Saturday 13 October 2018. Photos.
Highlights: Cathay First Class Lounges – The Wing, and – The Pier

Thankfully the headache I had early last night eventually disappeared and I woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the luxury day ahead as I plan to hit a few Oneworld Lounges today. Luckily due to my airport reconnaissance last night I knew exactly were to check in. The Cathay Dragon First Class accepted my bag very early at 10.15 am (my flight was scheduled to depart at 7.10 pm) which meant a lot of time to do a lounge crawl.

The economy check in counters for Cathay Dragon were overran so very much appreciate the Oneworld Emerald status letting me use their first check in counter. While Hong Kong officials are very efficient due to large number of people using the airport it still took a tittle while to clear security and passport control.

I started the day with a visit to the Qantas Hong Kong Lounge which is very close to were you exit security airside. There were very few people in the lounge but as we moved into the afternoon that began to change. It was a good place to relax, have some breakfast and review my trip itinerary for Nepal and Tibet.

Full Qantas Lounge Review is located here.

From here is was onto the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge – The Wing. I knew the lounge was located between Gates 1 and 4 but ended up taking the long way to get there, it was basically opposite side of the Qantas Lounge (so turn left instead of right). This lounge didn’t disappoint, I spent most of my time here in a private Cabana a large room with waterfall shower, bath, work bench and comfortable couch. I thoroughly enjoyed me warm bath as I submerged myself into the water. Pure luxury, glad I got to experience this before I lose my Platinum / Emerald membership. I also tried out signature noodle dish wonton with noodles in soup, lovely.

Full Cathay First Class The Wing Lounge Review is located here.

Next up was a visit to the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge – The Pier (yes they have too first class lounges. The main features of this lounge is the private Day Suite for you to relax while watching the planes come and go, and the Dining Room with first class a la carte food, I enjoyed the wagyu beef cheese burger – tasty!

Full Cathay First Class The Pier Lounge Review is located here.

Despite having some much time to experience this lounges I found myself rushing to get to my gate for Cathay Dragon flight to Kathmandu. Didn’t help that the gate was far away from The Pier but I only learned that about 2 hours before boarding.

Cathay Dragon is the lower cost regional version of Cathay Pacific. Saying that their short haul product is outstanding. I think they go with the different brand so people don’t start expecting the same long haul product (business lie flat seats for example) in short haul. I scored a vacant aisle seat next to my window seat in business (the cabin was in 2 – 2 -2 configuration). On my return flight I selected a middle seat so I didn’t have to worry about someone setting over me or me stepping over them for the midnight flight.

The service was excellent but we experience air turbulence on multiple occasions. At Kathmandu we deplaned via stairs onto the tarmac and caught a bus to the medium sized terminal (no air bridges here). It was an experience getting a visa on arrival and getting though immigration and then the struggle to get my bag but in the end everything worked out fine but it did get a little crazy at the airport.

Full review of the Cathay Dragon KA104 Hong Kong to Kathmandu flight and airport experience is located here.

My organised hotel transport was waiting for me with a fellow G Adventure tour member. It was a short drive to the Fuji Hotel but as we got nearer it appeared to be a number of side streets making it hard to memorise the area for tomorrow’s exploring. Hotel checkin went fine, the room is probably 2.5 to 3 star and luckily had air conditioning which I needed after the hot airport.

Tomorrow I’ll meet G Adventures group but I could see from the notice board that there will be 14 of us in the group. Time to get serious after extreme luxury of Oneworld Lounges back in Hong Kong.