After a leisurely breakfast and a last walk around in Bangkok, we asked the hotel to arrange us a cab to the airport. The first cab that arrived didn't have any seatbelts in the back, although the driver's seatbelt was installed and the driver was using it. I enquired as to where the seatbelts were and was told "no problem - don't worry". Perhaps we were being a little overly cautious but, having heard that Thailand has one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world, we asked him to turn around and take us back to the hotel. He was quite shocked about this, as were the hotel staff when we suddenly reappeared, but they kindly called us another cab anyway. This one, luckily, had seatbelts for all passengers!
It was quite busy at BKK but we managed to get through security without any bother and after some searching managed to find Cathay's Bangkok lounge. After checking in we headed straight to the noodle bar and ordered a couple of dishes and followed this up with a strawberry shortcake from the buffet. I do like how consistent Cathay's lounges are and the idea of getting food cooked for you, even if it is just some basic noodles, is a very good one.

Flight 9: CX712 BKK-HKG
Aircraft: B-LAR (Airbus A330-300)
Seats: 19A/20A

We boarded the aircraft at 16:05 to find an almost completely empty J mini-cabin - only the two of us and one other person. First impressions were very good - the staff were courteous almost to a fault and addressed us every time by name and the reverse herringbone seats are certainly a step above BA's Club World seats from yesteryear. PDBs were offered (a Piper Hiedsieck will do nicely, thanks very much) and some hot towels followed by the menu for today's flight. Our Aussie captain, Craig, gave his welcome and we pushed back on time at 16:25 and took off at 16:41 heading to the north-east and Hong Kong. I think it's fair to say that, while Cathay are undoubtedly a super airline, their safety video is a tedious abomination. A first-world problem, obviously, but with most other airlines making an effort to produce entertaining safety videos that passengers might actually want to watch, I think CX could do a lot better.
Pre-lunch drinks were served 20 minutes after take-off, starters were served only 2 minutes later and the main courses arrived promptly 10 minutes after that. Finally, I was offered some Haagen Dazs ice cream, which I reluctantly accepted (all in the name of producing a thorough trip report!) This turned out to be caramel and speculoos flavour and was fabulous. I was then offered tea or coffee, but declined, and plumped instead for one of the "famous" Cathay "oriental breeze" mocktails, which was pretty tasty.











We began our descent into HKG all too soon and unfortunately, due to clouds, only got a few very brief glimpses of the city. I was here for a conference back in 2011, so it was nice to see it again, even if only fleetingly. We landed a little ahead of time at 19:56 and were on our way to exploring the delights of HKG's OneWorld lounges by 20:06.