Chongnonsi to Silom, BKK

Photo 1: on the left, Maha Nakorn showed up almost 3/4th of its growth.  Interesting that this building looks better in its wooden tummy than the real glass building.  Photo 2: the iconic Bangkok Bank on Silom Road.  Photo 3: the upper end of Silom Road.

Hotels of the bugs and cockroaches, Furamaxclusive Sathorn, BKK

Tried this hotel 4-5 years ago, but it wasn't that bad.  This time I had to say "not anymore".  Pros are: big and spacious room with 2 toilets (67 sq. m.) at just US$65 net with breakfast, 5 min. walk to Chongnonsi BTS. Cons are: lots of bugs and cockroaches found, poor sound proof, indifferent staff services - actually no service.  Ended up my friend got serious bug bites.  I didn't have a thorough smooth sleep - woke up every 1 to 2 hours though I didn't mean to detect anything.  BTW, my other friends staying at the opposite side (Trinity hotel - now Glow) saw some fierce spirit jumping over on their beds.  Better stay away this area.  Yet, quite many impolite interesting scanner people here.

Icreameria, WTC, Causeway Bay

Japanese food and restaurants have been very popular in Hong kong over decades.  Long queues outside ramen shops, sushi shops and many other BBQ, Japanese buffet, Japanese western cafes.  Either high end or common ones are mostly crowded.  In the recent couple of years, another wave coming in - green tea ice cream dessert.  This shop has opened 5-6 branches in the major spots like Fashion Island, Sogo and this one at WTC.  I tried a green tea ice cream with hot green tea poured in. It blended a strong aroma of green tea and further offset the sweetness, though the ice cream isn't very sweet.  The next night I had to come back here trying another one - red bean mochi ice cream.  Super good!  This branch is even better in terms of deco. and the seats inside.

in between

Pure Dining, IFC II, HK

This branch is a bit better than the closed one in Soho.  I like the salad in a very light olive oil and lemon juice.  The bread basket is not bad either, but the fish and chips and pizza are not that appealing.  Another draw back is the poor air conditioning and pretty hot at 27-28 degree inside.

Officina Santa Maria Novella, from Florence, Italy

 Scent can be soul soothing and so to ease our pain from our body.  Officina Santa Maria Novella's long history with its first pharmacy born in the city of Florence has witnessed the use of aromatic herb and spice healing millions of patients.  Inhering from such a long history, Santa Maria Novella has expanded herself in diverse product lines from cologne, perfume, room fragrance, skin care...etc. Its unique aroma and fragrance are so iconic for the brand to grow into this century.  Its charisma already drove me to put Florence on the next travel agenda.  Hope to get to know you and see you.

Yuet Wah Club, 越華會, Wanchai, HK

This restaurant originated from Mong Lung Street (very close to Kam Wah Street where the local food market is in Shaukiwan).  It was one of several local popular restaurants together with Kuen Fat.  Unfortunately, this restaurant and Kuen Fat went in the same way for their younger generations to run the restaurants in a short-signted big profit-earning by giving some cheap quality and "weight-cheating" seafood to the customers.  For example, a crab of just a 4 inches wide could be weighed over 1.5 Chinese catty (about 2 lbs).  If they run this restaurants in Tsimshatsui, they could survive, but so stupid that they did that in a place where the majority are the local fishermen of Shaukiwan.

Out of the blue, I felt like trying this restaurant in the Causeway Bay/Wanchai intersection on Lockhart road.  I'm glad that my curiosity won me a very nice and memorable meal as this place used to be all of my good old friends who once wouldn't mind waiting in line outside.  

Their stir fried spare ribs in sweet sour sauce was very nice that they chose some very nice meaty spare ribs instead of fat spare ribs.  I chose some local fishermen fish as the steamed dried shrimp on "silky" gourd.  One of my lost friend liked their signature fried rice so much that she wouldn't miss it every time she came here.  Glad that they kept in a very high standard - moist and yet separate rice in a nice aromatic battered egg and green scallion.  Not easy to do it in just a 2-3 minute quick stir frying.

Feel free to help with yourself

A diverted direct flight, HKG-Dubai, on CX

Originally I was to take a CX flight to BKK and connected on Qatar Airways to go to Dubai via Doha.  Unfortunately CX flight got a serious delay (in fact, I noticed it was the pilot whom wanted the jet to parked to the main terminal) and therefore we couldn't connect the flight on Qatar Airways. Though CX has arranged a direct flight from HK to Dubai, we had to wait at the airport over 12 hours.  By then we should have arrived at Dubai on Qatar.  CX ground staff thought that it would be actually good for us to have a direct flight but I told them our purpose was to try A380 of Qatar Airways and the new Dubai international as DWC (Dubai World Central). 

Anyway, we got on board for this 7.5 hour flight from HK to Dubai but the meal and seat are not that good as compared to Qatar.  The amuse brioche was missed.  The main was in a tiny hot tray instead of putting it nicely on a plate.  See how the breakfast was (the last photo).  Just some pastry and a yoghurt. 

Al Mourjan lounge, Qatar Airways, Doha Airport

Originally I should have had 2 stops at this airport and tried this lounge, but somehow I could only try once and it's in a rush that I could only stay here for 10 minutes.  The lounge is so big that I couldn't browse in 10 minutes.  So I couldn't even try their food and service in more details.  Hope to visit here again and get to see more.

The meal service, business class, Qatar Airways.

I believe Qatar Airways has the highest crew-to-passenger ratio or I can say they have a fleet of crew with about 1 crew serving 4 passengers.  They are all very attentive and professional.  The meal reminded me of the very old time (about 15 years ago) of how CX business class was.  Before the starter, there would be an amuse brioche.   This time Qatar served a very nice scallop with some vinegar soy sauce.  They served a bowl of bread, not just 1-2 bread.  The starter is very nice fish sashimi with green salad.  I chose a stir fried beef filet on rice.  See how they put the main in a nice plate instead of a mini hot tray served.  The only very minor is the dessert but it's just my preference that I really don't like Movenpick ice cream.  After the bed was made, I found there were 2 nice Godiva chocolate on the bed side.  The last photo is a quick breakfast before landing.  Even though the whole flight time is just about 6 hours, they still served another meal.  CX and most other airlines would only serve 2 meals for flight time over 7-8 hours.  So now we see why Qatar got on the champion.