A really lousy salad. Not a big fan of the tasteless Warsteiner either, so this was not impressive. Crew were nice though, but the seats (NEK) are just terrible. I ended up sitting on a newspaper to get some more padding.


Hazy day in Frankfurt, landing on 25L


Parked at an A-gate, all the way to the end.

Frankfurt am Main 12:30-15:30
Shops, lounges and terminals.

Long walk from the gate, ended up stopping in FCL in the A-gates for some proper lunch. They suggested that we should walk over to the B-lounge, since they did not have any car, and our flight would leave from C-gates. I had other plans anyway.
Dining area:


Wine trolley. Red wine at 21-23 degrees? Not my favorite


Menu in FCL, same as in FCT




Some lunch and a Chianti


Dessert


Lounge area


Bar


I am impressed with their selection, especially with whisky!


Then it was time for some shopping. I really wanted a new suitcase, so I ended up in Worldshop and got a Rimowa Lufthansa Private Jet, 82liters. An excellent suitcase!


Everything had a Lufthansa logo printed on it


Bags for laundry, shoes, coat hanger and a bag for a suit were included.




After that, we left for the FCT. They informed us that I had to go back for tax refund, so that took about an hour of the planned FCT time. Bad planning by me!
I got a nice shower, and then it was time for dinner. Yes, more food!
Gazpacho as a starter, with Champagne. Very good.


Steak and chips, with Australian Shiraz. Also good.

onefasteuro

all this food images just made me hungry. nice report. thanks!

Dag

Then it was time for a coffee with Glenmorangie 18YO, better than the Johnny Blue they have onboard



30 minutes we were picked up, and since I asked for a real car, they brought us a Panamera. A really nice car. Too bad that the roads in Norway are most suitable for a tractor.



Driver followed us into the plane, and carried carry-on to the upper deck.


21.07.2011
Frankfurt-Shanghai LH728 17:30 – 09:55+1
Boeing 747-430 “Bremen”, seat 82C (ended up in 82H)

Only 2 seats taken the day before, but when we got to the upper deck, all the other 6 seats were taken. My first thought was, “wow, this plane has really changed in 5 weeks!” The colors and layout were just excellent, and better in real life than on pictures I’d seen before this trip.

I know it’s been documented a lot, but anyway, here are some pictures from the upper deck on a reconfigured 747.


Bed and seat


Proper bed, decent privacy


Not “D” on this flight, but Laurent Perrier Brut 2000


Bed used as storage for my mess



Curved walls, but not cramped at all


Remote not used before?


Holder for a water bottle


Seat controls, pretty basic


Drawer for storage


PJ, amenity kit and slippers. Van Laack PJ, pretty similar to Swiss.


Due to the dinner in FCT, we postponed dinner. Had some snack and amuse bouche insted
Snack

Dag

Video just after take-off

http://youtu.be/0TW0ao--npg?t=2s


Menu for this flight







Drink menu


Monthly proposal



Champagne


White wine


Red wine


Spirits



Beer and soft drinks



Tea



Of course I had all the starters


Butter with style



Started with caviar and chilled vodka. Very nice


Then the duck. Looked and tasted a little warmed over. Continued with LP 2000.


Strawberries and scampi. Sounds weird, but tasted good


Zucchini



Soup was ok

Dag

Lamb as main with a red from Portugal, decent but not excellent.


Cheese was also ok, but far below Swiss standard



Chocolate for dessert, with Beerenauslese. Very good.


Coffee, Johnny blue and some chocolate


Then I had some more champagne and watched some movies.

The bed starts to look tempting


Slept very good, but too soon it was time to get up and have breakfast. The bed is excellent, best I’ve tried in the air.

Breakfast. Not very hungry due to the amount of dinner and champagne a few hours earlier, so I had the light option


Landed on time, and had a quick walk to immigration.

GlobalServiced

Excellent report! Enjoying the amount of pictures, really adds depth to the story.

Dag

Shanghai

Tried the Maglev, but it did not run at full speed


Stayed at Fairmont Peace hotel at The Bund, a hotel that was very nice.














Tub with TV


Hallway






Jazz club

Dag

A video from Shanghai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOleM65IJ-c

Hotel from the outside

River boats



The bund in the evening, Fairmont hotel has the green dome on top.


A little later


Pudong


River was always busy



The city development museum was nice, and included PVG airport


Planned terminal






Model of the city, very large


Also visited the World Financial Center





Look down on Jin Mao Tower


Hazy


Floor of glass

Dag

Took a walk in the not so fancy part of town




Close to the Yu Garden














Weird language


Had dinner at Jin Mao Tower, and looked down on the construction of a new sky scraper




Pudong at night


View from the Cathay Room, a restaurant at the Fairmont Hotel


Then it was time to depart Shanghai. I would not miss this city, as I did not like it very much. The people seemed rude at not welcoming at all, and the temperature of 35-37 degrees made staying outside not very pleasant.

Dag

Shanghai Pudong Aiport

PVG is a very efficient airport, no lines for check-in or security.
The lounge was not very good. It was the same as Swiss uses, but this time we were in the business section.


View from the lounge




Large and spacious terminal


Pretty good mix of airlines and aircraft at the international terminal
Emirates 380 and 340, Delta 744 and 330, United 744, Cathay 773, Singapore 772 and 773, Swiss 343, Finnair 343, Lufthansa 346 and 744, Malaysia 330, Thai 330, Garunda 330


27.07.2011
Shanghai-Singapore, Singapore Airlines SQ835 19:10-00:30 +1
Boeing 777-200 “Regional”, seat 14A


This plane had been reconfigured, and I really like the hard product in business

Leather seats


2-2-2 in business, the old regional has 2-3-2


I like the offset seating, so you don’t see much of the other passengers


Decent space




Remote and seat controls


Pre-departure Bollinger

Dag

Menu for the flight


Dinner menu


Champagne and wine


Red wine and port


Cocktails


Spirits


Coffee


After takeoff, satay with peanut sauce, unions and cucumber was served. The table was not set for this

Then the table was set, and we got cold scallops, I continued with Bollinger


Close up


Had the Dong Po Pork as a main, with the French red wine. Both were good.


Pain ice cream for dessert


Then the cheese


To round it off, chocolate, coffee and Highland Park 12YO


The rest of the flight was uneventful, landed early and were shortly thereafter on our way to the hotel. All in all, I found Singapore Airlines to be a bit overrated. Of course they are good, but not that good.

Dag

Singapore 28-31.07.2011
Hotel Naumi

Booked this hotel due to good ratings on tripadvisor. Big mistake. This is a small hotel, with major flaws. It does not even have a proper entrance. No piccolo, concierge, bar or restaurant. The only thing I really liked, was the pool on the roof. Rooms were of ok size (52sqm) and standard, and the location just behind Raffles was good. Lesson learned, stay in Mandarin Oriental, Raffles, Conrad, Fairmont or some other large hotel next time.

Living room


Bed



Desk and “kitchen”


Tub


Shower



Molton Brown

In the drawer in the bedside table, there were condoms and earplugs. Strange!


Alarm and water that were chilled when we arrived. Nice touch. Soft drinks were free.


View from the roof, Raffles just in front


Raffles, Fairmont and Swisshotel



The “bar” where breakfast was served in the morning


Our nice and famous neighbor

Dag

Among other things, we went to the zoo. Just excellent!



Funny look


Had to visit this building




Busy sea


Towards Changi


Busy port



The Grand Prix circuit in the middle of the city


Lots of hotels, from the left Swisshotel, Fairmont, Raffles, Marina Mandarin, Mandarin Oriental, Pan Pacific, Ritz Carlton.


The tribune used in the F1 races, and also for the national day



The national day was a few days later, so they had rehersal


Raffles at night

Dag

After a few days, it was time to fly some more. Singapore to Bali is flow by several airlines, but due to good reviews, we chose Qatar. Ticket was booked well in advance, which ended up being a problem. When checking in, the personnel requested to see the card I used to pay the ticket. Since it had been paid so long ago, I did not have that card anymore. It was a co-branded card, and I destroyed it when I got a new one as my frequent flyer status changed. They had to call Doha, and asked me to call my credit card company and get a confirmation. I refused. They asked me to buy a new ticket, and get a refund for the first one afterwards. Again, I refused. After a while, they said it was ok. Not very impressed with Qatar here, and I decided to think long and hard before ever flying with the airline again. Anyway, here is the report from the flight.
Qatar uses SATS premier lounge, which was pretty standard. Not crowded, and an ok selection of food and drinks, and even some view of the tarmac


Not crowded at all


Open and airy

Buffet of food and drinks


Warm food



Some food and wine


Our bird just arrived


Walking to the gate


31.07.2011
Singapore-Denpasar, Qatar Airways QR638 16:35-19:05
Boeing 777-3DZER , Sete 02A

I really like Qatars 77W, and they have a great business class layout. Cabin is fresh and modern.



Excellent leg room


Sleeping position



Spacious cabin on the 77W


We were in the forward business cabin


Flowers are a nice touch



All seats are on the same row, which gives lot less privacy than Singapores layout


Seat controls, with massage function


Remote

Dag

Good room for storage


Pocket for reading material


More storage



Too bad not all airlines have these in first and business


Pre departure drink. My friend LP2000. I like the shape of Qatar’s glasses, much better than Singapore and Thai. Managed two refills before departure.


Wingview. Sitting in the front of a 77W is some of the very best places to be. You can hear the impressive growl from the engines at take-off, but it is quiet the rest of the flight.



View just after departure


Nuts and more champagne were served a few minutes later



Cabin inflight


Not a very full flight, at least not in business.


I don’t have the menu for this flight, only the wine list. But what a wine list, and this was just for a 2:30h long flight. Nice to have an evening flight, so we could take advantage of the offerings.


Champagne


White wine




Very high quality of the wine, better than Lufthansa First class


Red wine


Even Brunello, one of my favorites



I like that Qatar selects high quality wine from different countries


20YO port


Other beverages