Asia Trip Part 2: KHH-HKG-KUL-SIN-KUL-OOL (CI, CX, AK, D7)

[Brandon Giacomin]

As promised, here is Part 2 of my trip report from my Asia trip. Part 1 can be found here.

http://yssyforum.net/board/showthread.php?t=10007

Part 1 includes my flights from OOL-KUL-HKG-KHH. Part 2 will include my flights from KHH-HKG-KUL-SIN-KUL-OOL.

Kaohsiung International Airport:

After five fantastic days in Taiwan is was sadly time to go. I caught a cab from my uncle and aunts place to the airport which took about 20-30 minutes. I got to the airport at around 5:30am. It was very busy at the time with around 10-12 flights departing between 0600 and 0800 from this relatively small international terminal.

Checking in was easy enough. The China Airlines counters weren’t too busy. Security and customs was very busy. They were only using the one x-ray machine at the time and not many counters open at customs for the morning rush so it took over half an hour to get through. I still had a bit of time before my flight left so I just wandered around the terminal.

Uni Air MD-90


Far Eastern Air Transport MD-82


China Airlines, Eva and Vietnam


I wasn’t feeling 100% that morning so after a quick wander around I just found a seat next to my gate. About half an hour prior to departure, boarding commenced.

June 4, 2014
China Airlines
CI933
KHH-HKG
B-18307 A333
Seat 29A
STD/ATD: 0740/0746
STA/ATA: 0910/0847
Flight Time: 1 hour 1 minute

Quick interior shot as I made my way to my seat


We pushed back on-time and made the quick taxi to RWY09 for departure.

Climbing out shortly after take off


Above the clouds as we make a nice right turn




Breakfast was served on this short 1 hour flight. Which was chicken and rice, and a piece of pineapple shortcake.


Pretty soon we were descending into Hong Kong.






Turning finals for RWY25R over Hong Kong


We were getting bumped around a fair bit on short finals and we had a pretty solid touchdown!

Cathay A343 following us


Hong Kong Airport:

After hopping off I found the check in desks for transiting passengers. Went to the Cathay Pacific desk and was checked in without any problems. My bag was already checked in straight through to KL. Security for transiting passengers was quiet, in fact there was no one going through so I was through to the departure gates very quickly! Now what should I do for the next 7 hours???

Cathay B77W B-KPL in Oneworld livery getting pushed back.

[Brandon Giacomin]

Cathay Pacific B772 B-HNL! I was very happy to catch this beauty! The very first Boeing 777! She turned 20 year about a week after I saw her.


China Airlines A333 B-18307 nearly ready to head back to Kaohsiung!


Air Seychelles A332 A6-EYY arriving from Abu Dhabi. Beautiful livery!


B-HNL heading off to Taipei


China Airlines B744 B-18315, the last B744 made!


Jet Airways B77W VT-JEH


United B744


Mega Maldives Boeing 757-200 8Q-MEI


KLM B744 PH-BFF


SAA A343 ZS-SXB getting towed away


Royal Brunei B788 V8-DLA! Was nice to have this subbed in for the usual A320.


The midday ANA rush!


BA A380 G-XLEB


Ethiopian B763 ET-ALJ


Well after an enjoyable day of spotting it was time to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur. When I booked the flight it was scheduled to be operated by a B773. But about a month before the trip I noticed that it was now showing as a B744! I certainly wasn’t complaining!

B-HUJ would be taking me to KL!

[Brandon Giacomin]

June 4, 2014
Cathay Pacific
CX729
HKG-KUL
B-HUJ B744
Seat 41A
STD/ATD: 1600/1632
STA/ATA: 1945/1948
Flight Time: 3 hours 16 minutes

Unfortunately my view wasn’t very exciting!


We were pushed back a bit behind schedule.

Emirates A380 A6-EEN


Lufthansa B748 D-ABYK


Got a great view of the airport shortly after departure!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brando...5/14277311039/

Passing Hong Kong after departure


IFE screen


Slight right turn


Soon the crew came around with peanuts and drinks.


Shortly after, dinner was served. I took the Fish and rice. I can’t remember what the other option was.


I kept myself entertained through the flight by watching Anchor-man 2.

Nearing Malaysia




As we descended into KL I could see that the weather wasn’t great! I saw plenty of lightning strikes about. My window fogged up when we landed so I have no idea what runway we landed on. We had a bit of a taxi to the terminal, but were soon disembarking.

Kuala Lumpur Airport:

Caught the train to the main terminal. Customs was very quiet so it didn’t take long at all. Baggage claim on the other hand took a good 30 minutes. Finally I was walking into the arrivals area where I met up with Josh. He arrived at around midday. He flew on MH B738 9M-MXN from HKT-KUL. We were staying at the Sama Sama again so it was a quick walk there. I quickly put my photos on my laptop before heading off to bed as tomorrow would be another early wakeup call as we were off to Singapore for the day.

We woke up at around 5am and quickly got our things ready before heading off to the terminal. We caught the train to KLIA2. Once there we found the check in area easily enough. We used the self-service kiosks and then after getting our documents checked we passed through security and customs. We just relaxed near our gate before heading into the departure lounge closer to boarding time. You couldn’t see much outside from where we were. All I could see was a sharklet and I hoped it would be our aircraft! Boarding commenced at around 7:10am for the 7:40am departure. Once we got to the aerobridge I could see that the A320 with sharklets I could see before was being pushed back. It had actually been parked at the gate next to us. But we were getting something better! 9M-AFV in the Queens Park Rangers livery!

June 5, 2014
Air Asia
AK703
KUL-SIN
9M-AFV A320
Seat 8A
STD/ATD: 0740/0746
STA/ATA: 0840/0845
Flight Time: 59 minutes

Once on-board I was very happy to see that the inside was also decorated! There were signs on the overhead bins. Also the QPR logo and colours were on the bulkhead at the front and also at the rear.




We took off on time off RWY33.

Climbing out after departure

[Brandon Giacomin]

Cruising along…




The crew soon came through with the food and drinks service. I didn’t buy anything as it was such a short flight.

Descending into Singapore




Nice left turn as we join long finals for RWY20R


On finals for RWY20R. Weather isn’t so nice here!


Welcome to Singapore!


The QPR logo at the front as I disembark


Quick shot as I walk through the aerobridge


Singapore Airport:

After going through customs which was nice and quick, we went to the observation area at T1 for a little while.

Always nice to see a Boeing 727! Shame about the weather.


9M-AFV was now off to Kuala Terengganu


Well there wasn’t too much happening and the weather certainly wasn’t ideal for spotting. So we decided to go into the city and have a look around. Caught the train to Raffles and just walked around from there. Had a look at the Merlion and around Merina Bay Sands which is pretty cool. We spent a couple of hours looking around before the rain started bucketing down once again. So we just decided to head back to the airport.

My photos from around Singapore can be found here…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brando...57644924095928

We went back to the observation area at T1.

Air France B77W F-GZNE in Skyteam livery


Philippine Airlines Airbus A319 RP-C8603


More bad weather about to hit the airport


Biman Bangladesh Boeing 737-800 S2-AFL

[Brandon Giacomin]

Golden Airways Airbus A320 XY-AGS


We were getting a bit bored so we decided to check in for the flight back to KL and go airside to see what there was to do there.

Xiamen Air B738 B-5658


Emirates B77W A6-EGT with FIFA 2014 logo


Lufthansa Airbus A380 D-AIMA kicking up some water on arrival


We had a look at the social tree and tried it out which was good fun


Regent Airways Boeing 737-700 S2-AHD


Singapore B773 9V-SYL in Star Alliance livery


Turkish Airways A333 TC-JOC


At around 1830 we decided it was time to head to our gate for the flight back to KL. Once we has gone through security boarding was already in progress, so it was straight on-board. No sharklets and no special livery unfortunately

June 5, 2014
Air Asia
AK716
SIN-KUL
9M-AHW A320
Seat 18A
STD/ATD: 1910/1929
STA/ATA: 2015/2010
Flight Time: 41 minutes

Singapore B77W passes by


Not a lot to say about the return flight. Took off on RWY20C made a nice turn right around the airport. Flight passed by really quickly, so can’t remember much about it. I believe we landed on RWY33 in KUL.

At the gate in KL


Kuala Lumpur Airport (KLIA2):

Customs was pretty quiet so we passed through in no time. Caught the train back to the main terminal and then it was back to the Sama Sama.

The next two days were spent spotting at the observation area. We also went into the city the night before we left to check out the Petronas Towers.

Photos from the Petronas Towers can be found here…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brando...57644940688870

[Brandon Giacomin]

Here are some photos of my favourite movements I caught in KL…

[Brandon Giacomin]

The highlight of my time spotting in Asia…

There was one aircraft in particular that I wanted to see while in Asia. That being the Iran Air Boeing 747SP! I was very happy to see that Iran Air had a flight into KL on our last day there.






I was absolutely stoked to see and photograph such a rare aircraft type! Once back home I heard the news that EP-IAA had been retired! What luck! I read that Iran Air is now returning EP-IAC into service. Good to see that there is still one Boeing 747SP in passenger service.

At around 5pm we decided to catch the train to KLIA2 and check in for the flight back to the Gold Coast. We had both upgraded to premium class through optiontown. Josh managed to get upgraded, but unfortunately I didn’t! But thankfully I had been assigned empty seats instead. So I would have Seats 12EFG all to myself! Josh was assigned Seat 1A, lucky bugger…

We passed through security and customs and just relaxed before the red-eye flight home. I tried to add a few more rego’s to the log before heading home!

Lots of Air Asia activity!










Well at about 8:30pm we decided it was time to head to our gate. It was quite a walk to our gate! I couldn’t see much of our aircraft out the window, but I could see enough to know that we were getting 9M-XXO in the Thank you Captain Park livery! My third special livery for the trip! Shortly boarding was called and that meant the end of our awesome Asia trip!

June 7, 2014
Air Asia X
D7206
KUL-OOL
9M-XXO A333
Seat 12G
STD/ATD: 2125/2137
STA/ATA: 0725+1/0711+1
Flight Time: 7 hours 34 minutes

Not a whole lot to say about the flight. Took off on RWY33. Once we were cruising, the crew came around with food and drinks. I had pre ordered a chicken sandwich, it was ok. Once the service was over I decided it was time to try and get some sleep. I decided to buy a comfort kit to help me sleep. It included a blanket, eye cover and a neck pillow. It cost MYR35 which equates to around $11AUD. I managed a couple of hours sleep but I just couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep any longer. I just lay down and closed my eyes. The lights were flicked on about 2 hours prior to arrival. I went to the toilet just before we flew over Brisbane. The bathroom has a window so I snapped a couple of photos with my phone.







I would’ve had a nice view of the Gold Coast if I was in my original seat (17K). We made the usual adjustments on finals before landing on RWY14. We had a pretty quick taxi to the terminal, before disembarking.

A few shots as I make my way off the plane and into the terminal.








Customs was quick. Thankfully we were the first international arrival of the day. JQ12 from Tokyo was delayed so got in just after us followed by an Air New Zealand A320 from Auckland. My bag took a while to come out. I walked out of the terminal and said goodbye to Josh. My friend Brock was kind enough to offer me a ride to Varsity Lakes train station. Thanks mate! From there I caught two trains to the northside taking about an hour and a half. My parents then picked me up and drove me home! I was exhausted! Haha

Conclusion:

Had a fantastic time! I thoroughly enjoyed my first time in Asia. All eight of my flights were good. The two China Airlines flights and the Cathay flight were my favourites. I found both carriers to be excellent, and of course nothing beats flying on the queen of the skies!

I loved all the places I visited, and wouldn’t hesitate to return. In particular I would like to go to Singapore again, a day simply isn’t enough! Spotting in HKG, KUL and SIN was fantastic. It puts all the airports in Australia to shame. The variety of airlines and aircraft types is fantastic!

Thanks for reading!
Brandon

I have two short trips booked at the moment. Sydney in late August for 3 nights and Cairns in mid-October for 4 nights. Never been to Cairns so I am very much looking forward to that!

[Alex T]

Enjoyed both trip reports and pics Brandon! You're lucky to have had empty rows of seats on both flights to and from OOL!

[Justin L]

Enjoyed your second installment as much as the first. Thanks for taking the time to put them together.

[Jacob L]

Great Report Brandon,
Lucky to catch that SP and 727, hope i get the chance to see them before they go out of service. Were AirAsia all they have cracked to be, I am looking to fly with them at the end of the year.
Hope you enjoyed it
Jacob