Meal SIN-CGK

LIGHT MEAL

Main Courses

Fried chilli prawns Singapore style, seasonal Chinese leafy greens, carrots with young corn and steamed rice

Nasi padang - Indonesian style steamed rice with beef rendang, grilled spiced chicken, steamed fish souffle and mixed vegetables

Bakced chicken with shiitake stuffing in pesto dressing, roasted vegetables and new potatoes

Dessert

Apple pie with raisins and cinnamon

From the Bakery

Oven fresh rolls with a choice of extra virginb olive oil or butter

Garlic bread

Hot Beverages

Freshly brewed coffee

Selection of tea

What a great way to sum up the spirit of FT

Meal CGK-SIN

LUNCH

Main Courses

Lamb biryani - lamb curry with Indian style saffron flavoured biryani rice and vegetable pickles

Stir fried beef with onions in preserved black bean sauce, selected vegetables and steamed rice

Pan roasted seabass served with lobster sauce, cream of spinach and buttered potato

Fresh Fruit

A selection of fresh fruit

Dessert

Pineapple and raisin crumble

From the Bakery

Oven fresh rolls with a choice of extra virginb olive oil or butter

Garlic bread

Hot Beverages

Freshly brewed coffee

Selection of tea

Menu SIN-BKK

DINNER

Appetisers

Smoked salmon fillet served with sliced onion, capers, baby lettuces and mustard dill dressing

Main Courses

Stuffed sole fillet with chanterelle mushrooms, sauteed pea shoots, asparagus and fingerling potatoes

Pan fried chicken breast served with creamy garlic sauce, braised Savoy cabbage with bacon and anise seeds, gourmet potato

Wok fried beef in black bean sauce served with braised beancurd and vegetables, steamed rice

Fresh Fruit

A selection of fresh fruit

From the Bakery

Oven fresh rolls with a choice of extra virgin olive oil or butter

Garlic bread

Hot Beverages

Freshly brewed coffee

Espresso or cappuccino

Selection of tea


BEVERAGES

Special Cocktail

Citrus Royale

Cocktails

Singapore Sling
Silver Kris Sling
Gin Fizz
Cloud Nine
Screwdriver
Bloody Mary
Daiquiri
Red or White Wine Cooler

Aperitifs

Campari
Dry Vermouth

Non-alcoholic Cocktails

Tropical Sparkle
Orange Cooler
Golden Spice
Fruit Spritzer
Sunrise Surprise

Spirits

Bombay Sapphire Gin
Cognac XO - Hennessy
Chivas Royal Salute Scotch Whisky
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
Macallan 12 years old Single Malt Whisky
Smirnoff Red Label Vodka
Bacardi Carta Blanca

Liqueurs

Cointreau
Tia Maria
Baileys Original Irish Cream

Beer

International selection

Champagne

Dom Perignon 1998
Krug Grande Cuvee

White Wines

Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2004 Dr Loosen
Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spatlese 2004 Josef Leitz
Chablis Premier Cru Les Beauroys 2000 Domaine Laroche

Red Wines

Chateau Cos D'Estournel 1998 Saint-Estephe
Morey-Saint-Denis 1999 Joseph Drouhin

Port

Dow's 20 Year Old Tawny Port

Tea Selection

Pure Ceylon Tea
Earl Grey
Darjeeling
Camomile
Decaffeinated Tea
Mint Tea
Fruit Tea
Japanese Green Tea

Chinese Tea Selection

Jasmine

Gourmet Coffees

Brazil Santos Bourbon
Colombian Supremo
Jamaican Blue Mountain
Kenyan AA Kilimanjaro

Specialty Coffees

Brewed Coffee
Cafe Royal
Espresso
Cappuccino
Cafe Latte
Cafe au Lait
Decaffeinated Coffee
Mocha

Other Beverages

Chocolate
Ovaltine
Milo

Mineral Water

Carbonated Mineral Water
Non-carbonated Mineral Water

Fruit Juices

Apple
Orange
Pineapple
Tomato

Soft Drinks

A range of regular or low-calorie drinks is available

Iced Drinks

Iced Fruit Tea
Iced Mint Tea
Iced Coffee
Iced Mocha
Iced Chocolate
Iced Ovaltine
Iced Milo

Menu BKK-NRT

SUPPER

Appetisers

Sliced smoked duck, marinated artichoke, heart of romaine lettuce, caesar dressing

Soup

Cantonese style lotus root soup with peanuts and pork

Main Courses

Braised beef cheek in red wine, buttered asparagus-fava, saffron new potatoes

Udon noodles in rich chicken stock garnished with sliced slow poached chicken and shimeji mushroom

Gindara teriyaki

Cheese

Selection of cheese with garnishes

Fresh Fruit

A selection of fresh fruit

Dessert

Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream with citrus salad

From the Bakery

Oven fresh rolls with a choice of extra virgin olive oil or butter

Garlic bread

Hot Beverages

Freshly brewed coffee

Espresso or cappuccino

Selection of tea


BEVERAGES

Special Cocktail

Citrus Royale

Cocktails

Singapore Sling
Silver Kris Sling
Gin Fizz
Cloud Nine
Screwdriver
Bloody Mary
Daiquiri
Red or White Wine Cooler

Aperitifs

Campari
Dry Vermouth

Non-alcoholic Cocktails

Tropical Sparkle
Orange Cooler
Golden Spice
Fruit Spritzer
Sunrise Surprise

Spirits

Bombay Sapphire Gin
Cognac XO - Hennessy
Chivas Royal Salute Scotch Whisky
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
Macallan 12 years old Single Malt Whisky
Smirnoff Red Label Vodka
Bacardi Carta Blanca
Premium Ginjo Sake Tamanohikari

Liqueurs

Cointreau
Tia Maria
Baileys Original Irish Cream

Beer

International selection

Champagne

Dom Perignon 1998
Krug Grande Cuvee

White Wines

Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2004 Dr Loosen
Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spatlese 2004 Josef Leitz
Chablis Premier Cru Les Beauroys 2000 Domaine Laroche

Red Wines

Chateau Cos D'Estournel 1998 Saint-Estephe
Morey-Saint-Denis 1999 Joseph Drouhin

Port

Dow's 20 Year Old Tawny Port

Tea Selection

Pure Ceylon Tea
Earl Grey
Darjeeling
Camomile
Decaffeinated Tea
Mint Tea
Fruit Tea
Japanese Green Tea

Chinese Tea Selection

Jasmine

Gourmet Coffees

Brazil Santos Bourbon
Colombian Supremo
Jamaican Blue Mountain
Kenyan AA Kilimanjaro

Specialty Coffees

Brewed Coffee
Cafe Royal
Espresso
Cappuccino
Cafe Latte
Cafe au Lait
Decaffeinated Coffee
Mocha

Other Beverages

Chocolate
Ovaltine
Milo

Mineral Water

Carbonated Mineral Water
Non-carbonated Mineral Water

Fruit Juices

Apple
Orange
Pineapple
Tomato

Soft Drinks

A range of regular or low-calorie drinks is available

Iced Drinks

Iced Fruit Tea
Iced Mint Tea
Iced Coffee
Iced Mocha
Iced Chocolate
Iced Ovaltine
Iced Milo

SOUTH

Having finally made the gate we deplane and I head to transfers. Since they were unable to issue onward boarding passes in SIN for some obscure technical reason (they normally would be issued no problem), I had to show my itinerary to security. 5 seconds later I'm heading down the escalator to a deserted departure level. Due to the overnight curfew and lack of super early flights the terminal doesn't start waking up until about 8am.

I do my usual NRT thing by walking all the way to the far end and back a couple of times - these laps take much longer than SEA(!). While doing so I notice someone else is also doing a turnaround on SQ and trying in vain to find when the transfer desk opens. I let him know it wont be until after 8am. After another lap of the terminal - it is now time for the lounge to open.

So I head up to the Silver Kris Lounge. I don't have a boarding pass to show, but they look up my card number and see my onward flights - we'll sort these out for you Kiwi Flyer, why don't you go into the lounge on the right? Thanks!

I log on to check some emails - the connection seems to have gotten faster since I was last here a couple of months ago. I also have some Fauchon ice cream - sadly no green tea flavour for quite some time. In a couple of months (or less) the SKL is going. The *A airlines (except Air New Zealand due to its codeshare with Japan Airlines) are relocating to a common area of the terminal and there will be a new large *A lounge (UA RCC will stay). So this will probably be my last visit.

The lounge is fairly empty - no more than half a dozen people, and so I am sure the load on the flight back will be light. Boarding is called quite late and takes no time at all. Onboard I see I'm the only one in F, and even business class only has a few pax. The crew seem to have an extra bounce in their step, knowing this will be an easy flight for them.

We push back slightly early. Fortunately the runway has changed so we don't have a monster taxi again. We had very strong headwinds back to Bangkok, at times our groundspeed was only 600kmh, with a long flight time (for this route) of 8 hours. Despite this there was no significant turbulence. It did seem to go on forever, or perhaps that was my ever increasing tiredness. At least I was enjoying the pampering in F rather than cramped in Y. I decided to stretch out the meal since there was no need to rush - I made it last for several hours by taking a break between each course.

Even though the schedule does allow for the prevailing head winds on this route, naturally we arrive very late into Bangkok.

Kiwi Flyer do ever eat anything other than airline food?

Sure - I do have some days when I'm not flying

Note that all of this extensive menu was loaded (in amazing quantities) despite being the only F pax.


Menu NRT-BKK

LUNCH

Canapes

Satay

Appetisers

Chilled malossol caviar

Assorted tapas of duckliver with fig compote, "tataki" salmon with wasabi cream and lobster with mango salsa

Soup

Hamasui - Japanese style clear soup with clams and vegetables

Cream of white asparagus garnished with parmesan crisp

Salad

Caesar salad

Main Courses

Grilled swordfish served with lemon caper butter, ragout of mussel and vegetables, buttered potato

Braised chicken with ginger and spring onion served with seasonal vegetables and steamed rice

Roasted herb crusted lamb chops served with pommery mustard sauce, roasted vegetables and gratin potato

Fettuchine pasta served with strogonoff style assorted mushrooms and selected vegetables

Cheese

Selection of cheese with garnishes

Fresh Fruit

A selection of fresh fruit

Dessert

Haagen Dazs vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream served with berry compote and pistachio nut

From the Bakery

Oven fresh rolls with a choice of extra virgin olive oil or butter

Garlic bread

Hot Beverages

Freshly brewed coffee

Espresso or cappuccino

Selection of tea

Pralines

To end on a sweet note


KYO-KAISEKI

Sakizuke

Marinated radish, carrot and crabmeat

Ha-Sun

Flavoured omelette, prawn sushi, bracken, octopus, rape blossom

Mukouzuke

Rolled sea bream with kelp, garland chrysanthemum

Men

Cold noodles

Dainomono

Grilled yuan miso flavoured black cod, butterbur sprout

Takiawase

Simmered lobster with miso and yuzu citrus

Suzakana

Nagaimo yam and mozuku seaweed with sea urchin

Gohan & Kounomono

Steamed rice and pickles

Tome-Wan

Clear soup with mugwort curd and bamboo shoot

Mizugashi

Japanese dessert

Ocha

Green tea


BEVERAGES

Special Cocktail

Citrus Royale

Cocktails

Singapore Sling
Silver Kris Sling
Gin Fizz
Cloud Nine
Screwdriver
Bloody Mary
Daiquiri
Red or White Wine Cooler

Aperitifs

Campari
Dry Vermouth

Non-alcoholic Cocktails

Tropical Sparkle
Orange Cooler
Golden Spice
Fruit Spritzer
Sunrise Surprise

Spirits

Bombay Sapphire Gin
Cognac XO - Hennessy
Chivas Royal Salute Scotch Whisky
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
Macallan 12 years old Single Malt Whisky
Smirnoff Red Label Vodka
Bacardi Carta Blanca
Premium Ginjo Sake Tamanohikari

Liqueurs

Cointreau
Tia Maria
Baileys Original Irish Cream

Beer

International selection

Champagne

Dom Perignon 1998
Krug Grande Cuvee

White Wines

Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2004 Dr Loosen
Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spatlese 2004 Josef Leitz
Chablis Premier Cru Les Beauroys 2000 Domaine Laroche

Red Wines

Chateau Cos D'Estournel 1998 Saint-Estephe
Morey-Saint-Denis 1999 Joseph Drouhin

Port

Dow's 20 Year Old Tawny Port

Tea Selection

Pure Ceylon Tea
Earl Grey
Darjeeling
Camomile
Decaffeinated Tea
Mint Tea
Fruit Tea
Japanese Green Tea

Chinese Tea Selection

Jasmine

Gourmet Coffees

Brazil Santos Bourbon
Colombian Supremo
Jamaican Blue Mountain
Kenyan AA Kilimanjaro

Specialty Coffees

Brewed Coffee
Cafe Royal
Espresso
Cappuccino
Cafe Latte
Cafe au Lait
Decaffeinated Coffee
Mocha

Other Beverages

Chocolate
Ovaltine
Milo

Mineral Water

Carbonated Mineral Water
Non-carbonated Mineral Water

Fruit Juices

Apple
Orange
Pineapple
Tomato

Soft Drinks

A range of regular or low-calorie drinks is available

Iced Drinks

Iced Fruit Tea
Iced Mint Tea
Iced Coffee
Iced Mocha
Iced Chocolate
Iced Ovaltine
Iced Milo

SOUTH continued

Due to the late arrival, my comfortable connection became a short one, indeed the aircraft for the onward flight was already parked up at the gate. However I just had enough time for a quick visit to the lounge for a shower to freshen up (note the NRT SKL has no shower). Same drill as before, but this time I rush rather than dawdle. Make it to the next gate as they are boarding - perfect timing.

I managed to schedule in the one SQ daily 747 service between SIN and BKK, so a sky suite for this short flight. After the excesses of the previous flight I just dozed as best I could.

Back in Singapore a couple of hours later and it was back to the lounge to pick up my last boarding pass. Then hop online and see that ciotog was in the Raffles side so I invite him to join me on the First side. By coincidence we were on the same flight down to Auckland.

We head to the gate slightly early. For a nice change I dont set off the WTMD - the SIN ones are usually set too sensitive and even something as minor as a small metal badge on my passport cover is enough to set them off. This one must be set to lesser sensitivity. They used to do passport check at the entrance to the gate lounge, but this lead to queues snaking down the corridor. So in the past several months they moved the passport check to inside the gate lounge between screening and the boarding pass read/gate agent desk. However they are much slower at checking than the other parts of the process, and so a melee forms that fills the limited available space between WTMD and the passport checkers. I think the process needs changing again as it is not working well.

Anyway, by the time clear that boarding is already well progressed and onto the second batch of economy pax. This is unusual for the SQ flights to NZ since boarding usually starts quite late due to the requirements to forward passenger details to NZ immigration. The flight is full and they are eager to get away on time.

Flight time down to Auckland is longer than usual thanks to an unusual routing. We head more easterly than normal to avoid Java and the volcano that is threatening to erupt, then turn sharply south to cross the Australian coast over the Kimberleys, to avoid severe cyclone Monica (winds up to 360kmh) which is just to the east of Darwin. We cross the eastern coast by Sydney, further south than usual.

As I'm feeling more than a little tired I sleep as much as I can on the flight, and wake just as we approach New Zealand. Auckland is having thundery showers, so the low circle over the city to land from the east is quite bumpy. We land quite late but surprisingly immigration queues are small. The baggage claim area however is busy with the various asian flights having arrived in the past hour, and so I'm glad to scoot straight past. Customs and agriculture x-rays have a small queue at each but I'm through reasonably fast - a plane to exit time of 15 minutes.

That is indeed quite amazing!! They really take customer service seriously...

Great report (as always)!!

Summary to date

Map

24 flights
56,502 flown miles
5 continents - Australia, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia
11 countries - Tonga, NZ, Australia, USA, Germany, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Japan
6 aircraft types - 767, 777 (various models and configurations), 757, A319, 747, A345
4 satays
Fauchon ice cream (number not disclosed )

Menu BKK-SIN

LIGHT MEAL

Appetisers

Yam talay - Thai style seafood salad with mixed lettuces and tomato

Main Courses

Chicken saltimbocca served with gnocchi a la romana, sauteed spinach and tomato salad

Fried red snapper in garlic tomato sauce served with selected vegetables and steamed rice

Grilled beef fillet served with grainy mustard sauce, roasted vegetables and potatoes

Fresh Fruit

A selection of fresh fruit

From the Bakery

Oven fresh rolls with a choice of extra virgin olive oil or butter

Garlic bread

Hot Beverages

Freshly brewed coffee

Espresso or cappuccino

Selection of tea


BEVERAGES

Special Cocktail

Citrus Royale

Cocktails

Singapore Sling
Silver Kris Sling
Gin Fizz
Cloud Nine
Screwdriver
Bloody Mary
Daiquiri
Red or White Wine Cooler

Aperitifs

Campari
Dry Vermouth

Non-alcoholic Cocktails

Tropical Sparkle
Orange Cooler
Golden Spice
Fruit Spritzer
Sunrise Surprise

Spirits

Bombay Sapphire Gin
Cognac XO - Hennessy
Chivas Royal Salute Scotch Whisky
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
Macallan 12 years old Single Malt Whisky
Smirnoff Red Label Vodka
Bacardi Carta Blanca

Liqueurs

Cointreau
Tia Maria
Baileys Original Irish Cream

Beer

International selection

Champagne

Dom Perignon 1998
Krug Grande Cuvee

White Wines

Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2004 Dr Loosen
Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spatlese 2004 Josef Leitz
Chablis Premier Cru Les Beauroys 2000 Domaine Laroche

Red Wines

Chateau Cos D'Estournel 1998 Saint-Estephe
Morey-Saint-Denis 1999 Joseph Drouhin

Port

Dow's 20 Year Old Tawny Port

Tea Selection

Pure Ceylon Tea
Earl Grey
Darjeeling
Camomile
Decaffeinated Tea
Mint Tea
Fruit Tea
Japanese Green Tea

Chinese Tea Selection

Jasmine

Gourmet Coffees

Brazil Santos Bourbon
Colombian Supremo
Jamaican Blue Mountain
Kenyan AA Kilimanjaro

Specialty Coffees

Brewed Coffee
Cafe Royal
Espresso
Cappuccino
Cafe Latte
Cafe au Lait
Decaffeinated Coffee
Mocha

Other Beverages

Chocolate
Ovaltine
Milo

Mineral Water

Carbonated Mineral Water
Non-carbonated Mineral Water

Fruit Juices

Apple
Orange
Pineapple
Tomato

Soft Drinks

A range of regular or low-calorie drinks is available

Iced Drinks

Iced Fruit Tea
Iced Mint Tea
Iced Coffee
Iced Mocha
Iced Chocolate
Iced Ovaltine
Iced Milo

Yup. They had enough for seconds on anything (for all I know thirds too) - in case I wanted more or they spilled it. Some more examples - the bread basket had 4 different kinds of breads and several of each, the pralines was at least a whole dinner plate full, I know they had more than one bottle of what I was drinking

Just for the record (sure you know this but for the benefit of others) - although NRT SKL does not have its own showers , they will give you a voucher for paid showers elsewhere in the terminal (quite a hike!).