Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Round The World 2004
Flight Log 6 : CX105
Hong Kong (HKG) - Adelaide (ADL)
Another A330-300 and again I was seated in 1K. I think sometimes a lot comes down to your fellow passengers. This time, I was not particularly bothered by people moving about and those that did were generally very good at closing the curtain behind them. But I'm getting ahead of myself!
We were five minutes down on leaving the stand and it's a busy time of day for take-off from HKG. We used runway 07R, following a British Airways 747-400 (I especially enjoy seeing them lit up at night!), eventually taking off ourselves at 2356 local time. I had realised two things while in The Pier : first, that I was becoming very tired and secondly, that I felt positively stuffed after my excellent dinner on CX521. I realised that I was going to have to be sensible with the food on this flight - no point in making myself ill through greed. I didn't abstain completely, but here, for the record, is what I could have had and turned down :-
| Caviar and Salmon Delight |
| Oscietra Caviar and Balik Salmon "Tsar Nicolaj", served with warm new potatoes and creme fraiche |
| Soup / Salad |
| Asparagus cream soup with coriander, served with mini garlic baguette |
| Seasonal green salad with mushrooms, semi-sundried tomato and Parma ham crisp, served with honey mustard dressing |
| * * * |
| Main Courses |
| Grilled marinated lamb chops with roasted garlic and thyme, Leek and potato boulangere, Vegetable casserole |
| Mushroom ravioli with tomato basil sauce |
| Hong Kong Favourites |
| Scallop and shrimp ball with black bean sauce, steamed rice and Pak Choy with mushrooms (award-winning dish) |
| Noodles in soup with braised beef brisket |
| Dried bonito and peanut congee, accompanied by spring onion pancake |
| Superior vegetarian combination, Shanghainese noodles and Choy Sum |
| Snack |
| Roasted vegetable with Feta cheese in puff pastry, salad with balsamic vinegar |
| * * * |
| Cheese Board |
| * * * |
| Dessert |
| Ice cream |
| Cha Cha (sweet bean soup) |
| Milk pudding with Ginger Juice (award-winning dish) |
| Tea & Coffee |
| Tea or coffee with pralines and cookies |
And out of all that, I had ... the soup and some bread!!! I was even offered the caviar and turned it down! Seems incredible now, but I knew that I just couldn't face it at the time and having a good night's sleep was more important to me than gorging myself beyond sensible limits. For what it's worth, the soup and the garlic baguettes were lovely!
I had taken the opportunity to change into my
Cathay Pacific sleeper suit before eating, trying not to be put off
by the "rhubarb and custard" colour scheme
So, the minute my table was cleared away, I fully reclined my seat
into the flat bed position. Almost immediately, one of the FAs
appeared with my duvet and even helped get me comfortable, with my
seat belt loosely fastened on the outside. I very quickly fell into
a deep and restful sleep and woke for the very first time 5.5 hours
later, some two hours before arrival. I was the first to stir in the
cabin, but decided that enough was enough. I had missed dinner; I
wasn't missing out on breakfast!
I got changed back into my day clothes and quickly perused the breakfast menu :-
| Juice Selection |
| * * * |
| Appetizer |
| Fresh seasonal fruits |
| Yoghurt selection |
| Natural, fruit or low-fat fruit |
| Cereals |
| Muesli, Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies |
| * * * |
| Main Course |
| Omelette with creamed spinach |
| Grilled breakfast steak and pan-fried Roesti potato |
| Grilled bacon, Nuernberger sausage, Tomato and fresh button mushroom skewer |
| * * * |
| Bread Basket |
| Assorted bread, rolls and fresh toast, served with preserves, honey and butter |
| Tea and Coffee |
How that could possibly be
described as a Continental breakfast I do not know ... I
wonder what the full McCoy is like! I had more apple juice, corn
flakes, the omelette, steak and roesti, and some croissants and
butter. Very nice
All too soon we were landing at
Adelaide, at 1028 local time (2.5 hours ahead of Hong Kong),
performing a curious 180 degree turn on the runway (presumably due
to the absence of taxiways) and returning to take up position
alongside the two other planes that were in evidence! We arrived on
stand at 1034, comfortably ahead of schedule. Good grief ... I'd
just completed an alcohol-free flight in First Class
Date: Sat 06 Mar 2004
Aircraft : A330-300
Scheduled dep : 2335
Actual departure : 2340
Scheduled arrival : 1045+1
Actual arrival : 1034+1
Cabin : First
Seat : 1K
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