ethan777

Cambodia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and a taste of San Francisco




The idea for the trip originated over a year ago. My dad suggested taking me on a missions trip to Cambodia with the NGO he worked for. Of course, I was all over that idea. As the months went on and we discussed the plan for our trip, we decided to add on Hong Kong and Singapore to our itinerary, as well as San Francisco. As an aviation enthusiast, the flights were espically important, even more so considering the fact we would be flying 12+hour long hauls, and in economy. That being said, just a quick warning. There will most certainly be no Krug, lounge access, or fully flat beds. But there will be one heck of a trip that I had an amazing time on.

The missions trip was a youth team, made of up youth from all over Canada. Contrary to what the term 'missions trip' may mean to you, we did not go to convert people or tell them what they believe is wrong. A lot of the trip was spent building water filters in the most rural areas of Cambodia, in order to give people clean water. Later in the report you will get to see just how dirty the water is, and just how clean it is when it comes out of the filter. Anyways, enough of the blabber, here is the report!

Flight 1
Date: July 3rd, 2014
Airline: Cathay Pacific (CX)
Flight: 889
Route: Vancouver (YVR to Hong Kong (HKG)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER

<a href="http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/Ethan_Stokes/media/DSC_0048_zps7bcd8666.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a581/Ethan_Stokes/DSC_0048_zps7bcd8666.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC_0048_zps7bcd8666.jpg"/></a>
Our Aircraft (B-KPR)


Our routing


Triple Heaven (HKG)


Yikes. This was the worst Y flight of my life. I have had much better Y flights on AA for goodness sake. First of all, the flight left 4 hours flight. By the time we finally left YVR I was totally exsausted, and the last thing I was thinking about was taking pictures. (as much as I wanted to)

The FA's were totally disinterested. On both of the meal services my bread and half my food was missing. I had been awake for so long at this point I didn't even care. Between the two meal services there was one drink run. That left me the option of hitting the call button and waiting 20 minutes for a water or heading to the galley. I was seated in an aisle seat (economy class) and was elbowed several times by flight attendants running down the aisle, prior to takeoff and landing. The food was downright terrible. On my DragonAir flight I received better food.
However, there was one very sweet flight attendant in the galley who kept offering me snacks and drinks, and I had a nice conversation with her about my travels. She seemed to love her job. Sadly I could not say the same for the other flight attendants. Besides being elbowed by several of them, they were not actively rude. They just did not seem to care. But at the same time, I feel like I must touch on the positives of the flight. The seat comfort was the best I have had in economy class, and the entertainment options were wonderful. Never once was I uncomfortable in the seat. Also, there was a great variety of snacks in the galley to choose from. Props to CX for that. I realize that many airlines these days are going for 3-4-3 in their 777's, and I thank Cathay for keeping a 3-3-3 configuration. That being sad, I found the hard product excellent. (seat and entertainment), the soft product (service and food) was not very good at all.

Once again, I am really sorry for the lack of pictures. I was just to tired.

Transit in Hong Kong
Our transit in Hong Kong was originally supposed to be about 9 hours, but as we know that never happened due to the lengthy 4 hour delay. I had been to HKG once before, and what a great airport. Transit security was quick and efficient, absolutely painless. It is easy to find your way around, signage is great, and the aircraft spotting is great. My only complaint is that there should be a greater choice of food outlets. I didn't take many pictures in HKG this time, but I took plenty on my next flight out of HKG only a couple weeks later.

Flight 2
Date: July 4th, 2014
Airline: DragonAir (KA)
Flight: 206
Route: Hong Kong (HKG) to Phnom Pehn (PNH)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300


Remote gate for today

Personally, I was really happy about being assigned a remote gate. We got a nice bus tour of the tarmac, driving right under the wings of several 77W's.






HKG after depature


Great IFE system for the short hop to PNH


Boarding pass, issued many hours ago in YVR


My dad's meal

Having already eaten at the airport, I decided to skip on the meal. Plus I had some additional snacks in my carry-on.


Attempting to be artistic


Convenient USB port


Kinda sorta almost there


Prepping for arrival

The service was prompt, efficient, and done with a smile. I can't really say that much on the service being such a short flight, though.


During descent into PNH, spotted a rainbow!


About 5 minutes out from PNH.

We had a very bumpy approach, flew right into a rather large rainstorm. The weather was crazy! The Aussie pilot managed a fantastic landing considering the weather conditions.


Driving through the streets of Phnom Pehn was immediate culture shock for us. We saw 7 people on a single motorbike! It turns out the rainstorm had caused the streets to flood. I really didn't manage to get great pictures to capture what it looked like, but I think 'utter chaos' just about describes it.


The next day we got to visit the Killing Fields. This was the site where thousands of innocent Cambodians were killed during the revolution. They died in horrific ways. It was a very somber place.


There was a very tall monuments stacked all the way to the top with bones of the victims. Bullet holes were very prevalent amongst the skulls.


That night we got the chance to try tarantula. (fried) I would say about 60% of us did it. Honestly, it tasted like fried chicken. They included a dipping sauce, so if the taste/texture put you off there was something for you.


A real tarantula was brought out afterward, many let it crawl on them. I passed.


The following morning we walked over to the Royal Palace from our hotel. Beautiful palace.



The next day we drove out to the community we would be working in, in the province of Kompong Chang. (I believe that's how it is spelt? )

We stayed at a local church, where we dined on the local cuisine prepared by the wives of the church staff. Regretfully I didn't get any pics of the food, but it was delicious! The people were so kind and welcoming to us. We were the first white people they had ever seen. Initially they were skeptical, but quickly warmed up to us. We slept on the floor in the church, using mosquito tents and small mattress pads. And no, there was no wi-fi. We stayed here 5 nights, before heading to Siem Reap for the weekend and then heading back for another 4 nights.


Myself helping to install a water filter


Angor Wat was incredible. Besides the thousands of tourists, that it.





The night markets in Siem Reap were really cool. Some awesome finds in there. We found a legit North Face store where I bought myself a jacket for $95CAD, normally retails for $400 back in Canada. What a steal! Beware though, you will have shopkeepers clambering for you to buy something from them. You just have to simply learn to ignore them instead of saying no thanks.


Night Market


On our last day out in the community we got a chance to see a working school filter. Awesome to see all the kids fill their bottles with clean water.


Here is the comparison of their standard well water to the treated water from the filter. It was great to play a small part in improving their lives, by installing filters.



On our very last day in the province, we got a chance to work as rice farmers for one hour to experience what these people do 12 hours, every day. Backbreaking work!


The pros at work

All in all, Cambodia was an absolutely amazing experience. If you are heading to SE Asia, add Cambodia to your list! Beautiful country. It was also great to head to the 'unseen' parts of the country. It felt surreal knowing we were the first white people they had ever seen. The kids were lovely to play with, and not spoiled brats like (sadly) some kids are today. After 15 days with each other we had to part ways with the team. We flew to Hong Kong together, where me and my dad 'got off', while they caught the CX flight back to YVR.

[FONT="Arial Black"]KA209 to HKG!/FONT]
Now, onto the good stuff

Flight 3
Date: July 18th, 2014
Airline: DragonAir (KA)
Flight: 209
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300

After a typical drive through Phnom Pehn (which involved our driver honking non stop and almost getting rear ended 5 times) we safely arrived at PNH. I was actually expecting less from the airport, so I suppose you could say I was impressed. Check in was prompt, and we were handed our boarding passes with our requested seats.



Seats were hard to come by after security, which resulted in us finding our own area on the floor. Food outlets were sparse, and duty free shopping seemed to outrule anything else.



I never got a photo of our aircraft, but I'm sure most of you know what an A330 looks like

Boarding was... chaotic. Once the business class boarding call was made everyone in the gate area stampeded to the gate. (needless to say, 90% of them were mainland Chinese) Interestingly, the gate agent never turned away any white eco pax were attempting to board through the business class lane. We waited until most of the line was gone and then headed through. The aircraft seemed to be newer then the outbound flight, featuring the newer style overhead bins.

We were delayed 20 minutes on the ground in PNH due to Typhoon R-something. The nervous flyers in our group were not particularly
happy to hear that.

I initially had a window seat but several rows behind us were empty to I opted to sit at an aisle seat with a team member.






It tasted better then it looked...


On the way!


PTV

All in all, not very different from the previous flight. Aircraft was obviously newer and much cleaner then the prior flight, in all honestly not really sure if it was recently refurbished or was a newer delivery. It had the newer style overhead bins.

Regardless of the fact there was a typhoon approach was very normal, however about at about 500 feet things got pretty bumpy. There was a school group on our flight, we had two younger girls seated behind us. Their exaggerated screams hampered my attempts at filming a landing video.

Oh well.

We bid our goodbyes to the teams as they headed to transfer security before boarding the CX flight to YVR. We made our way to arrivals where immigration was quick and effortless. We picked up our bags and boarded the airport express to Kowloon.

Hong Kong

My second time here, and HK still remains my favorite city in the world. The city just has this awesome vibe to it. The MTR line is extreme quick, it is ridiculous easy to find your way around and get on a train. Couple that with an Octopus card and you are set.

We spent the first two nights at the Royal Plaza in Kowloon, the following two nights at the Harbor Grand Hong Kong, and our final night at the Sky City Marriott located at the airport.



Did plenty of exploring and sightseeing in Hong Kong. Tried some awesome food, hit the night markets, Star Ferry, etc. If you haven't gone, GO!

SQ: A great way to fly!

Finally, the time for our SQ flights came. Oh, I was excited! Ok, now I am going to be called crazy for being excited about a Y flight..

We had an early wake up call for our STD of 8:00AM. We hopped on the airport shuttle and made our way to the airport. We were the first Y pax to check in for the flight. Security, as usual by now, was very quick and easy.


Our aircraft parked at Gate 28.

My dad made a few phone calls while I walked around the airport a bit and did some plane spotting.


Crap photo of CX's OW 77W livery.


In all honestly, was to lazy to walk all the way down to get a better picture of the Asia World City 77W. Got a much better pic while taxing.


Uh oh.. a CX catering truck at our plane. Let's hope its not the same food CX serves in Y.


Look at the loonng terminal. HKG never fails to impress. Take note of the beautiful Singapore Girls arriving.

Not much later boarding was announced. Everyone listened to the announcements and lined up in the correct rows. Very orderly. Was in the first group of Y pax to board. Was greeted at the door by the very welcoming LSS.
"Welcome aboard Mr. Stokes, to your right please."

Quite a nice feeling after my recent CX experience...
Let's hope the warm welcome is a sign of good things to come!

Embarrassingly, I have to trudge past the J cabin on the way to my seat. Nothing quite stirs up jealously among an FTer like having to pass through the J cabin, watching them sip on their PDB, stretching out and reading their newspapers while heading back to Y...

Soon enough I make my way to my seat, 37A.


Nice window view for today.


The PTV is an adequate size at 10.1 inches. SQ does turn on their IFE until after takeoff.


Settling into the cabin as boarding continues.


After boarding is completed the SQ girls distribute menus. ^ to SQ for handing out menus in Y.


Our aircraft today is 6 years old. There is some wear and tear, but just aesthetic.


USB port is quick and easy to find for charging your device.


Pretty standard IFE remote.


Switch off phone!


Not to long and we are pushing back, Captain announces a flight time of just under four hours to Singapore today.


Safety video.


Some great planespotting as we taxi. Finally caught a good pic of the Spirit of HK.


Almost at the runway...


After a pretty quick takeoff we are off into the rather smoggy sky.


Breakfast is offered on this flight.



IFE is turned on. Nice screen size and the resolution is of a very high quality. Take note that the screen is not touch screen, instead the IFE is controlled exclusively by the remote.


Convenient cupholder.


Photo credits to my dad. Enjoying my SQ flight already


Not exactly what I would call mood lighting...


Wing view just before breakfast..


I decide to go for the Asian option. One of the best Y meals I have ever had. Muffin was moist and delicous, fruit was great. Main was awesome as well.

The FA's are very graceful in their service. Instead of the rather typical "Chicken or beef?" I am asked "What may I offer you for breakfast sir?" I ask her for her recommendation and she encourages me to try the Asian option. Might as well!


Love the signature 777 interior!


Halfway!

I spent quite a bit of time editing picture from Hong Kong and Cambodia. This is the first time I've had to sit down quietly for a while after all the things we did in HK.

Singapore Airlines offers wi-fi on board this flight however as I was just editing pictures I did not need it. Besides, I have heard it is quite slow.

There is a convenient reading light located at the bottom of the IFE screen. Very convenient.


Boarding pass.


All to soon we are beginning our descent into Singapore.

I will give a more comprehensive review on the KrisWorld IFE system on the next segments. Didn't really get a chance to on this flight.


Up ahead, the J cabin. Not for us today.


Landing into SIN is uneventful and smooth.


This guy stalked us all the way from HKG...


Economy cabin as we were disembarking. As I said earlier I will do a much more comprehensive review on the seat on my next two segments.

As we were exiting I asked a flight attendant If I may be able to visit the cockpit. She very kindly asks me to wait a minute and goes to ask the LSS who is helping Y pax get their bags out of the overhead bins. Without even looking at her, the LSS simply says "no" pretty sternly. I am not totally sure what SQ's policy on Flight deck visits are after landing but I was pretty disappointed after I was denied also on my CX flight. Oh well.

Immigration does not take long at all and soon we are out of the airport.

Thanks for reading the first part, coming up next is our SIN-NRT-LAX segment on the A380, as well as a Day in Singapore. Hope you enjoyed the first pat, any constructive feedback is welcome for this amateur TR'r.


Coming up next....

TOMFORD

Wonderful trip report so far, I am looking forward to the rest ^

dakid23

Great Stuff! ^

My wife and I stayed at the Grand Plaza 4 years ago.

prolixindec

Great trip report so far! I feel your pain with that Cathay trip; I flew from Chicago to Beijing in coach on AA, and I felt like I was bent into an uncomfortable pretzel for the whole 14 hours. Since then I started doing everything I could to collect miles for upgrades. But I digress...

The food on SQ looked really good! Of course, I'm a sucker for Asian food. What were the best things you ate in Cambodia?

I'm looking forward to the rest of your story.

bluegreentravel

Good report! ^^^ Great to have Economy reports - which to me is as interesting as J and F...

P.S. - It seems that FTers are getting younger and younger, no? Or I'm just getting older

arlflyer

Nice TR. SQ Y food looks great!

Guessing you are below the age for credit card signups; once that hits it will be game on. You'll be doing this one in SQ F next time around!

dat4life

A great start to the report, Ethan! Looking forward to the rest.

ethan777

Thank you very much agp423!

ethan777

Thanks for your kinds words dakid23!

Honestly, we were really disappointed with the hotel at the price we paid. The room was nice enough (we had two queen beds), but the service was really terrible. The staff just didn't seem to care. The Harbour Grand was much, much better.

ethan777

Thanks prolixindec!
Luckily I had chosen an aisle seat in the forward Y cabin, so I was able to get in and out at my choice. But the legroom was, well, terrible. I am 6'1-2ish and I found it really uncomfortable. Yes, I know I am tall but it was very squishy.

I have a load of Aeroplan miles now, which I plan to use for a business class award ticket for a trip to Europe next year. Can't wait!
Khmer cuisine was really good. I enjoyed the food quite a bit that we ate in Cambodia. Khmer cuisine is definitely unique for Asian food, imo. The soups were actually excellent, and I enjoyed the various fish dishes.

ethan777

Thanks bluegreentravel!
I think there is really only a small percentage of us who actually do a lot of reading on air travel, mileage runs, mistake fares, credit card sign up bonuses etc. Thus I think there is certainly a need for Y reports for the people who really couldn't care less about those types of things and are perfectly fine in their Y seat. Next trip will be J for me thanks to some Aeroplan miles

Haha, sure depends on how you look at it. I wouldn't call myself a complete FTer yet- need to do a mileage run or two before I can say that.

ethan777

Thanks arlflyer!

Can't wait! Once I do... you'll never be able to stop me. It really is fustrating to read all these articles and TR's describing how they got their points and what not... when I'm legal age I'll be on it though. Getting myself ahead of the pack, I guess you could say.

ethan777

Thank you very much dat4life!

Loved your latest TR, by the way. Thanks for making me jealous, ahaha. One day, for me.

Hopefully Part 2 will be up tomorrow- just wasn't so happy with the quality of the photos on the previous part, so I am trying to work that out for the next one. Stay tuned!

xenole

Nice report. Good to see you getting out of some tourist areas and seeing the real Cambodia

offerendum

Great and very interesting report! Thanks!