I left the Four Seasons hotel in Central with a tear in my eye as Id had such a great stay there, with many memorable experiences. Historically Ive stayed at the Mandarin Oriental, but I was glad I kicked that habit and made the switch. The Four Seasons in Hong Kong lives up to the best qualities and facilities of Four Seasons hotels, from the spa to their top tier restaurant. I could fault the hotel only in one way: a previous lady occupant of my room had chosen to use the razor from the free shaving kit provided in the room, but she had sneakily resealed it so that it looked like the kit hadnt been used. I guess a female using my razor is tantamount to me leaving the loo seat up to a lady. I knew it was a female who else would shave without using the foam? Otherwise my stay was faultless.
Again I was pampered from start to finish on the journey. As the S Class speeded me from Central to the airport, in the brief twenty five minutes available to me I recollected how much Id enjoyed the weekend of pure indulgence. All too soon as the car came to a halt at the terminal we were greeted at the kerb by a Four Seasons agent who was already expecting me. He took me directly to the SQ check in desk where there was no queue, but then I was about 2_ hours early. Even after check-in I was still escorted by my Four Seasons agent all the way to immigration, who wished me a pleasant journey. I joined the shortest immigration queue I could find and five minutes later Id made it to the security line that took a further minute or so to clear. This is representative of the continual efficiency Ive found at HKG and SIN on my trip. It is high time for BAA to wake up and smell the coffee on this one. I find that I am increasingly avoiding LHR, with almost all of my short haul air travel now being out of LCY these days, where I have never experienced security delays of the kind usually endured at BAA run airports.
It took me a while to figure out where the SQ F lounge was, and when I did there wasnt much there to talk about, with a very small buffet on offer. The bar was a help-yourself affair, with Piper Heidsieck NV for the Champagne drinkers amongst us. I lost interest after about thirty seconds, and took the long walk to the VS Clubhouse. They were still running the EVA Air menu, but I much preferred the CH to SQs own lounge. This is a really significant benefit for Virgin that their lounge experiences are generally very much better than even their competitors Business and very often First Class lounges. This extends not only to the quirkiness of the VS experience but also the superior waiting service and food preparation.
I spent the time catching up on trip reports and after an hour or so I returned to the SQ lounge and soon the flight was called. The gate was very close to the lounge, and there was again no waiting to board despite it being a full flight. I found my seat, 1F. This is the new 777-300ER layout, and these seats are the widest Ive ever seen at 35. In a 1-2-1 layout in both business and first class, they are like sitting on a love seat. Certainly you could have two folks whore familiar with each other sitting on the same seat, and in the flat bed position its comfortable enough for two. These seats recline quite a long way, but to make into a bed it seems that they need to be flipped.
I had trouble making it comfortable for me to have my feet in the semi-reclined mode. The foot rest just would not extend anywhere near far enough. It was comfy enough with my feet all the way up though.
Theyd only started fitting them in December, and mine was already showing signs of wear and tear, such as the table not being true to the desk and the shelf being rather wobbly. Like the Sky Suite in the 744, there is plenty of room for baggage at your feet, and the table works in a similar fashion in that it can be put directly into any position in front of you, and is very easily pushed away on demand to allow access in and out. Unlike the Sky Suite, the new layout seems a lot more private with the seat backs providing a more enclosed feeling without being claustrophobic.
The TV screens are an enormous 23, and the AVOD is very new and I found easier to drive than on the 744s. It includes a full set of Office software tools so if you have your documents on a USB stick you can edit them on the AVOD.
[img]http://www.g6lvb.com/img_2046med.jpg[/img]
A PC, Linux and StarOffice in every seat
I ordered a Bombay Sapphire and Tonic before takeoff, just to check theyd serve stuff other than water, OJ and Champagne. No problem.
Interestingly the hot towel count was well down on this flight: I think I only counted two rounds. After takeoff I went back onto the Dom Perignon. One thing Ive noticed throughout all of my SQ flights is that they dont pour the wine so that you can see the label, and rarely are you given the opportunity to take a look just in case they pour the wrong one. I caught the crew out a couple of times when the wrong wine was poured on my flights.
For food I ordered the ten course Chinese tasting menu, shi quan shi mei, translated on the menu as a complete and perfect Chinese culinary experience. This is served five courses at a time, and it was worth doing just to have a go, but Im not sure Id bother doing it again.
With the menu I took the off-dry Riesling on offer, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Piersporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Kabinett 2005 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer.
Everything went very well, I drifted off into the land of nod for an hour or so until we landed in SIN. Apart from the guy behind me trying to usurp my pole position for first off (Im getting pretty good at foiling these attempts these days), deplaning was a breeze, and I made my way back to the Silver Kris Lounge for some more trip report writing and knock back some more Dom Perignon.
So again another good, stress-free experience for Singapore Airlines, service was excellent, food was good, and I was always referred to by name. The Jury is out for me on the new seat though.
Cheers, Howard
