Oasis Hong Kong 08707 & 08700 LGW to HKG
Jun 2, 2007, 4:07 pm
#1
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Join Date: Jan 2006
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Oasis Hong Kong 08707 & 08700 LGW to HKG
This is gonna be my attempt at writing a decent trip report from my 14 day odyssey of a trip to Hong Kong with a stop off in London on either side. For my sins I'm flying Oasis Hong Kong so I thought I'd make this a good up to date write up of the service available. Please bear with me as I'll be writing this through jet lag and tiredness of writing late at night after dashing round Hong Kong all day.
31/05/07 - Day 1 - Wigan to London and a show - THIS POST
01/06/07 - Day 2 - A day in London and a parting of the Ways at London Victoria - COMING SOON
01/06/07 - 08 707 London Gatwick to Hong Kong International
02/06/07 - Day 3 - First Day in Hong Kong - Getting to the hotel and meeting my friends - COMING SOON
03/06/07 - ????
Thursday 31st May
Day 1 - Wigan to London and overnight
So begins my 2 week adventure away from the obscurity that is Wigan land. It began rather eventfully with being turned out of bed at 7am to go and work and by 8am I was in the car to do some work in Leyland. It was a last minute call and I had to go visit a business in Leyland to do some work which someone else had dropped at the last minute however I was finely rewarded for my efforts with an hours work netting me £35.
I stepped out and in to Subway whilst at the same time phoning my results through and enjoyed quite a hearty Tuna sub washed down with coke and was then on the way back to Wigan paying a quick call in Standish to collect some stuff from a small bakery. This bakery is rather nice and does home made sandwiches and run by this sweet old women. Always a pleasure to visit.
On arriving home it was a mad rush as I fluttered about my room trying to get the rest of my packing done at the same time as talking to people on MSN and IRC taking care of a few last minute issues in the IRC channels that I regularly reside in. It was with a glad heart that I left the house and dumped my case in to the boot of the car for my father to take me and my mother down to Wigan North Western Train Station.
The journey down was pretty uneventful excepting the fact that the lights at the Saddle Junction were going REALLY quickly. On exiting the car we made the short walk and lift ride to Platform 4 to wait for our train which was to be the 14:01 down to Euston.
It must be said that Virgin's Pendolino services are truly something else and are quite superior compared to the poor services which have the nerve to be called our local train services operated by GMPTE. We were in coach B seats 1 and 2A which left us rear facing and at one end of the coach. Having forced my case in to the luggage settled back for the journey down. It was nice to not have to worry about rail replacement coach services as it wasn't the weekend and it was a quick 2.5 hours. I was about to go to the shop but surprisingly there was a trolley coming down so we loaded up with coffee and coke for myself (not a coffee drinker unfortunately). Nothing much else could be said for that journey apart from me working in Adobe After Effects on my nice new shiny Macbook Pro.
On exiting the train at Euston we took a tube from Euston to Victoria however there was a tale in that itself because there was a closure on the Victoria line between Warren Street and Highbury so ended up taking a small diversion via the circle line to Warrent Street and then down to Victoria. We'd booked a stay at the Easy Hotel on Belgrave Road which is about 5 minutes walk from the station. Coming out of the underground I was awestruck by how large Victoria is and by how they've managed to squeeze so many platforms in to such a small space. However very quickly we took the walk down the small side road and past the passport office and made the left turn in to Belgrave Road and down to the Easy Hotel.
EasyHotel London Victoria has only been open about a month and it's set in to a small block of hotels in the non descript blocks of housing. Having been let in we checked in to our rooms and were given swipe keycards. The one thing which must be said about the EasyHotel is don't expect it easy there. There is NO lift and the stairs are only very narrow so theres just enough room for one person with a suitcase to get upstairs. We were located on the second floor in rooms 2.03 and 2.09. The rooms at the Easy Hotel are basic to say the least and I would advise against it for those who like their creature comforts. It's literally just a bed(albeit comfortable) and a small shower unit which seems like a built in all in one unit or at least thats what it reminded me of and JUST enough room to stow your case.
Note -
There is NO coffee making facilities
NO restaurant
NO food/drink bar a vending machine service
NO lift
However when all is said and done for £34 a night you can't really complain, it was safe and clean and convenient.
We didn't exactly have all that much time because we had a reservation for 6pm at the Seafresh restaurant which was only a short walk to Wilton road from the hotel after we'd freshened up a little.
The Seafresh restaurant could be best described as an upper class fish and chip restaurant. It beats Harry Ramsen's hands down and I would highly recommend it if you are planning on watching Wicked just down the road. I had haddock and my mother had plaice and we were both shocked at the portion size. The fish was about 3/4 of an inch think and took up the WHOLE plate and my fries were on a separate plate altogether. It was quite delicious and most important FRESH and we were quite glad that we'd not had an entree but thats a completely different story altogether. We saw the prawn cocktail and I have NEVER seen so many prawns altogether in my LIFE. When all was said and done the bill came to a shade over £30 whcih we thought was reasonable for London and we slowly walked down to the Apollo Victoria theatre.
We were actually a little early for the theatre so we had a look round the station and were awestruck by it's size and scale and it was quite literally a zoo at the time we were coming through because of all the crowds. However we went in to the theatre. The show itself is absoloutely outstanding and I can't recommend Wicked enough if you haven't seen it. I was glad that I booked online through See Tickets and as such only paid a small booking fee instead of the poor mugs who'd paid through the nose by buying on the day. The theatre also is very nice and I like the art deco architecture and you can definitely see the results of their restoration efforts. However the thing which DID bother me was the commercialisation and merchandising efforts of the theatre. The amount of merchandising and promoting of associated Wicked "chintz" and drinks and snacks was unbelievable and took me a back a little. It must be quite a revenue earner for them to push it so hard. (2 bottles of coke cost £4 ($3.50).
On exiting the theatre after a wonderful performance we stopped off in M&S for drinks and then went back to the hotel to settle for bed.
One tip - If you want wireless at the EasyHotel, come down to the ground floor and just before the reception turn right and walk down and to the left and it's a dead end with a fire escape. If you settle down there you'll be able to hog next door's connection without a problem =D.
Next Post - Friday 1st June - A day in London and a parting of the ways at London Victoria.
31/05/07 - Day 1 - Wigan to London and a show - THIS POST
01/06/07 - Day 2 - A day in London and a parting of the Ways at London Victoria - COMING SOON
01/06/07 - 08 707 London Gatwick to Hong Kong International
02/06/07 - Day 3 - First Day in Hong Kong - Getting to the hotel and meeting my friends - COMING SOON
03/06/07 - ????
Thursday 31st May
Day 1 - Wigan to London and overnight
So begins my 2 week adventure away from the obscurity that is Wigan land. It began rather eventfully with being turned out of bed at 7am to go and work and by 8am I was in the car to do some work in Leyland. It was a last minute call and I had to go visit a business in Leyland to do some work which someone else had dropped at the last minute however I was finely rewarded for my efforts with an hours work netting me £35.
I stepped out and in to Subway whilst at the same time phoning my results through and enjoyed quite a hearty Tuna sub washed down with coke and was then on the way back to Wigan paying a quick call in Standish to collect some stuff from a small bakery. This bakery is rather nice and does home made sandwiches and run by this sweet old women. Always a pleasure to visit.
On arriving home it was a mad rush as I fluttered about my room trying to get the rest of my packing done at the same time as talking to people on MSN and IRC taking care of a few last minute issues in the IRC channels that I regularly reside in. It was with a glad heart that I left the house and dumped my case in to the boot of the car for my father to take me and my mother down to Wigan North Western Train Station.
The journey down was pretty uneventful excepting the fact that the lights at the Saddle Junction were going REALLY quickly. On exiting the car we made the short walk and lift ride to Platform 4 to wait for our train which was to be the 14:01 down to Euston.
It must be said that Virgin's Pendolino services are truly something else and are quite superior compared to the poor services which have the nerve to be called our local train services operated by GMPTE. We were in coach B seats 1 and 2A which left us rear facing and at one end of the coach. Having forced my case in to the luggage settled back for the journey down. It was nice to not have to worry about rail replacement coach services as it wasn't the weekend and it was a quick 2.5 hours. I was about to go to the shop but surprisingly there was a trolley coming down so we loaded up with coffee and coke for myself (not a coffee drinker unfortunately). Nothing much else could be said for that journey apart from me working in Adobe After Effects on my nice new shiny Macbook Pro.
On exiting the train at Euston we took a tube from Euston to Victoria however there was a tale in that itself because there was a closure on the Victoria line between Warren Street and Highbury so ended up taking a small diversion via the circle line to Warrent Street and then down to Victoria. We'd booked a stay at the Easy Hotel on Belgrave Road which is about 5 minutes walk from the station. Coming out of the underground I was awestruck by how large Victoria is and by how they've managed to squeeze so many platforms in to such a small space. However very quickly we took the walk down the small side road and past the passport office and made the left turn in to Belgrave Road and down to the Easy Hotel.
EasyHotel London Victoria has only been open about a month and it's set in to a small block of hotels in the non descript blocks of housing. Having been let in we checked in to our rooms and were given swipe keycards. The one thing which must be said about the EasyHotel is don't expect it easy there. There is NO lift and the stairs are only very narrow so theres just enough room for one person with a suitcase to get upstairs. We were located on the second floor in rooms 2.03 and 2.09. The rooms at the Easy Hotel are basic to say the least and I would advise against it for those who like their creature comforts. It's literally just a bed(albeit comfortable) and a small shower unit which seems like a built in all in one unit or at least thats what it reminded me of and JUST enough room to stow your case.
Note -
There is NO coffee making facilities
NO restaurant
NO food/drink bar a vending machine service
NO lift
However when all is said and done for £34 a night you can't really complain, it was safe and clean and convenient.
We didn't exactly have all that much time because we had a reservation for 6pm at the Seafresh restaurant which was only a short walk to Wilton road from the hotel after we'd freshened up a little.
The Seafresh restaurant could be best described as an upper class fish and chip restaurant. It beats Harry Ramsen's hands down and I would highly recommend it if you are planning on watching Wicked just down the road. I had haddock and my mother had plaice and we were both shocked at the portion size. The fish was about 3/4 of an inch think and took up the WHOLE plate and my fries were on a separate plate altogether. It was quite delicious and most important FRESH and we were quite glad that we'd not had an entree but thats a completely different story altogether. We saw the prawn cocktail and I have NEVER seen so many prawns altogether in my LIFE. When all was said and done the bill came to a shade over £30 whcih we thought was reasonable for London and we slowly walked down to the Apollo Victoria theatre.
We were actually a little early for the theatre so we had a look round the station and were awestruck by it's size and scale and it was quite literally a zoo at the time we were coming through because of all the crowds. However we went in to the theatre. The show itself is absoloutely outstanding and I can't recommend Wicked enough if you haven't seen it. I was glad that I booked online through See Tickets and as such only paid a small booking fee instead of the poor mugs who'd paid through the nose by buying on the day. The theatre also is very nice and I like the art deco architecture and you can definitely see the results of their restoration efforts. However the thing which DID bother me was the commercialisation and merchandising efforts of the theatre. The amount of merchandising and promoting of associated Wicked "chintz" and drinks and snacks was unbelievable and took me a back a little. It must be quite a revenue earner for them to push it so hard. (2 bottles of coke cost £4 ($3.50).
On exiting the theatre after a wonderful performance we stopped off in M&S for drinks and then went back to the hotel to settle for bed.
One tip - If you want wireless at the EasyHotel, come down to the ground floor and just before the reception turn right and walk down and to the left and it's a dead end with a fire escape. If you settle down there you'll be able to hog next door's connection without a problem =D.
Next Post - Friday 1st June - A day in London and a parting of the ways at London Victoria.
