Hong Kong and Singapore 2016

And continuing onto Tuesday ..

Had a bit of a sleepin on our last day - til 7:15am!

View from our hotel room

I did photo and blogging stuff then headed out for a walk around the Gardens by the Bay.

Dragonfly Lake

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands

Supertree Grove

Supertree Grove

Supertree Grove and Marina Bay Sands

Supertree Grove

Floral clock

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay

Singapore Flyer

Gardens by the Bay

Marina Bay Sands

Dragonfly Lake

Gardens by the Bay

Supertree Grove and Dragonfly Lake

Dragonfly Bridge

Water lilies in Gardens by the Bay

Walkway between Bayfront MRT station and Gardens by the Bay

And got some morning photos from the roof

Marina Bay Sands infinity pool

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck

Downtown Singapore from Observation Deck

Singapore from Observation Deck

Singapore from Observation Deck

Victoria Theatres

National Gallery of Singapore

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

The Durian

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck

People in the infinity pool

View of Singapore over infinity pool

Came back and got ready, then headed down to Rise for the buffet breakfast. It was a lot bigger and the hash browns were actually hot (they hadn't been anywhere else this trip), but also a lot more people so a lot more craziness. Plus I was stressing about getting everything done before we checked out.

After breakfast had a final swim in the infinity pool to have it under morning light. We watched a rainstorm come closer and got out just as it hit.

Stu and Kaz having a last swim in the infinity pool

View of Singapore and incoming storm from infinity pool

View of Singapore and incoming storm from infinity pool

View of Singapore and storm over infinity pool

Then back to the room to repack all our bags, and we managed to checkout right on 12pm.

Left our bags at the Concierge then went for a wander through the Shoppes. Stopped and had some ice tea and macarons, and wandered around for a bit. But The Shoppes is a really awful boring mall. Unless of course you're into the high end super expensive watches and handbags. Boring boring boring.

Stu with his tea and macarons at TWG Tea

I couldn't stand being there for another hour or two, so we jumped on a train and went one station to Downtown and had a bit of a wander around there. Stu stopped for coffee and I wandered, and even found an outside bit to get a view of the bay from another angle.

View out the window on the train to Downtown

Dream sign and Marina Bay

Marina Bay panorama

Marina Bay panorama

Marina Bay Sands

ArtScience Museum and Singapore Flyer

Finally headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. Then three trains to the airport.

Singapore Air Traffic Control Tower

Had some noms and some bubbly (and a shower!) at the Qantas club before boarding. Our boarding passes must have been checked at last half a dozen times. Security was only at the boarding gate, not any earlier.

A330 for this flight - up near the back on the left. Took off to the north so no interesting views (other than the airport).

Airbus A330-200 VH-EBV at Changi Airport

Had the beef goulash for dinner.

Dinner on the plane - Slow braised smoky beef goulash with mashed potato and steamed vegetables

Watched The Walk first up which I really really enjoyed. I'd seen a documentary on it relatively recently, and this was a sort of a docu-drama. Very cool. All CGIed of course. Although even if the towers were still there, they'd have had to CGI a lot of stuff *out* of it.

Then watched The Hangover which was actually ok.

It was midnight by this point so attempted to sleep. Failed.

Thinking I had time, I put on Boyhood, but the time listed was wrong and I was still watching it right up until arrival at the gate in Sydney, so missed the end of it :(

(They turned the cabin lights on at 1:30am, and got a bit of breakfast at about 2am. Landed at 3am, which was 6am Sydney time).

Breakfast on the plane - sour cherry pastry

I was feeling about anxious about everything actually (mainly missing the end of the movie), and I thought this set off an upset belly. But in actual fact I just had an upset belly which was making me feel queasy. Stuff came out both ends which was fun. Not. Luckily all at Sydney airport and not on a plane! And felt better after that. Stu was feeling a bit delicate too.

Then our last flight to Canberra. A fairly empty Dash8 in the back row on the right. Took off from half way down 34L and were airborne by the time we passed the east-west runway. Rain and clouds all around Sydney though, so not much of a view.

Qantas Dash 8 VH-QOC at Canberra Airport

Chrissie picked us up at the airport which was lovely of her.

At home we snoozed for a couple of hours then started tackling the mess that is our house.

So pretty good holiday. It was spoilt a bit by the rainy weather in Hong Kong and the unbearable humidity in Singapore, as well as not having much of a plan for what we wanted to do. But we did do some cool stuff and eat lots of good food, so pretty good in the end.

Another 6am wakeup.

Got ourselves organised, then breakfast as usual.

Out the door at 8:45. Train to Hong Kong where we did the In-Town Checkin so didn't need to cart our bags on the airport train.

Inside Hong Kong airport

Went through security, then had a drink, then headed to the plane.

It was a very full flight. Fullest I've ever seen a Cathay Pacific flight. I should have picked our seats weeks ago, but didn't, and only did it at the web checkin in the morning. They'd given me a window seat nearish the front, but too close to the wing for my liking, and they hadn't allocated Stu a seat at all yet. So I changed them both. There were no seats together, but luckily we could both get window seats up the back, so that was pretty good.

Belly cam of the plane

Takeoff was to the east, but Hong Kong was covered in cloud, so nothing to see there.

Lunch was a very nice chicken dish - the chicken was lovely and tender.

Lunch on the plane

I watched Pixels first up, which was of course completely ridiculous, but a bit of fun.

Then a documentary - The Secret World of Lego - about the company and designers which was interesting.

We flew over Vietnam - lots of fires :(

Coastline of Vietnam near Bai Xep

Coastline of Vietnam near Tuy Hoa

Fires in the mountains in Vietnam

Then saw Singapore from the air before landing from the south.

Changi Airport

Ships in the Singapore Strait

Ships in the Singapore Strait

View of Changi Airport from the plane

Getting through immigration at Singapore took what seemed like ages - about half an hour. And both my phones refused to connect to the airport wifi :( So that was all hot and frustrating. We took so long that instead of getting our bags from the carousel, they'd taken them off and left them next to it, so it was all a bit of chaos.

Kinetic Rain sculpture at Changi Airport

Then it was out to find money (easy enough), phone sims (Singapore Recommends didn't have them and no 7-Elevens in sight), train cards (Singapore Recommends had sold out). So that was all a bit fail. Got the train card at the airport station, $12 with $7 credit on them. Asked if that would cover the trip to the city - she said yes.

So two trains into town. Getting off, turns out the fare from the airport is like $1.30. Sydney please pay attention!!!

Everything here is in four languages. Except when it's too hard, they just go with English.

The heat and humidity here is like a blanket. At hot, wet blanket. I really think I'm going to die here.

But we did find a big mall (Raffles City) to walk through which saved walking a city block outside.

Carlton Hotel, Singapore

Checkin at the hotel was easy enough (although they only gave us one room key, and you can't use the room power without it, but you can't use the lift without it either - not very practical if one person wants to go out and the other wants to stay in the room - so went and got another key).

Our room at the Carlton Hotel

Our room at the Carlton Hotel

View from our room at the hotel

USB charger points, power and light switches

View from our room at the hotel

National Museum of Singapore

View of the pool from the lift lobby of our hotel

View from the lift lobby of our hotel

St Andrews Church

Top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel

For dinner we just went to the executive club lounge and had a couple of drinks and some snackages.

Went to a 7-Eleven across the road to get some sims, but they'd sold out :(

Then I decided to walk down to the waterfront to have a look at the Marina Bay Sands light show. The walk down was a little frustrating in places - seems this place is not too well designed for pedestrians - presumably of course unless you know all the underground and in-mall ways to go. At one point I found myself in this underground walkway, that had a gallery inside it! You could never do that in Australia - it'd get destroyed by vandals instantly.

Walkway under Esplanade Drive

Finally got to the waterfront and saw the Merlion and the light show which was quite pretty.

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

Singapore Flyer by night

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

The Durian, and Singapore buildings by night

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

The Fullerton Hotel and Singapore skyline by night

Merlion by night

Merlion by night

Esplanade Bridge by night

Merlion and Singapore skyline by night

Sinapore Flyer, Art Science Museum and Marina Bay Sands by night

Sculpture at Marina Bay waterfront

Lighted trees at Marina Bay waterfront

The Fullerton Hotel by night

Back to the hotel to shower and crash.

Anderson Bridge by night

Anderson Bridge by night

Esplanade Drive bridge by night

Victoria Theatre and Victoria Memorial Hall

National Gallery of Singapore

Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation

Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation

Carlton Hotel, Singapore

Also. Why do old people take so damned long to go to the toilet?

Wednesday night was so hot and disgusting I barely slept.

Thursday morning up at 6am to get ready to leave at 7am.

Fountain at Canberra Airport

Breakfast at Qantas Club

Our first flight from Canberra to Sydney was on a Dash 8. Had a seat near the back on the left so had a great view of Canberra in the early morning sun. It was cloudy over much of New South Wales though. Approached the airport from the south-west, but then flew right over it, swung right to come in from the south. Got to see my house which was pretty cool.

Qantas Dash-8 400 VH-QOM at Canberra Airport

Canberra from the plane

Breakfast snack on the plane

South western Sydney

Bankstown Aerodrome

Kogarah

Southern Sydney

Sydney Airport

Sydney Airport

Eastern Suburbs

Kurnell

Kurnell

Shadow of our plane over Botany Bay

In Sydney went and caught the "tarmac tour" bus, aka the international transfer bus around to the international terminal. Immigration in Sydney is now a lot more automated now - you scan your passport, have your photo taken, then drop your departing card in a box. The machines didn't like Stu though, so he had to go see a human heh. Had some nibblies in the Qantas club before boarding.

Qantas Boeing 737-800 VH-VXQ at Sydney Airport

Stu and brunch in the Qantas Club

The second flight was on an A380. We hadn't been on an A380 since our honeymoon in 2008, and we'd never been on a Qantas one. The entertainment systems are a bit better than other Qantas planes. Heaps of movies and tv to choose from. And I think there's even a tiny bit more leg room - Stu's knees weren't touching the chair in front!

Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Sydney Airport

Kaz and Stu ready to depart

View out the window of the Qantas Airbus A380 VH-OQF

Leg room in economy

USB port and network port on the A380 in economy

Old Air Traffic Control Tower at Sydney Airport

Qantas domestic terminals at Sydney Airport

Inner west Sydney

Sydney city

Gladesville Bridge

Diamantina River

Northern coast of Australia

Northern coast of Australia

Lunch on the plane was slow cooked beef cheek which was actually pretty good. Dinner (a snack really) was a mini burger and mini hot dog.

Slow roasted beef cheeks in a smoky barbecue sauce with baked carrots, broccoli and corn salsa, that I had for lunch

Mini beef burger and mini hot dog that I had for dinner

During the flight I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which was good, but too long. Then I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel which was quirky and fun, but filled with quite jarring language and violence. Just seemed really out of place for that style of movie. Next I watched Funny Face which was ok but a bit silly. Finally watched a documentary by Kal Penn on crime data, and another one on binge drinking.

We did a couple of big holding pattern loops approaching Hong Kong before landing from the west.

Clouds at sunset near Hong Kong

Clouds at sunset near Hong Kong

Holding loops near Hong Kong

Tail cam of the A380 showing the terminal in Hong Kong

Since I've never been on the flight deck of an A380, I asked the crew if I could go say hi. Qantas staff are always so lovely and they happily let me go up and have a look :) The flight deck is actually fairly spacious and super high tech with so many little computer screens! Only the pilot was still up there and he asked if I wanted to sit in the pilot's seat, so I did, and he took some photos :):):) Soooo cool :)

Flight deck of Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Hong Kong Airport

Flight deck of Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Hong Kong Airport

Kaz at the controls of the Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Hong Kong Airport

Coming through immigration was pretty quick. Got pissed off at people that crowd around the baggage carousels so you can't actually get at your bag - one of my pet peeves. Then out through customs.

Went to a 7-Eleven to get some sims, but they had sold out, so went to a 1010 store. Got some snackages at Delifrance. Then topped up our Octopus cards and hopped on a train into the city, with a transfer to the Island Line and a short walk (around roadworks) to the hotel.

Snackages at Delifrance

The hotel is quite lovely (for the price it oughta be!). We have a view of Victoria Park and some of Kowloon. There's plenty of power points, the desk is wood so I don't need a mouse mat, there's even two usb ports next to the bed (one side only) for charging things!  We can have up to four devices on the wifi, and there's a physical network port as well (with cable provided!) It does however seem to be the only hotel in history that doesn't have a shaver plug in the bathroom - where I was going to see if plugging in a night light would work. Fortunately there's enough light from the city to see where you're going in the dark.

Our room at the Metropark Hotel, Causeway Bay

Our room at the Metropark Hotel, Causeway Bay

View from our room at the hotel

View from our room at the hotel

We were pretty tired when we got in (it had just gone midnight Canberra time) so pretty much just crashed into bed.