Still enjoying my holidays, been to PEN Malaysia, now in HKG, and heading to Macau on Friday…..been eating a lot……need to work out more once get back to YVR…..
Watched this Singaporean movie 881 (Papaya) on the SQ flight this Tues from SIN to HKG……a very stupid story….but funny bor speaking in Mandarin/Hokkain/Singlish.
sisters from YVR u know what I mean…..lah…. hahahaha
Alwin bought me a middle east dinner on Sun night to pre-celebrate my Birthday, supposed to the Habibi Restaurant on Wellington Street Central, however we found out it’s close therefore we went to the Habibi Cafe which is also under the same management which also claimed their restaurant is more to Egypt.
It’s a good chance for me to taste the other middle east food from those Greek food I usually have in Vancovuer…
Cold Mezze
Ice Tea forgot the name but realy sour: Soup left a Veg Soup and right Shurbit Soup Lenti puree soup w/ pasta
Cold Mezze
HummosChickpea with Tahina,lemon Juice and garlic with pita bread. very simiular with the Greek dip
a mezze platter
CousCous with Veggie Stew and Shawarma Laham-Deni shaved lamp wrap..
An Iced mint Tea then dessert: Hellue Al Sham mixed Egyptian homemade sweets which is very seet!!
Nobody kneow me better than myself, this year I bought myself a ticket to Liza Minnelli’s Concert which’s held last night 13NOV in Richmond BC Canada as a treat for myself which turns out to be the best present…..
Yes it’s not cheap CAD145 plus tax….more or less HKD1160……..
I started to aware of her in 1977 from the Movie New York New York cos I fell in love with the tunes instantly. Then I asked my father( who was a musician), what kind of music Liza’s in even he couldn’t give me the correct answer, all I know were a mixture of Hollywood movies tunes from the golden era, broadways, and big bands. In 1981 I participated in a singing contest in HKG in the mid of Dec and NY NY was the tune I chosen to perform , eventually Liza’s was having her world tour and in the beginning of Dec HKG was one of the places therefore I got a ticket and went for the show, she sang and danced well during the show though not the most perfect, the stage presence attracted me and the way she delivered the lyrics touches my heart, and that gave lots of impacts and influences for my own performance at the contest and I was the champion at the age of 15. But I didn’t get into the show business in HKG, since the style of Liza is not appreciated in Asia specially the Chinese community…..
Anyway after 26 years, Liza live performance again is a Thrill!! By the time she stepped onto the stage I had tears in my eyes with joy. At age 61 after couple of surgery with her voice, hip replacements( too much choreography?), several times into the rehab of drug and alcohol problem and finally a deadly disease which affected her speech in 2000, tonight she’s back to where she belongs to The Stage, she had also brought back her strong voice, dynamic choreography and of course the way she touches your heart with the songs……
sorry only a very short clip for memory, I need to concentrate to listen……this was an encore without music…..
Liza a well known stage performer mostly in the western countries, is the daughter of a Hollywood couple : movie/stage director Vincent Minnelli and movie star Judy Garland. Her career started at age 17 in a 1963 off broadway musical ‘Best Foot Forward’, at age 19 had her first Tony Award for the musical ‘Flora the Red Menace’. In 1967 her first movie was Charlie Bubbles, in 1972 got an Oscar and a Golen Globe Award for best actress in the movie Cabaret an Emmy Award for a special TV cencert ’Liza with a Z’, 2nd Tony Award for a concert engagement in New York Winter Garden in 1974, a 3rd Tony Award for the musical ‘The Act’ in 1978, in 1977 starred in the movie New York New York, and gave her the best know signature tune theme from ‘New York New York’ In 1985 another Golden Globe Award for a TV movie ‘A Time to Live’ and in 1989 a Grammy Legend Award ..She’s such a awards collector throughtout her career.
Finally my OCT holiday approaching to the end and I spent 3 days in HKG, and within these 3 days I’ve been to this brand new Mall twice called Elements which is located at the AEL Kowloon station. It’s a mall with all the Labels from highend like LV, BV,to the lowere one like Zara, H&Ms, a brand new 4 D cinema, lots of expensive Asian , Fusion restaurant and 2 famous Shanghaiese restaurants from China…..
The Elements Mall with a Book shop original from Manila Philippines
First visit to this mall was with one of my best friends Corina and we shopped around this quite a big mall and had dinner at a fusion Thai/Vietnamese restaurant called Nahm……the special drinks and the desserts were great!
Braised Prok Ribs, Vietnamese BBQ duck on Fried noodles
one of the must try dessers….chocolate cake
My 2nd visit was on Wed with Alwin, cos I found the mall is quite interesting with their public wash room which looks like the hotel’s one with all the amenties and an attendant plus a waiting area outside the washroom, and we also tried out the Caffee Vergnano 1882( think another brach is locaed in IFC mall as well)and discovered a Bakery shop which has some very nice pastries…..and the mall has a China Bus Terminal so better visit it before the big six conquer it……
waiting area outside the washroom a waste bin , distilled water and auto shoe polisher
the cafe shop, u have to pour your expresso into the milk to make ur own cafe latte
a kind of cafe mocha; with the different sweets…..for your coffee
And I took the flight back to YVR leaving at mid-night. Flight took off in the dark and in the mid of the flight could see the Sun and toward the end before arriving YVR it turned dark again….since it’s a very light flight I managed to grab 4 empty seats and slept… how lucky I was…….
Something very familier at least the portion is more generous than Oasis
Flying down to Singapore on 24OCT morning on SQ check-in was done 2 days in advance thru the internet….therefore as long as we arrive the airport around an hour before than departure time is fine….over the years have never flown with them since I usually on staff ticket.
Once on board the aircraft were greeted by the flight stewardess and whao…..the famous SQ girls, not only their uniform The Kabaya makes them look feminine, but the way they present their company professionally and themselves very graciously….the whole boarding was so smooth and calm , which also help the pax feel ing comfortable. The hard ware products and the service procedures from SQ are also superb……from the on-ground hot towel to the inflight meal, AVOD IFE to the duty free service, everything was done in such a nice sequence and ample pace and again the flight stewards carry out their duties with such gracious. Other than the time during take off and landing you will no have a chance to see the cabin without the stewardess partrolling…I felt like I was travelling on a Biz Class……. the 3 1/2 hours flight was just too short to enjoy what a pity……
Diffferent meal they have differest settings
Arrived Singapore in the afternoon checkied in the hotel then went for a swim…..cos I know that I’m going to hv tons of chances to taste the delicious food……and the weather was sooo cool…..I can’t imgaine Sinapore be that cool specailly after dinner with 2 other friend Jasimne and Chee-Lang along the Hawker food centre near the Esplanade Singapore.
The next day had lunch at an in-door food court located within the Le-Meridian Hotel and dessert at the Swensen along Orchard Road. Shopping at the Bugis Junction which is an old town you used to find lots of drags/transvestites.
The Moss Burger from Japan is also very popular in Singapore and here at the Bugis junction branch
The thrid day after a traditional Singaporean/Malaysian breakfast, headed to the Santosa Island, on the cable car to the island, I found there are lots of developments mostly hotels and resorts and the new Merlion staus is also located inside the island.
mix the soft boiled eggs with soy sauce and white pepper, than dip the Kaya toast into it….
cable car
Santosa Island
The Forth day went to shop at the Heeren on Orchard, it s mall whcih have lots of sexy clothings for guys then to the China Town for a breif walk then queing up for the famous Lim Chee Guan meat Jerky…the local wonder why I just buy the jerky from that store while there are tons of differnet brand all over, the reason, I can’t get that brand at any place other than singapore therefore it’s unique….hahahah,at nighteven went to the Play a local Club for guys…….
Tasting the deep fried staff from Old Chang Kee and queing up at china town
Heading back to HKG on the fifth day before that had a Chichen Rice lunch at the famous Mandarin Hotel which was really really yummy!! The SQ flight back to HKG was also a superb one…..I am really impressed with the consistancy of the service delivery from the SQ stewardess The whole inflight experience just reminds me of the Romance with Flying since I was a kid…….and SQ you truely live up to what you have said – The Inflight Service even other Airlines talk about!!!!!
The Mandarin Hotel Chicken Rice
The new inflight meal equipment for EY class and they also have another IFE programme for non AVOD
My HK, Singapore holiday started on SUN Oct21, flying out from Vancouver to HK on Oasis HK Airlines and spent one day in HKG just to meet up with Alwin to fly to SIN.
I guess Oasis does a good job on their marketing….since they started the first flight to London Getwick(LGW) in OCT 2006 they claimed themselves the Low Cost Long-hual carrier from HKG, and they started Vancouver route from late Jun 2007 and did draw lots of attention from YVR asian community.
So finally I hv the chance to fly with them to HKG all becos our company’s flights to HKG are full and I did pay the package for SIN therefore I need to hv a confirmed seat….. and the follwing just the facts which I saw and experienced during the flgiht if you hv a friedn working with them please don’t be offended.
Arrived at the borading gate quite early around 1630 and surprised to see the Oasis flight Crew members were there and proceeded to the aircraft for the flight leaving at 1800. Borading commenced around 1710 though quite a lot of pax eventually the flight was not full…..and I had a very nice seat which was at the Dr 4 emergency and next to the galley.
They do have inflight sales and IFE around 12 video channels showing same stuff at all sectors
A small pillow with a tiny blanket which can either cover only my chest or only my legs….
All of a sudden heard a noise from the galley, the guy who sat next to me and me stood up and saw that a woman lying down at the galley and 5 cabin crew gathered around asking if the woman was ok till me and the guy shouted ‘there shd be more air and the Chief Purser and the ground staff shd be informed’, the cabin crew since moved away and called their senior. Decause of this incident the flight was late for 30 mins, well it’s better than the crew doing nothing and let the pax to travel and eventually we might have to divert to some other places enroute…..Thank God!!!
Once the aircraft reached the cruising attitude the crew started their work…..it’s quite simple , offering one drink per pax with a hot meal then offering hot Tea or Coffee( Alcohol drinks are not FREE)…but the crew seemed not organized and with no communication between themselves…everyone just doing their own job without letting other know…..from what I saw the first meal service was a mess crew running around doing double works. And the portion of the meal was pathetic…I seldom finish inflight meal but I have to this time cos it’s really small. My verdict very poor quantity and quality…and for god sake this is a 13 hours flight.
cucumber/shalots salad (wraped with zaran warp), choco cake(uncovered) Chix Rice
Few rounds of water service were conducted between meals, I know that the pax have to purchase their inflight snack, it would be more professional if the crew had taken the initiative to offer this option to the pax who were awake otherwise they just gathered inside their galley anyway.. Luckily I had my own donuts..hahahaha
2 1/2 hrs before arriving HKG a wake up drink i.e. juice and water and another hot meal was offered, and it looked even worse than the first one…… and we arrived HKG about 45 mins late…….which is acceptable.
this was offered ONCE during the whole flight
Beef noodle with a bread
From what I see, the crew members working in EY cabin, are young and energetic(same as their Chief Purser who came down to help during meal service), and they look like they are a young team from Macdonald’s. However they should be aware of their own presentation cos during the flight the girls kept on fixing their uniform in the cabin, either tucking thier blouses into their skirts or adjusting their inner wear! When interact with pax acing like a high school student and of course be familliar with their First Aids and Emergency prodecures this is why they are in the aircraft to look after the passengers…I was grateful to have arrived HKG in one peice cos I didn’t hv faith with them since they didn’t work and even look Prefessional enough…..hm….Am I being to harsh? okok….at least they were hard working and the washrooms kept clean and tidy at all times!
Frankly I hv travelled with LCC before mostly short haul within 6 hrs , however I think for long haul travel on these type of LCC or budget carrier is not my cup of tea unless I hv no other choice(like this time) Holiday once or twice a year I really don’t mind to pay more to be tempered and well looked after.
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