Yep Yep ... this is the second time of the year that I went for Hong Kong Trip !!! Sorry that I was not able to upload the blog in real-time ... due to my clumsiness of forgetting the electric wire for my netbook ... Ha Ha Ha ... Anyway, it was the same as my tradition to have breakfast on land at Suwanabhumi Airport ... an American Breakfast !!!
And then this was Cathay Pacific Airlines served in-flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong ... Shrimp in red curry with rice !!! CX might think that the depart the plane from Bangkok, it must show how the Thai Curry was cooked (I guess) ... HuH ... lucky me that I had my eggs on land ...
By the way, you can see also that there's a Kit Kat Bar served ... it's Australian Made version !!! And look carefully on the fruit dish, it's all Thai Fruits ... this was a flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong ... my journey continued !!!
Then, it's time for us to fly back to Bangkok, Thailand (From Paris -- Charles De Gaulle Airpor departure at 1pm) ... Therefore, there was enough time to enjoy our last proper meal in Paris -- Breakfast at our lovely hotel (Hotel Britannique) in small lovely dining room including a cup of tea in lovely living room. It's a small hotel (no chain) with old design & furnished which has been here in Paris for more than 30 years ... it was in the middle of everything in Chatelet Area.
Hotel Britannique 20, Avenue Victoria 75001, Paris Tel : 01 42 33 74 59 www.hotel-britannique.fr
Then, it's time to fly back with Thai Airways again -- actually I did not expect much about food on Thai Airways. However, something strange & amazing happened ... The food quality was excellent (even the bread & croissant) including the service (from the flight attendances) -- It's such big different from what we had when we departed from Bangkok.
Starting with Cold Refreshment with peanuts ... followed by Lunch which were "Caribbean Salad, Fresh Fruit, Sauteed Chicken with Cream Green Pepper Sauce Linguini Pasta, Buttered Zucchini (wow so tasty with a natural sweet of zucchini), Soft Bread Roll, Butter, Cheese, Crackers, Chocolate Cake (so yummy with sticky chocolate), Tea & Coffee"
Then, there were also Sandwich served after 4-5 hours of flying. Then, before landing about 1 hour, another meal was served with "Herb Omelet (amazing that still soft & partly liquid inside), Sauteed Button Mushrooms, Fried Potatoes, Grilled Pork, Croissant, Baby Bread, Butter, Jam, Coffee & Tea"
Just a questions to Thai Airways that "Why the food quality and service quality are not the same ??? From Paris flight is much better than From Bangkok"
I think Thai Airways has headquarter in Bangkok ... Khun Ka , please explain ?!?!?
After we landed at Paris, our trip continued directly to Antwerp with Thalys (a Hight Speed Train of Europe). This train cover Germany, France, Belgium, and Netherlands.
Our booking was done in Bangkok via Diethelm Travel Thailand -- Recommended to book 1st class since the seat will be booked up in advance. Train take off at Gare Du Nord, Paris which takes 2 hours to Antwerp, Belgium ...
After 5 minutes, the freshener was served started with cleansing wipe which said about wifi on board for FREE !!! Thanks to Thalys -- this is the first real time update on my blog !!!
With the 1st Class level, there's snack served ... actually it's a light snack just a little bit before lunch (according to my schedule we should arrive by 12.30am.
Ham & Chese Sandwiches, Croissants, Madeleine, Fruit tart, Coffee, Tea, and Cold Refreshments ... These were all served by a guy with a cart (which I will call this Thalys Boy) !!!
Here is one of my tradition that every April (Hot Season of Thailand -- actually a very hot season) we need to go for a long trip -- again, this is Europe trip (Bangkok to Paris to Antwerp, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Paris before back to Bangkok).
Flight to Europe from Suvanabhumi Airport took off by midnight -- it's a kind of free flying since I redempted my frequent flyer score from Thai Airways !!! Now, first meal started -- I'm not crazy but I like eating at airport ... Below was meals that we had after passing the immigration ... Chicken Burger (even it looked pale - but I like it since it's a minced chicken grilled with sesame bun) and Pomorodo Pasta (tomato sauce was a bit spicy since I guess chef put some chilli in).
Since we don't bother much about airway meal especially from Thai Airways !!! We did not pay attention much on 1st serve as they called dinner. Then after 1o hours in flight before landing, they served us breakfast. Here're typical Thai Airways Breakfast -- Omlette & Sausages and Special Meal Seafood which they selected fish, shrimp, scallop with vegetables !!!
Umm I won't say much since we were only looking for good coffee & croissant at Paris only ...
This was the first time that I did not have anything to eat on the plane ... But I did not worry much since I still appreciated on my Ramen & Popeyes meal at Hong Kong International Airport ...
Departure from Hong Kong to Bangkok by Cathay Pacific Airlines -- special meal was served with a kind of dimsum & grilled skewers ... I noticed that it's a deep-fried chicken, Chao Zhou Dumpling (stuff with pork, bamboo shot, and dried shrimp), Chicken Skewers in Barbeque sauce, and a kind of fried spring roll.
However, the flight attendant was kind enough to check whether I was okay with the meal since there was no rice included ... Therefore, she changed my main meal to be : Rice with Chicken Curry (a kind of peanut butter curry)
Now, instead of me enjoy the meal, the change of meal made me did not touch anything at all -- except 2 pieces of kiwis, and 1 piece of watermelon and a cup of Japanese Green Tea ...
Stupidity of me ... I hate peanut curry ... Not the flight attendance's fault but only me ... Ha Ha Ha
I flied with Cathay Pacific Airways flight at 8.25am -- The flight length is 2.45 hours from Bangkok to Hong Kong ... Of course, there was a meal (assume it's a lunch) ...
This was served by Cathay Pacific flight attendance -- I took this picture while they were serving all passenger on beverage. However, after I took this picture, I felt that it was almost the same as what I took the Sinkansen cart girl when I was in Japan February 2008 (see reference athttp://lolo-eatable.blogspot.com/2008/04/shinkansen-cart-girls.html)
Anyway, this is the meal served in Cathay Pacific -- Shrimp Black Pepper Sauce with egg fried rice and vegetables -- so Hong Kong !!! You can notice later that Hong Kong Dish which cooked with brown sauce or soy sauce can be topped on egg fried rice perfectly ...
The taste is so full -- and more full with a young green pepper corn which was added to enhance the aroma of black pepper !!!
By the way, if you notice at the top right hand corner of left picture, you can see Japanese Green Tea ... I just knew that there is Japanese Green Tea available in Economy Class of Cathay Pacific. As the flight attendance said, "We have everything -- just ask." ... That's why I always like flying with Cathay Pacific !!!
Finally, it's the time to fly back to Bangkok -- just on time before New Year Count Down ... Too bad, the passenger seat I was on (the whole row) had a problem in terms of headphone !!! Therefore, an 2.5 hours from Singapore to Bangkok, we did not have a chance to watch any movies or listen any song ... Flight Attendants tried to help reloading programme again and again (but it did not work) ... Huh ...
Anyway, this was the meal served as dinner -- Oriental Meal by Singapore Airlines --- One is Fish & One is Chicken ...
Desserts was ice-cream -- Nestle Trophy -- Everyone deserves a Trophy !!! No more Ben&Jerry's as it was to be when flying to Singapore or Fuchon as I got in flight from Bangkok to Tokyo ... Huh ... I can only think of a cost saving with this economic situation ...
Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) is the national airline of Singapore operates a hub at Singapore Changi Airport. The SIA branding strategy aims to build a mythical aura around the Singapore Girl, and portray her as representative of Asian hospitality and grace. More importantly, I like flying with SIA since even Economy Class, it has personal television screens, footrests, adjustable headrests with side-flap "ears", adjustable seat reclines, and more importantly good food !!!
SIA offers World Gourmet Cuisine in all class ... now, they invited award-winning chefs from around the world to work with airlines own chefs. The famous chefs (including my favourite ones) are : Gordon Ramsay (from UK), Yoshihiro Murata (from Japan), and other chefs from Australia, France, India, and Singapapore. Below are picture of the in-flight lunch (seafood which are shrimps & fish noodles in oriental style). I mean a kind of oyster sauce, soy sauce with a little bit of chilli & garlic ... To make noodle as in-flight meal is not easy since you have to cope with non-dryness or burned part on plate. But this one, I still got the softness of egg noodle as fresh as it just cooked for me.
Now, what happens when you fly during Christmas ??? Of course, Chirstmas Essence is around ... even a decoration inside cabin ... Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Everyone ...
Another thing I like for flying to Singapore Changi Airport, there is always a bowl of candy "FOX'S CANDY" which is the same as United Kingdom candy's brand. But this one is exclusively packed for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore ... CHANGI Airport Singapore -- Enjoy the experience ... By the way, FOX'S candy taken in this picture was given to me (a handful amount) from Singapore Custom Officer since she knows I like it a lot !!! Thank you, madam ...
Who will imagine that I would have a chance to eat Kare Rice twice in flight from Chicago to Bangkok by United Airlines. It was not Airlines fault, but I chose to eat Kare Rice ...
Kare is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. The one called Kare Rice is served as curry and rice. A wide variety of vegetables and meats are used to make Japanese curry. The basic vegetables are onions, carrots, and potatoes. Sometimes grated apples or honey are added for additional sweetness. For the meat, pork, beef and chicken are the most popular, in order of decreasing popularity.
Flight from Chicago to Tokyo : Chicken Curry Rice with vegetable served together with Ham Sesame Dressing Salad. Dessert was Banana Cake.
Taste of curry is still western and the look is confused (seperate or mixed I'm not sure).
Flight from Tokyo to Bangkok : Grilled Chicken Curry Rice served with Green sesame dressing salad. Dessert is Carrot Cake.
Curry taste was so Japanese ... Chicken has been grilled so smokey taste it is ... Rice was Japanese Rice (a little sticky) ... I prefer the one from Tokyo than from Chicago !!!
Then, I was back home by 8 of May 2008 ... My blog posts was far behind real date indeed.
This is a starting point of my journey to USA (it was will a long trip from home). My first meal was simple at airport lounge -- toast with black coffee ...
The trip started from Bangkok (Suvanabhumi Airport) --> Tokyo (Narita Airport) --> Chicago (O'Hare Airport) --> New Orleans (Louis Amstrong).
Below are some of my inflight meal in United Airlines -- just wonder why don't serve Japanese Food (since it was transited at Tokyo) ?!?!?
In addition, flying with United Airlines economy, there is an optional to buy an "Economy Plus" Level. As they said, more leg room proivded. It is true !!!
I flew Singapore Airline to Japan -- it was a direct flight from Bangkok to Tokyo. Talking about service, no doubt very perfect !!! Meal, of course, was also perfect too (even it's economy class) ... They served drinks & snack (peanuts) followed by menu of the meal. Main meal was a mix of oriental & Japanese meal ... What I liked most is that it contained Zaru Soba & Sembe !!!
Note : - The most basic soba dish is Zaru Soba which is boiled and then make cold noodles. It would be eaten with a soya based dipping sauce (tsuyu), wasabi, nori seaweek, and negi (Japanese leek). - Sembe is Japanese rice cracker
The last amazing thing for me was ice-cream -- It was not normal ice-cream, but it was a Fauchon Brand !!! Fauchon is a luxury food shop in Paris, similar in stature to Fortnum & Mason in London.
See ?!?!? as I told " You can find any (luxury) brand in the world in Japan" .... I Love Japan --- Promise, I will be there again ... Bye Bye for now, Japan ...
By the way, you can see also that there's a Kit Kat Bar served ... it's Australian Made version !!! And look carefully on the fruit dish, it's all Thai Fruits ... this was a flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong ... my journey continued !!!
