My Asian Adventure (HKG, PVG, TPE - Image Heavy) Part 2
PVG-TPE MU5007 A340-300 B-2383: Upon arrival at the airport I was disappointed to find out that our A340-600 had been downgraded to an older A340-300. Boarding was handled efficiently and swiftly with one general boarding for economy. Something I found rather interesting during this process was that our tickets consisted of two boarding passes, one collected before boarding the jetway and the second before boarding the aircraft. The cabin of the A340-300 seemed pre-historic and rather outdated but the seats were well cushioned and had a footrest. Even though it was a short flight we were provided with a quick meal service, which was not the best but hey, it's a meal! The flight attendants were friendly and worked efficiently for such a full flight.
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TPE-PVG CA196 A340-300 B-2385: Coming from the south of Taiwan to the TPE airport is rather easy and involves taking the high spain train an hour north to the Tayouan station and then taking a shuttle bus some 20 minutes to the airport. I was able to check-in and drop my bag off at the train station, which was rather convenient. The Taipei airport is not very impressive and I spent my time waiting for my flight in the departure loung using the free wifi. Again one general boarding call was made and the full A340-300 boarded rather quickly. The cabin on the Air China A340-300 is much more updated then on the China Eastern aircraft but the seats were a little hard. There was a quick dinner service and before I knew it we were descending for PVG. The service was on par with that of China Eastern for the same flight.
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http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...43interior.jpg
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PVG-HKG CX367 777-300A B-HNI: Check-in and immigration was a breeze and I spent my time waiting for the flight using the free airport wi-fi as well as spotting some, although it was a rather smoggy day. I was excited to be flying on my first 777-300A, a rather uncommon aircraft in our part of the world. The flight was completely full but again, boarding was handled efficiently and quickly although we ended up departing 30 minutes late. Service on the flight was not as friendly and attentive as that of Dragonair but still commendable. I was happy to see the flight attendants passing out little goodie packets for the kids on the flight. The seats were comfortable but with little legroom. Upon arrival in HKG I had an hour to connect for my flight to JFK but luckily we arrived in gate 2 and my flight was leaving from gate 4.
Terminal 2:
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My plane arriving:
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http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...vweb346pvg.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...D11/tnt744.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...MD11/sf752.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...qbel333pvg.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...blnf332pvg.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...tercity737.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...reanair333.jpg
Usual JFK visitor at home:
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http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...vgoverview.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...bhnirrview.jpg
The 777-300ER that flew me JFK-HKG:
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HKG-JFK CX840 777-300ER B-KPK: Unfortunately I had no time to spot or shop around in the terminal and went straight to my gate where the flight was already boarding. Another full flight and another efficient and swift boarding process resulted in an on time departure. The routing for this flight took us over Taiwan, past Japan, over Alaska, and down through Canada to JFK. I was happy to witness two sunsets and a sunrise on this flight as the flight over was in complete darkness. One of the most beautiful views I've seen is Alaskan mountains and landscape completely covered in snow illuminated by the moonlight. Absolutely beautiful. The flight attendants were again very professional and a bit more enthusiastic and friendly then on the flight over. My dinner was the same meal I had on the PVG-HKG sector, which was a bit disappointing but the brunch before landing was a much tastier noodle dish. The entertainment system made the flight pass by fast as did our strong headwinds although around 9 hours in to the flight I was getting quite the cabin fever. We landed on runway 13L, which was rather cool to watch via the nose cam. We arrived 45 minutes early and I was through immigration and out to my car within 20 minutes of landing!
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http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...kgoverview.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...kpk77wview.jpg
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Overall I had an incredible first trip to Asia that I will never forget and certainly enjoyed experiencing all of my new Asian airlines!
