SAtraveller

Good day and welcome to my trip report about our vacation in Asia. As enthusiastic travelers we thought we would tour the East for a few weeks and enjoy some sightseeing of famous landmarks on our 'to do' list.

Having thrown our cards in with One World, we decided to use them for the duration of the trip. We purchased our Qatar tickets with good old fashioned cash and used Avios miles for the rest (plus taxes).


Our route

Itinerary

1. JNB-DOH Qatar Airways business class on 777-300ER
2. Doha Premium Terminal + DOH-PVG business class on 777-200LR
3. Waldorf-Astoria Shanghai
4. Sights of Shangai
5. High speed train from Shanghai to Beijing in business class
6. Hilton Beijing Wangfujing
7. Sights of Beijing
8. PEK-NRT on Japan Airlines business class on 787-800
9. Conrad Tokyo
10. Capitol Hotel Tokyo
11. Sights of Tokyo
12. HND-HKG Cathay Pacific first class on 747-400
13. Hotel Icon Hong Kong
14. Sights of Hong Kong
15. HKG-SIN Cathay Pacific first class on 747-400
16. Conrad Centennial Singapore
17. Sights of Singapore
18. SIN-JNB on Singapore Airlines business class 777-200... or is it Qatar?

1. JNB-DOH Qatar Airways business class on 777-300ER

We decided to check-in online so as to obtain the seats we wanted for the flight. On arriving at OR Tambo International we quickly passed the check-in counter and mentioned that we had no luggage to check-in, and only carry-on luggage.



The 'red carpet' for business class passengers was in an awful state and looked like it had descended from ancient times. We then gained a small ticket allowing us access to the lounge. After a relatively prolonged security check we were through and started to enjoy the international terminal.

OR Tambo has large open windows that are ideal for spotting, and today was a good day to catch all the heavies on their way to the east.


The colourful Air Seychelles that codeshares with Etihad


Emirates A380-800
Emirates is only flying the A380 to JNB temporarily for now. There was a time when it was permanent, was changed back to the 777 and is now back to the A388 for a month. With three flights a day to Dubai I think it will soon be reappearing as a permanent guest.


Kenyan Airways 737-800


Saudia 777 to Jeddah that took off shortly, with a great deal of Islamic praying in the area.


Three A380's keeping each other company


diminutive Air Mauritius taxiing to the gate


Cathay Pacific 777 preparing for takeoff... Cathay has been flying the 747-400 here for decades and plans to replace it with the 777 over the next few months, and certainly by the end of the year.


A small Congolese carrier


Heavies waiting for the evening departures


The lovely OR Tambo international terminal


We then entered the Shongololo Lounge (Shongololo is a local word for a millipede). The lounge is shared by about ten airlines, Qatar being one of them. As expected it was manned by a woman who hated her job, and made sure everyone knew it. We settled in for the brief period of an hour and enjoyed a small snack.


Celebrities who have visited the lounge


And more...













The lounge is average at best and not nearly on the same level as the Emirates lounge in the same building. I wouldn't go to the ends of the earth to enter the place again, though if you need a place to sit and some average food, this might be the place for you.


Our beautiful 777-300ER waiting to be boarded.

As usual, priority boarding at OR Tambo was a near fiasco. It becomes tiresome to say the least. They called for all the business class passengers to board the plane after the elderly and infirm (and those with kids). This caused a rush of people who couldn't understand the simple concept. Further down on the airbridge the mass was brought to a halt and separated into business and economy again so the attempt could be repeated, this time more successfully.

We were directed to our seats, 3A and 3B and I instantly fell in love with stylish cabin.







The seats are very comfortable and the foot space is significant. I felt that the cabin was significantly superior to Emirates, and to be honest felt the same regarding this comparison throughout all aspects of the flights. I personally think QR J is hot on the heels of EK F, and much better than EK J. I never once felt cramped or impinged upon despite a full cabin and having two small children behind us (who were very well behaved).











Pajamas were passed out according to sizes. The amenity kit was decent and full of all sorts of products, mostly Ferragamo. As kit quality goes, standard business class.



We were offered a pre-departure drink and I went with the Lanson Brut 1999 champagne that I enjoyed very much.



The cabin was HOT and the captain soon appeared over the com system to tell us that the ground AC was not working and that once they turned the engines on we would cool down quickly. People in the cabin started sweating and using menus as makeshift fans. The hot towel was in fact converted into an ice towel and the cooling relief it provided was almost worth more than the champagne.







The doors were closed and we began our taxi, passing the building the BA 747-400 had decided to decimate with its wing only a few weeks before. I don't know how it managed to get there - I've never seen anything on that remote taxiway. Even my picture shows how far we are from the described area.

After our short taxi to 3L, we were off. We had to be careful - there were several nasty thunderstorms in the area, but the crew diverted around them expertly. As promised the cabin was cooled within 15 minutes of takeoff.








Turning right just before a nasty piece of cloudwork.


At 35,000 feet he was still with us.

The friendly staff had taken our lunch orders while taxiing to the runway, and jumped into action to offer drinks. The service on this flight was just fantastic, with constant attention being paid to the passengers with friendly faces and a personal touch.


Big table tray


The Menu folder containing the food, beverage and wine menus



Main Meal

Tempting your Palate
- feta cheese and spinach tart with tomato tartare dip

To commence
- roasted carrot and parsnip soup
- individual selection of smoked kingklip, smoked trout and shrimp
- classic arabic mezze

To follow
- roasted chicken breast with piri piri sauce
- grilled beef steak with demi glaze, potato wedges and roasted vegetables
- mushroom and cheese cannelloni with tomato cream

Cheese plate
- Smoked kwaito, blue and camembert

Sweet finale
- apple and blackberry pie with vanilla sauce
- vanilla icecream
- selection of seasonal fresh fruits

Bakery basket
- white, oats, rye and whole weat rolle

Unwind
- cappacino, espresso, cafe latte, macchiato, american, decaffeinated
- ceylon, spice chai, chamomile, decaffeinated tea, earl grey
- english breakfast, jasmine, mint, oolong, rooibos, sencha green

Beverages























We were right on the South Africa- Mozambique border when the culinary service started. As I settled in to munch on my amuse bouche and sip a glass of Taittinger Prestige Rose, I decided to watch Blue Jasmine. It turned out to be a hilarious movie with moments of phenomenal acting and dialogue, but a totally ridiculous and rubbish ending.




the delicious seafood cocktail


the steak accompanied by a great glass of chateau d'armailhac 2007 - a very smooth bordeaux. The steak was dry as can be though, and was rescued by the tasty vegetables.


Ordered the tart and the icecream - you live only once... (oh and a glass of Baileys)



I was thoroughly full after the last course and declined cheese and coffee. Settling back in my chair I continued to watch a few movies as we progressed through the remainder of this 8-hour day flight.

Our path zig-zagged all over Africa as we avoided the beautiful and colossal thunderstorms. We suffered from mild turbulence for most of the flight, but nothing too bad.





Two hours before landing we were offered afternoon tea (at midnight) that consisted of several small tartlets made of zucchini, roasted lamb, cheese, fudge and fruits. It was very tasty.



After circling in the traffic pattern for ten minutes we landed at Doha International and climbed on the bus that took us to the Premium Transfer Terminal.

isaifan

Nice report so far. Look forward to the rest. Does landing in DOH in J give you any special treatment?

themapelligroup

Very nice report and brilliant plane spotting! Looking forward to next parts.

injian

Don't keep us in suspense. Great TR so far. :-)

FlyerTalker7654

Great TR! Really must get on a Qatar flight some day soon.

Looking forward to the rest of the report!! Keep up the great work! ^

SAtraveller

2. Doha Premium Terminal + DOH-PVG business class on 777-200LR

After a smooth touchdown in Doha we boarded the bus exclusively used for business class passengers. The bus stops at Doha Arrivals terminal first, then goes on to the Premium Transfer Terminal for those who have connecting flights. All flights in Doha are received by transfer busses, but the system is efficient and relatively quick.

The Premium Arrivals Terminal is very modern and quite beautiful.







Although you may feel that you are entitled to a certain amount of privilege and exclusivity when traveling business class, it's important to remember that there are dozens of flight landing at Doha at most times of the day, and using simple arithmetic one can see how a large lounge for all the business class passengers can become extremely busy, especially between the hours of midnight and 03:00 when many of the connecting flights tend to land.

We only had a 1-hr layover, and decided to drink a coke and not much more. One can pretty much eat any type of food in the terminal - it's extremely well catered for. After checking in we were driven by bus to our next plane, which turned out to be Qatar's 100th aircraft. The business class section in the 777-200LR is even smaller than on its larger -300 counterpart, with only a forward section.


A glass of Lanson Brut to start off the flight again

Tempting your Palate
- Eel harumaki nou salsa

On request
- Chicken Kofta Salad
- Classic Arabic Mezze
- Beef fillet wrap in turkey bacon with hollandaise sauce
- Arabic spiced lamb wrap
- Woke fried scallops and shrimp in yue xiang sauce
- Individual cheese plate of mature cheddar, fourme d'arribert and brie le maubert
- Freshly baked cookies

Bakery basket
- granary, herb, cereal baguette, tomato and basil roll

Relax and Unwind
- cappuccino, espresso, cafe latte, machiato, american, decaffeinated
- ceylon, ceylon spice chai, chamomile, earl grey, english breakfast, jasmine, mint, oolong, rooibos, sanche green.

(the beverage and wine menu was identical to the previous flight)

Despite such a great menu, we both had no intention of eating. Airlines really expose you to huge amounts of food and we were still full from the previous flight.

After a short taxi we were off, probably for the last time from the old Doha Airport. After a sharp right turn we settled at 37,000 feet. Both of us ordered our breakfast for the next morning and closed our window blinds. We then ordered a cup of hot chamomile tea and drank a sleeping pill. Within half an hour, we were settled back into a full recline with a blanket and comfortable pillow. After five hours of sleep and two hours before landing the stewardess woke us as we requested to start the breakfast service.







Breakfast...

To revive
- raspberry and lychee smoothie
- freshly squeezed orange juice
- laban

To commence
- toasted muesli
- nobu fruit plate
- breakfast plate of prawn and gravlax

To follow
- banana chocolate crepe
- cheddar cheese omelette, potato cake, mushrooms, herb roma tomato and chicken sausage
- stir fried cuttle fish in yue xiang sauce
- arabic breakfast plate

- bread basket as mentioned before
- beverages as mentioned before


fresh orange juice


muesli


fruit plate


omelette and sides, with cappuccino


Flying over China




On smoggy finals...

Some spotting at PVG...








Past customs


Taking the bullet train into Shanghai


Not bad!



Another great Qatar flight and at last we were in Shanghai...!

SAtraveller

Thank you for the kind words Isaifa. There is a bus allocated primarily for business class passengers and an entire terminal too. Qatar's treatment of its premium passengers is outstanding.

Thank you themapelligroup!

I will try... it's difficult while enjoy a holiday in the East Thanks again

You won't regret flying Qatar, SgtRyan... I certainly didn't

malkie

Stunning report so far. QR soft J product looks amazing.

stevie

Awesome TR. Look forward to the rest.

SAtraveller

3. Waldorf-Astoria Shanghai

After arriving in Shanghai, we were transferred to our hotel. We had booked a small package that included a trip on the Shanghai Maglev and then a taxi to the Waldorf.



Hilariously, on checking in, our room was upgraded because of our status with BA i.e. Blue. This miraculous and amusing trend followed us through many of our hotels in Asia.

Our upgrade merely changed the room into a harbour-facing one, but it was appreciated and the view was very beautiful.




















The room at night

We only stayed in Shanghai for one night, but we found the hotel to be extremely beautiful and the room to be one of the most luxurious standard rooms we have ever encountered. The staff were professional and friendly.

Some views of the lobby...








We ordered some sandwiches for dinner that night. Though nicely presented, the price was iniquitous.

Reading this makes me realize that I didn't explain the backstory of why we travelled all the way up to Shanghai for one night. Well, Qatar only flies the A330 to Beijing whereas they provide a 777 for the Shanghai route. QR's A330 business class is slightly diminished on the A330 due to the lack of lie-flat seats. Perhaps this decision was a bit psychotic, but we were glad to catch a glimpse of Shanghai, and one can always admit to this sort of insanity on Flyertalk without fear of embarrassment.

4. Sights of Shanghai

That night we decided to walk along the Bund. It was bitterly cold and we were still struggling to adapt coming from a warm summery country. The skyline was electric and we enjoyed every minute.






















Morning view of Shanghai

5. High speed train from Shanghai to Beijing in business class

After a quick checkout, we took a taxi to Hongqiao airport, which took about 40 minutes in the heavy traffic.


TV in the taxi

The railway station is right next to Hongqiao airport. The building is very large and filled with travelers.






Thousands of people waiting for their trains

By now we were getting hungry and made our way through the various restaurants available at the station. We decided that Starbucks was too rich for this time of the day, and settled on some very tasty dim sum for breakfast. We also received a hot milky drink with it but found it difficult to stomach and threw it away... some internet research later found it to be sweetened soybean milk (dou jiang).





Fifteen minutes before departure the floodgates opened and everyone descended to the train in an orderly way.

We had been looking forward to this 1,318km journey over 4h48 minutes on the flagship G2 train, and we weren't disappointed.



There are 3 classes of service
- 2nd class
- 1st class (more space)
- Business class (most space)

You will rarely find a business class that is better than a first class, but here it is. The tickets are substantially more expensive than both other classes, but in this case you get a fully flat and very comfortable seat that exceeds many airline seats.

The cabin had only five seats (though there was another larger business cabin further back), and was beautifully furnished and very classy.


Our neighbour









Our stewardess appeared and greeted us, and poured us some green tea and gave us a pack of sweets, some of which were tasty, others not so much.





At exactly 09:00 we were off, and soon up to cruising speed. The journey is very smooth, except when you pass another oncoming train that jolts the cabin, which occurs about twenty times. We also discovered that we were, in fact, not in the front of the cabin, but in the rear, and travelled backwards for the entirety of the journey - but it made no difference and was great fun.

Like many aviation seats, there are presets for upright, relax and lie flat, and the stewardess provides blankets but not pillows. The scenery is relatively uninteresting but the journey is peaceful and great for reading a book or getting some work done. Claims by some websites that there is WiFi on board seemed unfounded, as my Ipad and Iphone could pick up nothing, though perhaps I didn't do it correctly.






The comfortable small cabin



The train stops after about an hour for a quick stop, but the journey is essentially non-stop, or the least non-stop you can get (other trains stop more).

Two hours before arrival we were offered a heated packed lunch which I'd read wasn't so nice, and it wasn't. Perhaps I'm not accustomed to the food but it was heavily spiced and I didn't know what some of it was. I'm definitely not a fan of egg and seaweed soup! I also messed gravy on my pants, but only I can be blamed for my infancy.





Some scenery...





We arrived at Beijing station exactly on time, and made our way to our transfer to the Hilton Beijing Wangfujing.





Although a business class train ticket will set you back about double that of a first class ticket, it really is a nice experience and I would recommend it to anybody who feels the need to indulge. China's high speed rail service is efficient and comfortable and a good alternative to flying.

SAtraveller

Thank you malkie... QR has been one of my favourite airline experiences so far.

Thank you for the kind words, stevie.

ZFW-ATC

Excellent TR so far. Look forward to the rest..

Eric

stevie

I stayed at the Waldorf with my wife last year and for me it is simplly the best hotel I have ever stayed in.

moondog

It seems that you were in VIP (or sightseeing) class, which is actually somewhat cheaper than normal business class for some reason (I've never been able to get one of those 5 seats myself).

You're right that the train food is god awful. People never seem to believe me about this until they experience it first hand.

SAtraveller

6. Hilton Beijing Wangfujing

We were met by the driver of the Hilton who drove us back to our hotel. Arranging a transfer with a hotel is often pricy but you have to balance it with how little you know the city and how much you feel like struggling after a long flight (or train ride).















The hotel was very nicely decorated and the staff were polite and courteous. Once again we were upgraded to a bigger room because we were BA blue status (LOL again).

The room was really spacious and a real treat to stay in. The bathroom and separate walk-in closets were excellent too.











Overall it was a really excellent hotel. As the name says its right on Wangfujing road, and close to some attractions. We loved our stay at the place.