Author: JP

Woke up at 3.30am to get to the airport for 5.30am to catch a 7am flight to Cebu. The madness.

No line ups and all the check in formalities plus double security checks were done in a jiffy.

The terminal was fairly small and dedicated to PAL.

Boarding was called around 6:30am with the sunshine in full effect. Boarding was called by zones and the gate agents were surprisingly enforcing everything.

Down the tube and snapped this bird that pulled in not too long ago from YYZ.

Our bird was an A330 which was surprising to me since there were flights every hour. I assume it would be one of the smaller planes but I guess there is a great demand for travel to Cebu.

Very comfy.

Boarding done on time and we were pushed back on time as well. Took a shot over at Terminal 3 showing the international birds.

Views over Manila.

Ooooh, a sammich.

The hour went by quickly and we touched down in Cebu without issues.

Final shot of the bird as we got out the tube.

After collecting our bags, we decided to get a Grab taxi to the North Bus terminal. The bus would us to Maya port where we could catch a boat to Malapascua Island, home of the world famous Thresher Shark. What – you never heard of the thresher shark?! Go google it, I’ll wait …

Right? Isn’t it amazing? Ok, I digress – moving on.

Before the taxi though, important business must be taken care of … Breakfast. 😀

With the stomach satisfied and bladder emptied, we piled into the car and made our way to the terminal.

When we got to the bus terminal, it was a choice of a big bus or a small mini bus. Neither is a good option because the big bus makes multiple stops along the way to the port while the smaller bus waits at the terminal till 16 people are packed like sardines inside and then it moves on. It also makes stops along the way to pick up people if the bus is not full at the terminal and in our case, it was not …

After 3.5 agonizing hours, we finally made it to the port. Paid the 100 peso per person for the crossing to Malaspascua Island. Then we find out that we had to wait for other people to show up to a max of 10 people in order for the boat to leave. If the boat was not filled, then the boat would wait till the next timeslot to leave …
But wait there’s more … the lady suggested we could pay 1000 pesos in total to rent the boat outright and take us to the island … le sigh. Two more people showed up and we bit the bullet, paid 200 pesos per person and headed out.

Almost thurr.

Finally!

Up next – the resort, diving and day trips.

I leave you with this picture as a teaser.

Co-workers picked us up from the airport and we headed off to the Marriott for the night before flying out the beach. Since we landed around 11am, the plan was to stay awake the entire day, go hard and crash early evening since the flight out was at 7am the next day. Got to the hotel in one piece, where bags and self had to go through security check ala airport style (no TSA probing though). Was first one line for check-in and was helped in 5 minutes.

Then the upgrade gods showered me with blessings. Informed by the wonderful check-in lady that we were upgraded to a premier room with a view of the golf course and it came with the other gold elite benefits as listed below.

But as bad luck would have it – we would not get a chance to take advantage of the benefits due to us being out all day. Oh well.

Our room was on the west tower and it entailed a long walk to the other side.

Pics of the room were taken in the evening when we packed for our trip out. I really liked the hotel and the room overall and would definitely stay here the next time I am in Manila. The only caveat is that it is closer to the airport thus making the drive to the downtown core a headache if you get stuck in the infamous Manila traffic.

View of the golf course from the concourse but had the same view from the room at a higher level.

We quickly showered, changed and left for the day to tour Manila. Our first stop would be at Intramuros that is Spanish for the Walled City and was the seat of government when the Philippines was part of the Spanish empire. Anything towns or villages outside the walls was considered as Extramuros. We hired a guide to tour us through the area where we were given an awesome history lesson on the origins of the site and its development and destruction through the years.

Our tour guide.

The footsteps of Jose Rizal who is a national hero and considered to have inspired the Philippines Revolution. These foot steps are a depiction of the path he took on the day of his execution by the Spanish.

Finally, into the air conditioned museum about Rizal.

A bad pic but this shows a mock up of what the court looked like when Rizal was judged by the Spanish.

A portrait showing the execution of Rizal where one of the bullets went through his spine and severed it.

The actual spine on display. #morbid

Once outside, we were taken to see the jails used to imprison the locals. The bottles are an artist’s representation of the conditions the prisoners went through.

Pano shot of the Pasig River.

Walking along the top of the fort walls.

After a hot, sweaty walk, this was a welcome treat to the end of the tour. The locals call is Dirty Ice cream which means Street Ice Cream and not unsanitary in any way. I went with Cheese flavour which was ridiculously good.

Leaving Intramuros with a quick shot of the Manila Cathedral as we passed by.

I was jonesing for Jollibee and need to satisfy my cavemen urges.

No trip to Jollibee is complete without the requisite picture with the Bee himself. #bucketlist

After getting off the plane, I spied a CZ representative holding a sign with names of people and the gates for their connecting flights. I saw my name on there with the gate number but there was a 3.5 hour layover, so no need to rush. After walking the long mile (or two) deep into the bowels of the airport, got into the line for international transit passengers while most of the passengers coming off the YYZ flight went towards either domestic transit or immigration. The international transit line was further divided into economy and business class passengers, so I was quickly through after the agent scanned/stamped my boarding pass and waved me through. After this, it was upstairs into a security check zone and then got dumped out at a Y split for the A gates.

This is where the confusion happened into where the lounge was. Our gate was A123 and I saw the sign and followed it thinking that the lounge would be there somewhere. Also, I still can’t figure out what “The Exit of Flight Cancellations” sign means but I’m definitely chalking it up as a Lost in Translation moment. 🙂

If I had only turned around, I would have seen this:

Instead, I just followed the sign and kept walking for a good 10 minutes towards our gate.

Pretty colours.

We came to A123 and the lounge was nowhere in sight. At this point, I fired up the interweb on my phone and googled where the bloody lounge was. Luckily, OMAAT had a report detailing where it was … back where I started … Le sigh. Another 10 minute hot, sweaty walk back to the starting point and I was allowed inside. There was another front desk inside the lounge where you could go either left or right depending on your ticket. The left turn would take you to the CZ First/Business class lounge whereas turning right would take you to the Gold/Silver elite lounge. Guess where I was punted into? I suspect this was due to the fact that it was way too early in the morning for the CZ lounge to be open.

This is a reverse shot of where I walked in from:

Food/beverage station off to the left as you walked in. There was no food hot being served as it was 5.30am and it would be another hour or so before it was served.

As you walked deeper in, there was a larger seating area.

Looking down towards the shower/washroom area.

Plopped my bag down and asked one of the attendants to set up with a shower room. I was called in around 10 minutes later.

After a hot and refreshing shower to clean off the airplane germs, it was back to the seating to relax till it was time to leave for boarding.

45 minutes to departure, I left the lounge for the lonnnnggg walk back to A123. I snapped up quick pics of the CZ lounge as it was open now. Would be trying this on the way back home. Spoiler – nothing great.

Since there was time to kill, I walked around to snap pics of some birdies.

The livery of the CZ 787 is very flamboyant.

Finally at the gate.

With another snaking conga line.

And our bird on the left.

The first row was J class with a wall behind it separating us from economy. All 4 seats in J were taken.

Wonderful leg room for this 2 hour flight to Manila.

PDB of juices or water was offered and I went with apple juice again.

There was one FA working J for the flight. After delivering the PDB, she verbally listed the breakfast menu mains which was a choice between dim sum or seafood noodles. I went with the dim sum.

Boarding was done on time and we were being pushed back.

Even at 8am, there was a bit of a queue for take off – 5 planes ahead of us waiting with other planes landing on the same runway.

15 minutes after take off, the FA sprung into action and started to deliver the goods.

Nothing fancy and was not that great either but it satisfied the stomach.

The thin veil protecting me from the rest of the plane.

Stupid camera – focus on the scenery, not the window.

Smooth descent into Manila and a quick taxi to the gate.

Final mug shot of the bird.

Up next – one day in Manila + flight to Cebu.

On the last episode, I left you walking down the boarding tube. I approached the FA standing at the door and he pointed me to my seat.

My seat – 18A.

And what 19A looks like behind me. The cabin was in a 1-2-1 layout similar to the Emirates A380.

A female FA came by offering me a towel while another came by with a tray of PDBs. I chose the apple juice and there was no offer of champers.


Lady in red giving me a pose (totally coincidental).

The touch screen remote to control the TV functions. Very slick to use and resolution was great.

A shot of the engine.

Let’s peruse through the food menu, shall we?

Drinks menu.

Digging into the amenity kit and its usual “nothing too exciting” contents.

Setting the mood.

Air Transat from god knows where just pulling in.

Door closed and we were getting ready for push back. In the mean time, the safety demo began.

And another shot of the remote control with TV to show the resolution.

PAL getting ready to pushed back.

We taxi-ed pretty quickly to the runway and passed by T1.

Airborne.

Total flying time to Guangzhou.

Thirty minutes into the flight, service began with a little sip. While we were on the ground, the FA working my side of the cabin came by and took everyone’s orders for dinner and breakfast along with drink choice. Once the choices were made, the menus were taken away.

Followed by the amuse bouche.

Yummy GB.

Smokey cauliflower potato soup. I was never asked for my soup choice and this was just plunked down on my tray table – um, ok. Nonetheless, it was tasty.


Some type of beef roll with scallop even though the menu said something else.

Canadian cod with scallop sauce. Bland.

Followed by cheesecake and fruits.

As the service was down, the FA came by everyone and offered rock hard chocolate ice cream. Needed a good 20 minutes for it to partially melt.

Obligatory wing shot somewhere over the great white north.

Took a walk to stretch out and see what premium economy was like behind the curtains. I peeked behind the curtain to check out economy and quickly ran away after laying eyes on the unwashed masses.

Shot of the bar set up in between the mini and main business class cabins.


After a few hours of Zzzzz’s, we were woken up for an early breakfast. Traditionally, most carriers start breakfast 2 hours before landing. In the case of China Southern, breakfast started a good 5 hours ahead of landing. Eager beavers.

Prepping breakfast for us.

Cereal to start the early breakfast.

I went with the wonton shrimp and meat soup and skipped everything else.

Back to la la land.

All nice, cozy and snuggly under the blanket.

Soon, it was time to land and preparations were made. Seat up, headsets taken away. We landed at 5am in darkness.

And a final shot of our plane as we disembarked.

Next up – transiting through CAN and the flight to Manila.

We begin the TR with the taxi dropping me off at Pearson T3. Like most international carriers, China Southern is the last door at the departures drop off area. As I walked in, I could not immediately find the check in counter and the FIDS were of no help. After a little walking around, I found the CZ counters way in the back corner with Cathay Pacific. There were no people waiting in the Business class queue but there was one person being helped at the counter. As the check-in agent motioned me to come forward, the person in the economy line next to me started shouting at the check-in agent to the effect of “Why are you helping him first? I was here before him.”, but in Mandarin or Cantonese. Being the kind Canadian that I am, I waited and within seconds, the supervisor at the next counter called me up to help me check-in. Patience – a Canadian virtue.

The Cathay check in counters on the opposite side of the CZ counters.

A quick pic of the PAL check-in madness.

The new board (and a nice addition) way up on the wall of T3. What the hell, WestJet – whats up with so many delays?

Security was quick with no line ups and no priority line.

Schlepping all the way down to the C gates where the big international flights leave from.

Lounges were located one floor above and I headed off to find the PP lounge. This PP lounge may have been recently renovated and looked in line with other PP lounges around the world. The PP lounge at T1 is just small and awful.

I think this is the way.

I found a seat by the window overlooking the gate where CZ would be docked at.

This is what regret looks like.

Well, hello there beautiful.

After 20 minutes, one of the lounge attendants came around calmly announcing the boarding of the flight to CAN.

The economy scrum.

No need for me to wait in that line. LOL.

We headed to gate 54 where our bird was departing from. Gate Lice were already crowding/lining up and agents were going through to check boarding passes. We were requested to stand in the F/Diamond line – some people with families lined up behind us. Hmm.

Our birdie.

Boarding was delayed by 5 minutes due to pre-boarding of passengers with wheelchair assistance and we waited in line for a total of 10 before boarding was finally called. F/Diamond passengers were called first and we quickly scanned through.

Left at the fork.

We were greeted by two staff members at the door and one of them escorted us to our seats. The F cabin has 8 seats in total – 2 rows of 4 seats. Both of us took the K window seats. The flight attendant helped Mrs.I to her seat, knelt down and offered her slippers. She even removed the slippers from the plastic cover and place them at Mrs.I’s feet – Mrs.I was politely refusing the slippers as she was not prepared for this sort of attentive service provided by the flight crew. 🙂

Need more leg room. 😀

While the cabin was cleaned thoroughly, there were signs of wear and tear.

The other seats in the cabin. We were 2 of 3 in F for the flight. 🙂

Looking down at J class.

The flight attendant helping Mrs.I earlier came by my seat and introduced herself and again welcomed us aboard. She asked if I would like a PDB and went with the usual. She also asked if I would like to change into PJs now and I accepted. Mrs.I went first, then the other gentleman and me last. She escorted me to the washroom, opened the door and closed the door when I got in. I did not take pics of the washrooms – it was the usual set up with the exception that both F washrooms had the Japanese toilet. No heated seat option unfortunately. When I came out, the flight attendant immediately took my clothes, hung them all on a hangar and hung it in the coat area behind my cube. Awesome service.

Touch screen seat controls.

Usual clunky TV controls and power sockets.

Decent headphones provided.

Looking across from my seat.

The awesome amenity kit.

Which turned out to a dud in terms of contents. Some contents were in the case while the rest was provided on a tray which the flight attendant brought over to us to select. The case is still a winner.

Boarding was done eventually and we were pushed back. As we were taxi-ing, the purser announcement that due to a delayed pushback and traffic congestion at NRT, we would be late arriving into ORD. Yay. 😐

Getting into position to say bye bye. The purser came by and introduced herself – she welcomed us onboard and requested that we contact her in case we needed anything. Another thing to point out – the captain never came once on the PA to make the usual spiel. The first officer did come on the PA after take off and advised of a flight time of 11 hours and a delayed arrival into ORD. After that, all announcements were made by the purser or another member of the cabin crew.

Farewell.

Birds as we were taxi-ing.

All departing planes lining up for take off.

Yikes. Long line up.

Blurry take off pic.

After the seat belt signs went off, the crew got into action. We were presented with two menus in a thick book cover.

One menu for drinks, the other for food.

Shall we start with the food menu first? The entire menu shows the selections for NRT-ORD first and then ORD-NRT.

The Japanese Set menu.

The drinks menu for all you FT alcoholics. 🙂

Yes, I’m sure the wines are “enchanting”.

The flight attendant came by to take our dinner order and I went with the Japanese menu. She look surprised that I would select that option and asked if I liked Japanese food. Er … who doesnt? 😉

She also asked for my drink order and I went with the sake. I asked for her recommendation and she indicated to go with the Miyakanbai Junmai Gingo Sake as it was the lightest in taste. Deal.

Stupid flash.

Showtime. The amuse bouche, which was not documented on the menu. The flight attendant asked if I wanted chopsticks or a fork – I wanted chopsticks and she was surprised again. Yes, Westerners do know how to use chopsticks. 🙂

The brown roll was sliced beef stuffed with cream cheese, while the yellow ball tasted like mango. I did not know what to make of the mousse in the shot glass and the white jello but they were all tasty.

Next was the Sakizuke (on the top) and Zensai (bottom). I could not bring myself to eat the whole fish piece – the eye starting at me was enough to wuss out.

Next up – Owan – clam fishcake, marinated bracken and butterbur. I made the mistake of breaking the fishcake as it broke up into small piece rather than halves. Made it messy to finish but I managed it.

Moving on to the Otsukuri course – sashimi. I devoured the fish and left the rest.

The next three courses were all brought out together. The flight attendant asked if I wanted the steamed rice/miso course with the rest or after and I said to bring with the rest.

At 12 o’clock is the Kobachi course, Nimono at 11 o’clock and Shusai is smack in the middle of everything. The Shusai course was grilled trout and was over cooked – I barely ate half of it. The Nimono was the steamed tilefish and it was excellent – the salted cherry blossom leaf had a good flavour and it kept the fish moist. I honestly did not know what to make of the Kobachi, picked around it and didnt eat much.

Miso soup which is as good as it can be.

Finally, the dessert course – somehow I did not end up getting the Wagashi course but instead was asked if I wanted a dessert of the International menu. I went with the Croissant Waffle with apricot jam and vanilla ice cream. It was excellent.

The service took around 1.5 hours and the crew were discreetly watching us through the cracks in the curtains. As we finished each course, she would come out to take the plate and replace it with the next course – good pacing. At end of the service, I could not keep my eyes open due to the food coma. The flight attendant asked to notify her whenever I wanted to have the bed made and I asked it to be made now. She converted the seat next to me into a bed and I crashed for the next 7 hours or so. The total flight time was 11 hours, so I was happy I slept that long.

The flight attendant saw me taking many pictures through the course of the dinner and the bed. She offered to take a pic of myself and I obliged. She asked how the flight was so far and I commented that the service was excellent so far. She also asked if it was my first time on ANA and I said yes. I commend her for making the effort to speak with me but there were awkward moments in the conversation.

Two hours before landing, the flight attendant woke me up for the refreshment service and I woke up with a start – it was a really good sleep lol. I took a look at the menu and ordered the Croque-Monsieur and ANA original curry. Yes, I want moar curry. 🙂

Croque-Monsiuer. Dry but passable.

ANA original curry. Tasty but again, Coco Curry house was the winner in the curry wars.

Soon after the meal was finished, she asked if I would like to change back into my clothes and I said yes. She brought my clothes out of the locker – removed them off the clothes hangar, folded them and escorted me to the washroom. She handed me the clothes and closed the door. Attention to detail.

Descending into ORD.

Almost there.

Smooth touch down and taxi to Terminal 5.

We had to disembark via door 2L. The flight attendant looking after us during the flight escorted us to the front of the line – no stare downs or anything of the sort. We thanked them and made our way to immigration and it took around 10 minutes in total to use the kiosk plus speak to an officer. Bags came out 10 minutes later and our bags were first on the belt. Right after the immigration doors was the bag drop off – our baggage tags were scanned/dropped off and the lady informed to head to Terminal 1. After the quick train ride over to Terminal 1, we headed through security. I dont understand the different level in service between the TSA at Term 1 versus Term 5. TSA @ Term 1 – leave shoes and belt on, TSA @ Term 2 – take everything off and go through the body scanner.

Our United flight to YYZ was supposed to leave at 5.30pm but the FIDS indicated that it was delayed to 6.30p due to traffic congestion. Alot of United flights were delayed in terms of boarding and leaving the gate – ours was no exception. We began boarding at 6.15pm and push back was at 6.45pm. During boarding, the captain came on the PA and advised that traffic control changed pushback time to 7.30pm (collective groan) but she would try for earlier.

As we started pushback at 6.45pm, the captain came back on the PA to announce that re-negotiated take off at 7.30 but we would wait on the taxi-way until then. We did take off at 7.30pm and it was a bumpy ride all the way through. When approaching, the captain came on the PA to advise that we were in a holding pattern due to bad weather at YYZ (snow) and even though there was extra fuel, there would be a chance we would have to divert to Buffalo (louder collective groan).

15 minutes later, she came on and she requested to prepare for landing (collective sigh of relief). Touchdown at 10:40pm ET.

Home sweet home. We were just happy to be home despite being delayed 2.5 hours.

Final thoughts – what an amazing journey! Mrs.I was blown away by everything on the trip and was appreciative of all the work put into planning the trip. For myself, there were many highlights. In terms of comparing First Class flights – each airline had its own strengths. Cathay Pacific had great service but was not over and above what we experienced on Singapore Airlines while the service on ANA was unique and reflective on Japanese culture. Alot of people asked us what our favourite part of the trip was but its like comparing apples to oranges. Australia had the best beach while Singapore had the best food and the culture experience in Bali was beyond parallel.

If you are reading this, thank you for staying till the end and I hope you enjoyed the TR. Until the next TR.

BONUS VIDEO

After getting off the train, we followed the signs to the terminal. Four flights of escalators later and we ended up in the North Wing. I saw the zone letters and realized that we were in the wrong side. I was looking for the Z zone since that is where you go for ANA F check-in, so turned back and made our way to the South side of the terminal.

I found you.

The agents waiting behind the doors came forward to greet us and assisted with the check-in process. Cold towels were provided which was awesome. They checked us all the way to YYZ but informed us that since we were flying to ORD, we would have to pick up our bags, clear immigration and then drop off our bags which was right out the immigration doors. I never had to do this before, so I was kind of worried that time would be wasted by checking in again in ORD but in the end, I was worrying for absolutely no reason.

We were handed our boarding passes for ANA and the connecting United flight to YYZ and then directed to take the entrance near the back to go through security and immigration. The entire process was done in 10 minutes. Once we were through, we made the long walk to the lounge.

Follow your nose … or the sign .. whichever works best.

Entrance to the ANA lounge. The First Class lounge is the inside right of the entrance.

An agent at the front desk welcomed us, scanned our boarding passes and directed to enter the lounge through the right side.

We were welcomed by the agent you see standing on the left of the hallway.

She said we could seat anywhere and we ended up sitting on the loungers next to the windows. These seats had a good view of the tarmac. She escorted us to our seats and ask us if we would like anything to drink – champers ofcourse! She quickly came back with cold towels – double awesome! She looked after us during our stay at the lounge. There were other staff members like her would who welcome F passengers and look after their needs. Most of the passengers turned out to be older Japanese men.

Tattinger.

The decor felt slightly dated.

The self pouring beer machines.

The food buffet selection was not that great. This was more of a business class selection versus a true first class offering.

I forgave ANA for their poor food offering after eating the dessert – especially the Japanese cheesekcake on the top of the picture. WOW!

Not particularly appetizing.

The lounge also had a walk up Noodle bar where you could select from a menu. I chose the ANA Katsu curry – sorry I forgot to take a pic of the Noodle bar! As I mentioned before, the curry was decent – Coco Curry house was the hands down winner.

Finally, some pics of the tarmac.

ANA 787 pulling in.

Thai and AC pulled in shortly.

Our bird being prepped for the flight to ORD.

Before going to board our flight, we hit up the gift shops and scoring a few boxes of Kit Kat.

The ANA Suites Lounge is good but not great. There are two ANA Suite lounges at differnt points of the terminal but I read they are virtually the same. The service by the staff was great and its nice when the nice is quiet. When the lounge gets busy, the staff tends to be a bit hectic and that was our queue to leave.

Next up – ANA F to ORD + anti-climactic end to our journey *cough*United*cough*.

We had 2 missions to accomplish during our short layover in Tokyo:
1. Japanese Curry
2. Sakura

Once we freshened up, we went out for a walk around the area.

This shot was at 1am. You cant tell but the train was full.

I was craving curry and I found what I was looking for … after getting lost in Shinjuku station and resorting to use Google Maps.

Kudos to the staff person in blue for speaking 3 languages – English, Hindi and Japanese.

We ordered the Pork and Chicken Katsu curry.

Deliciousness being prepared in the deep fryer.

Y E S ! Best Katsu curry ever! As a comparison, the curry on ANA was bland compared to this.

We called it a night because we had an early morning start. We planned to head over to Shinjuku Gyoen Park to check out the cherry blossoms.

Amazing view out of the room in the morning.

Looking down.

What a beautiful day for a walk! The park was a relatively slow 10 minute walk away from the hotel and we got in after paying the Y200 fee. There was decent crowds all over the park despite the fact that it was very early in the Sakura season and the blossoms were not in full bloom.

Once we were done with the park, we walked back to Times Square to check out the shops.

Our hotel building.

Food court in the basement of the building.

We walked around the Shinjuku station area to kill time. My bonus mission to find a liquor store for Japanese whiskey was an utter failure but it just gives me another reason to come back – I will have you Hibiki 17 and I will stop at nothing to find you. 12pm rolled around and we checked out of the hotel.

One last view before checking out.

We decided to take the Narita Express to get to the airport. After paying at the kiosk, we headed down to the platform to catch our train.

We were in car #2.

Local trains passing by.

She approaches.

She left right on time. Gotta love Japanese punctuality.

1 hour and 24 minutes later, we arrived at NRT.

Next up – ANA Suites Lounge.

We arrived at Changi Terminal 3 at 11.30am for our 1.30pm flight. I did see the First Class entrance right before the curb entrance to the airport – oh well. Only one business class counter was open and the agent was helping a customer. We were motioned by the Suite Class agent to come over for assistance. Bags were tagged to HND – unfortunately, our departing flight would be out of NRT and we could not tag our bags all the way to YYZ since the arrival/departure flights were out of two different airports.

With boarding passes in hand, we headed to immigration which was smooth and then headed to the Butterfly Garden.

Its free now but this was after we checked in. 😛

Past immigration and heading to the Butterfly Garden.

My new BFF.

After a quick tour, we headed over to the lounge to kill time.

Some plane spotting along the way to the lounge.

The FIDS.

It was quiet in the lounge and I assume this was due to the morning rush being done.

This lounge beats the AC YYZ Maple Leaf lounge any day of the week.

Close to departure time, we headed over to the gate. The security at the gate was awfully slow but we made it through eventually.

Our 777 taking us to HND.

View out of the tube.

We were welcomed on board and directed to our seats. Passed through the First Class cabin and snapped a quick pic with the old seats.

Business Class was full on this flight.

Our seats. Exactly like the ones on the A330 that took us to Bali but slightly wider.

We were offered PDB and went with champagne.

The menu – I will skip the repeating pages.

The Japanese menu looked good.

Mrs.I BTC-ed the chicken rice and it was already on the menu lol. I ordered the Laksa.

Traffic.

Pushed back into a semi circle.

Hello Kitty.

Started to rain as we were taxi-ing.

We approached the end of the taxiway to get onto the runway. We turned onto the runway but the engines did not spool up. Then the captain came on the comm to announce that the tower advised to switch over to the other end of the runway for take off due to changing wind/weather conditions – ok. After an eternity, we raced off.

Bye bye Singapore. Until we meet again – hopefully sooner than later.

Drinks and snacks were served. The gorgeous stewardess who was on our side of the aisle came by to introduce herself and double checked our BTC orders. Even Mrs.I commented on how good looking she was – to which I stammered something completely unintelligent .

The appetizer came out first.

Mrs.I’s chicken rice. Was tasty.

My laksa. Meh.

Dessert. Delicious.

View from the wing.

The 5 hour flight was uneventful. The staff were great although a bit rushed to serve everyone as it was completely full. Pretty soon, we began our descent into HND.

Pulling up next to our neighbourino.

As we came out the tube, I saw an agent holding a sign with our names on it. She indicated that we would have to pick up our bags and then go to NRT – yes, I knew that. 🙂

Long line ups at immigration but we eventually made it through and our bags were on the belt. Went over to the bus kiosk and book the airport bus limousine to the hotel. We were in time to catch the last bus of the night – 3 minutes to spare before it left and they were punctual. 🙂

The bus had to stop at 2 other stops to pick up passengers and then made its way to Shinjuku Station. From there, it dropped us off at the Southern Century Hotel. We landed around 10pm and it was 11.30pm by the time we arrived at the hotel.

The hotel is on the top half of the building. We went up to the 20th floor for check-in.

Going to the 24th.

The glorious Japanese throne with the extra heated seat option. My butt cheeks were thankful.

Very odd spot and angle for a couch.

View outside.

Next up – Shenanigans in Shinjuku.

We quickly freshened up and went out for our first walk around the city. Besides the touristy stuff, our main goal was to eat as much as possible.

The main square that is part of the Asia Square complex. This is right near the hotel entrance.

The famous Lau Pa Sat food centre that a 5 minute walk from the hotel.

The Fullerton Bay Hotel.

The other side of the hotel.

And the famous Fullerton hotel on the other side.

Walking along the pier taking pics.

One of two Merlions. Pop quiz – where is the other?

The touristas.

After, we looked at the trusty tourista map provided by the hotel and decided to walk over to Chinatown.

Found it.

Souvenir stalls as far as the eye can see.

Whole lot of deep fried goodness.

We stopped by a stall for fruit juice. Lo and behold, we found Sugar Cane juice and Mrs.I went nuts for it. $2.50 with ice, $3.00 with little ice, $3.50 with no ice – Shrewd pricing.

We were close to the Maxwell Food centre. Thought I could try my luck and get some famous Haianese chicken rice from Tian Tian or Ah Tai. It was already closed, so settled on the next stall which had a line for chicken rice. If there is a line up, it must be good right?

Yum.

We walked back to our hotel and saw a Satay night market set up. One section of the street was closed but never caused any traffic problems. The moment we entered this area, we were swarmed by ninjas with menus of their satay goodness. We declined as I was in the mood for Japanese curry.

The insides of the Lau Pa Sat food centre.

Many, many, many choices to choose from.

Score! Pork Katsu Curry.

The next day, we visited the Gardens by the Bay. It was partially sunny when we left the hotel at 9.30am and it got cloudy pretty quickly by the time we reached the Marina Bay Mall. First, we went back to Lau Pa Sat for breakfast and then walked to Gardens by the Bay.

Dim Sum for brekkie.

The Holy Trinity of dim dum – Sui Mai, Har Gow and Pork Bun. Yum.

Mrs.I wanted Ice Milo – she gets what she wants.

Made it to the of the mall and it came down. After 20 minutes of waiting, the rain died down and we were able to continue to the Gardens.

We went to the Supertree Grove first. We could not go up to the hanging walkway due to risk of lightening strikes from the passing rain storm. To be honest, we were glad not to spend the money to walk up there as it was good enough to see from ground level.

Peek a boo.

Floral Clock.

We did spend money to go inside the Cloud Forest.

Hey! Look up!

On our way out.

We decided to take the MRT over to Little India for lunch.

Those damn durians. Always causing problems.

Walking down the street.

We wanted to try Bismillah Biryani but it was closed … on a Tuesday. Odd.

Settled on the backup plan and went over to the Tekka Food Centre.

Line ups are good.

Mutton Biryani with Kingfish. Our stomach were happily satisfied.

Mrs.I saw the juice stall next door and demanded Mango Lassi. Her wish is my command.

I chose the flourescent pink drink. It was delicous – dont judge.

Walking around.

Went back to the hotel for a break and went out that evening for more food. We chanced upon Gayatris and Mrs.I wanted a masala dosa – her wish is …

She was satisfied.

My pre-dinner snack.

We walked back to Lau Pa Sat and try out the street stalls.

Sat at a table and we were given a menu. Must be really good if it says Best Satay right? We chose Set A.

Another lady gave us a different menu and we chose the grilled sting ray. It looked like white fish but was a little chewy. Good nonetheless.

The satay action. This guy was on point the entire night.

Then we tried the Chicken Murtabak at this stall. Delicious.

Mrs.I – “All this is for us?” … Yes, yes it is. 🙂

We called it a night before our stomachs imploded. The next day, we had another quick breakfast before checking out and heading to the airport for our flight to NRT.

$3 SGD for simple yet amazing Laksa.

She needed to satisfy her vegeterian craving with Chapatti and Potato Baaji.

On our way to the airport.

Next up – Singapore Airlines J to NRT.