Text 2554, 133 rader
Skriven 2008-02-16 13:28:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: travelogue 870
======================
UA 804 SIN NRT 0720 1450 777 9H Ch 9 Y Empower Y

There was one cabbie at the hotel, obviously on the prowl
for an airport fare. Judicious questioning revealed that
he did this every day, with between 2 and 9 fares a day
between 4 and 9 am. He's probably considerably richer than
I'll ever be.

Check-in took moments, and off I was to Terminal 3 and the
Silver Kris Lounge [for business and first class passengers,
and I was on a United business class ticket; but Singapore
Airlines has its own rules], where I was turned away and
sent off to the rather cramped Krisflyer Gold Lounge [for
Star Gold passengers, in whatever cabin], where again the
concierge tried to send me packing, but a modicum of
persistence caused her to call a supervisor; during the
course of that brief conversation her face fell noticeably,
and, after appropriate apologies, I was admitted.

The hot offerings were abbreviated but good: mee sua was at
least as good as you'd expect from your local Kopitiam -
soy-flavored but not too salty noodles with lovely cabbage
and other vegetables, garnished with scallions, fried
onion, and slices of hot pepper.

Duck congee was surprisingly meat-filled and quite ducky.

To go with, a very cold tap-it-yourself draft Tiger in a very
frosted mug.

The Cognac was the respectable Otard XO, very vanillary with
a touch of raisins and a big afterburn, probably a result of
being formulated for the ganbei market. There was only a
tiny bit left, and I finished it. It wasn't replaced in the
time I was there.

After doing the mail I got bored with the place (no Appetite
magazine!) and went back homeward.

The Skytrain takes you from gate B10 to B1, not a long
distance, about 20% of the inter-terminal trek.

Went to the Thai Royal Orchid room [open to Star Gold
and business class passengers], where the concierge
confiscated my SATS (Singapore Air Transport Service I
think) lounge invitation, telling me that I could use
hers or the SATS but not both. I was fine with that.

The atmosphere is nice and quiet, the seats better than the
any of the other lounges; unfortunately the food offerings
were scanty - breakfast pastries and bowl o'noodles only.
The pastries (I had an almond custard croissant and a raisin
Danish) were soggy.

Martell VSOP Medallion had vanilla and hazelnut notes and
was very smooth, I think a bit nicer than the Otard XO.

Canned beers available: Tiger, Singha, and I think Heineken.

After my first visit to the groaning board, various
sandwiches came out: Cheddar and chicken didn't appeal,
nor did mozzarella and tomato; but I tried guacamole and
eggplant, fairly okay, and chicken tikka with mango chutney
and lettuce, which was excellent.

Soon it was time to hoof it to the gate, which was C1 - the
gate I associate with the Jeddah flights. Security was
efficient and took just a couple minutes; whizzed through
and boarded immediately. The plane was quite full.

Very attentive crew (Singapore-based, said the
announcement); the preflight Champers was the same
as the inflight: Pommery. The flight looked full.

to begin
Your selected entree will be accompanied by fresh fruits
and breakfast breads

main course

Herb omelette with grilled chicken sausage; Lyonnaise
potatoes and oven-baked tomato with Parmesan cheese

Braised beef brisket with egg noodles; Chinese black
mushrooms, choy sum and spring onions

Continental breakfast; selection of fresh seasonal fruits,
cereal and yogurt

They loaded 25 omelettes, 10 Chinese meals, and a lowfat
special meal.

prior to arrival
Fettuccine with dill cream sauce; grilled zucchini, fresh
mushrooms and chopped tomatoes with herbs

or

Chicken Caesar salad; pan-seared chicken strips,
romaine lettuce, fresh tomato wedges, croutons and
Caesar dressing

dessert
Apple cake with vanilla sauce

A fruit appetizer was quite nice - watermelon, honeydew,
orange, grapes, and pineapple. A croissant was mediocre
but better than recent ones. Also on offer were raisin
Danish and some kind of nut muffin.

My seatmate, flipping the pages of her newspaper, knocked
a glass of OJ on my legs. I just dabbed it up with a bunch
of napkins - the pants had to be washed anyway. Other than
that (she remained oblivious to this) she was fine, waiting
until I was up to go to the bathroom, that sort of thing.

I had the Chinese breakfast: the beef was tough though
tasty, and its dark sauce made the pallid vegetable and
the nasty noodles at least sort of edible. Washed this
down with decent OJ out of a carton. Then settled down,
did some work, called for a Courvoisier, and sacked out.
My row 9 seat had full, maybe greater than normal, recline.

_Stupid boy_. I woke from my nap and saw on the
Airshow that we were headed toward Manila. What was the
meaning of this? It took me quite a few seconds to realize
that in fact I had booked to Tokyo, not Hong Kong.

We landed a bit ahead of schedule.

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