Before the MNL trip last week I acutally spent 1 1/2 days in Hong Kong…. arriving HKG on the Thursday morning since I slept so well inflgiht even though in Economy Class, I had a quick breakfast at one of the fast food chain ‘Fairwood’ then wnet back to my friends place and freshen up, and headed into town for shopping and even went to the Barbie show at the Ocena Terminal ( the Mall) .

The Barbie room

At night joined with other 3 friends for dinner at the Le Pain Grille (agnes b. cafe) which was introduced to me by another Xanga blogger curry69curry’s blog entry some times ago..

Non-stop serving of the warm bread basket

French Iced-Tea with fresh Pineapple Purée

French Onion Soup

Nicoise Salad

Veal Cassoulet

Duck Confit

Spring Chicken

Lobster Omelette

Mixed nuts cookies

Before taking the flight to MNL on Friday night went ot have High/Low Tea wtih another group of friends at the W Hotel Hong Kong in the afternoon High Tea includes, Cantonese Savouries while the Low Tea set with the Western stuff.

The Living Room (a.k.a. the Lobby Lounge)W Hotel HongKong the decor really looks like a living room with allthe couches and books…..

Angel Iced-Tea –  Iced Camomile tea with Berries Ginger Sorbet.

Cafe Latte set

Cappucino set…..no cocoa powder  on the foam…so don’t know the difference..

High/Low Tea combine set

Reception area…..

Free Candies

will you take the candies right after you wash your hands in the washroom?

Havn’t been back to Manila for 20 years one of the reasons is  most of my relatives have moved to either US, Australia. and  I think it’s nice to have brief revisit to my home country to see how she’s been doing. Arrived MNL very late at night due to a 3 hours flight delay, I guess this is so far the longest delay I’ve  ever had when I travel, and 3 hrs….. you can actually fly to MNL from HKG and back….hahahaha. On the other hand the good thing was you can pass the immigration counter, and the custom check within minutes as compare to the long wait during the normal hours….

Woke up early in the morning,after having the Breakfast, started to go around the city. Took the hotel’s complimentary shuttle to the shopping mall Greenbelt at Makati which is a popular place for the High-ends labels, brand name and upper markets restaurnants

Buffet Breakfast at the Mandarin Orenital Hotel

so much cravings in the morning

Tiny Blueberries

The Greenbelt Mall  has 4 sections and this is number 3

Inside the open area of the Mall

ducklings running around freely..

Then touring at the Intramuros and old city  which was built by the Spainards in the 16th century

Inside the Casa Manila

Tour the San Agustin Church which is loacted just next to the Casa Manila

being built with Adobe Stone

the church’s Muesum

University of Manila

haha the Pinoy really like Buffet a lot too…..another Buffet lunch

Halo-Halo the most popular Dessert… this version is from the fast food chain Chow King

Garlic Rice and Pinoy ’s version ’chopsuey’

Sisig the restaurant Gerry’s Grill house special version

NightLife at Julio Nakpil Malate Manila, guess what  my ancestral home was around these area, and it used to be a residential area. Though not the prestige area, not that many clubs and bars and even seeing poor kids begging for money or selling flowers as it is today…..

I had soo much feelings towards this place

The next day before taking the night flight back to HongKong went to the Mall of Asia which is located at the Pasay area, and claim to be one of the largest shopping in the world just behind the on ein Edminton Canada , and Shanghai, China(What a bout the Mall of Dubai????)

one of my favourite Sponge Cake from the Phillippines

the cake is from this Goldilocks Bakery

a sales person demonstrating the KTV system and semms enjoying the free KTV very much, actuallly even when you go into a CD shop, whenever there’s a song playing there will be at least one sales person sing-a-long. No wonder why the  new OPR Original Philippines Remake (remake or redention from the western i.e. local Pinoy singers singing western song and sales CD instead of sing Pinoy music) music market is getting so huge.

This is not my meal just want to show you how the Pinoys having chinese food, this one is quite typical, dumplings with rice and soy sauce

Manila does change a lot over the past 20 years like other commercial cities in the world with lots of skycrappers, skytrain system,  developments…… on the other hand just like all developing countries,still lots of problems she  hasn’t addressed yet, pollution, the majority of the population are still  poor( specailly when you are outside  of the Makati Business area and it’s easily to be seen….those senerios just like the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire”) Though I was not born and grew up that, I still wish her all the best for her continue development.

Finally going  for a holiday…this time going back to Manila Phillippines…..my motherland…..and it’s been 20 years since my last visit..though I did operate some training  flights to Manila, however as I have mentioned before…those were turn around flights and  my foot didn’t even touch the ground……..more details later….

For those who have been visiting my blog for some time may remember that I did a concert in HK last year with a group of friends, it was a great experience, and  it’s been a year..! Though we are planning for our next one, it will be another 3 years….

Flew to New York on Thursday night since it’s a long week-end in Canada, the flight was full. And this was my 3rd flight to New York within 2 weeks. Arrived NYC  in the morning around 0630 and spotted a British Airways B744 aircraft with  a special Alliance Livery…

On the way back home , I took a couple of pics of the meal I prepared (except the appertizer)at the galley for passenger

Assorted Breads

Appertizer

a Main course before transferng into the  plate

the Main Course/Entree.

Frankly I miss the old New York pattern so much, we used to  leave Vancouver in the mid-day and arrive JFK airport in the evening around 2000, and could have got into the hotel in Manhatten around 2130, had a good dinner with crew memebr,  slept and and explored the city on the following day, either shopping, or going to museum, or even watching a musical, then operated the night flight back to Vancouver.

The current one is leaving Vancouver at night around 2200, arriving JFK around 0645, then  get to the hotel around 0730 have a breakfast and back to the room to sleep till around 1800 and have to start to get ready for the returning flight….usually get back home around 0230 the next day. Maybe the younger general can still squeeze a couple of hours to shop in NYC, for me however, I rather sleep as much as I can..therefore I find it quite  non-productive…….

After my long layover in HK, back to Vancouver and had  a 2 days off,  went  to the gym during the day time, had 2 different dinner each night with 2 groups of firends.

The first evening had  my 2nd Alaska King Crab dinner this year  at a Chinese Restaurnat, however was a bit disappointed with the quality of the crab, maybe it’s toward to the end of the season the crab seemed like a big smaller with less meat….. compare to the 1st one I had only 2 weeks ago….

Steam King Crab with garlic

Steam Japanese Rice with King Crab in a Lotus Leave

Stir-fried Lobster with salted egg yolk

The following night which was also a Sat night had a western dinner at a Chain Restaurnat the “Cactus Club” and Had my favourite Jambalaya Rice Bowl

A class of Sauvignon Blanc before dinner

Bandara Salad – cajun chix, corn, dates, feta, crispy chow-mein, honey-lime vinaigrette

Crispy Dried Ribs

The Jambalaya Rice Bowl(an record pic file) -shrimp, chicken, cured bacon, sausage, vegetables, spicy tomato sauce,sausage, vegetables, spicy tomato sauce, black bean salsa, crème fraiche

Sun, slept thru the whole day since I need to operate a Red-eye flight to New York . Woke up ar around 1700 and had a dinner at a nearby noodle shop and headed to work.

Haven’t been working in the First Class for a while and this flight the First Class was 100% full and one of the guests on this flight was Diana Krall who had just finished attending the Juno Awards in Vancouver and headed back to New York, didn’t take a picutre because she was soo tired and slept right after take off till the end fo the flgiht.

Arrived New York at 0615 by the time we arrived the hotel it’s about 0830 thanks to the Mon traffic. After having   simple and quick breakfast at the hotel cereal/muffin/fruit and a chamomile tea(which is known as a sleep aid) went back to my room and slept…..till 1900. Freshen up then went down to the lobby and got on the crew transport to the airport for the flight back to Vancouver..Luckily though this flight was very busy at the back, there’s no one in First therefore my main duty for this evening was to look after the cockpit crew…

Weather in Vanocuver was a bit mix…….Wet Snow in the morning, Raining in the mid day and Sunny in the afternoon and clear sky at night…nothing particular over the follwing 3 days except  ThursI had to prepare the Tax Return, which years ago was a very complicated task, rnowadays with the offical software, fewer mistakes will be made, and it just took me a hour to finish..

Downtown Vancouver during Sunset….view from my friend’s apartment

And at night I had dinner with a friend from HK at the Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar which is a Seafood Restaurant plus a Sushi/Sashimi Bar, offering a near to fine dining experience well trained server, good food presentation and quality, wide selection of fine wine, spirits, liqueur, a very modern  decor dining room only if they could have better Chinaware, Silverware and Glassaware, then it would have been a complieted experience….

Seaweed butter and quash spread

Hot + Sour Lobster Soup – tofu, beech mushrooms, butternut squash, mussels

Bouillabaisse – provencal fisherman stew with saffron, garlic, tomatoes and pacific rim seafood

Special of the day –  Ceaser Salad with Fried Crab Meat Ball

Special of the day Pan-fried Halibut

‘Kobe Style’ Beef Short Ribs – braised with coffee and chili, roasted winter squash, brussels sprouts and kumquats

Tea set and complimentary cookies