CX A350 to Hong Kong, the Mira Moon Hotel, and a Run to Victoria Peak

[yflyer]

At the start of the week-long March school holidays, Mrs yflyer and I were part of the mass exodus of Singaporeans (And residents of Singapore) who headed overseas for a short vacation.

While many travelling that week planned their trip way in advance, ours was planned at the very last minute, with bookings made online less than 48 hours before departure.

Of course flights out of Changi at the start of the holiday weekend were hard to come by, which is why our outbound sector was a points redemption on CX Business Class. CX Economy was full -- probably overbooked, in fact.

I also reached into my stash of SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) points to book a hotel in Hong Kong.

When browsing SPG redemption options, I chanced upon the Mira Moon, part of the Design Group collection of hotels, a fairly new hotel which I had not heard of before.

Design Hotels group, which has a collection of boutique hotels across the world which the Mira hotels in Hong Kong are part of, has recently partnered with Starwood to allow SPG point redemptions for stays. This has opened up very enticing possibilities for SPG point redemptions, even if some SPG Platinum perks aren't available at the Design Hotels properties.

Mrs yflyer had, over the years, compiled a list -- a very long list -- of restaurants and local eateries in HK that she wanted to try. This would be an opportunity to check a few items off her to-try list, and revisit old favourites as well.

I was initially quite sceptical of being able to get any kind of satisfying run out of a trip to the urban jungle that Hong Kong appeared to be, but to my delight, I found that there were quite a few running opportunities in Hong Kong, and one of the highlights of my trip was a run at Victoria Peak, which didn't turn out quite the way I planned, but was probably more memorable as a result.

So apart from checking out Cathay Pacific's new A350, this trip is probably best summed up as calories in, calories out...

TR INDEX

Lounge – Dnata Lounge (T1)
Flight – CX A359 SIN-HKG in Business Class
Hotel - Mira Moon
Destination – Exploring Hong Kong / Dining
Run – Victoria Peak
Run – Hong Kong Jockey Club
Destination – Light Show / Dining at Tung Po
Lounge – CX Lounge: The Bridge
Flight – CX A359 HKG-SIN in Economy
Final Impressions

[yflyer]

CX 650 was a 6.50am departure, which meant a very early wake-up and taxi ride to Changi T1.

T1 was extremely busy at 5.30am in the morning.

"It is always like this when CX and Jetstar have flights in the morning", our cabbie remarked, as he maneuvered his taxi along the jam packed T1 drop-off area.



There was a long queue at the CX Y check-in counters...



...but thankfully the J and CX/Oneworld FF check-in counters were free, and we used those to get proper printed boarding passes (Although I had checked in online earlier.)

In fact, even Y passengers could avoid the queues if they used the self check-in kiosks and self service bag drop, which had no queues.

[yflyer]

After clearing immigration, we headed to the Dnata Lounge, which is the designated CX Lounge, to relax for a few minutes before heading to the gate.



This is a large, and fairly new lounge, which was not very crowded at that hour of the morning.



The wine and liquor selection in the lounge...



Hudsons coffee...



Small self service dining area...



With a decent breakfast spread...



...with both Asian and Western items...







A good lounge offering, although as a generic lounge serving multiple airlines, it didn't have the character or design elements of CX's outstanding lounges in HKG.

[yflyer]

Dedicated security lane for J and Oneworld/CX FF pax at the gate area...



At the gate, Airbus A350 XWB rego B-LRJ, delivered to CX 4 months ago, in December 2016. This is a three class aircraft, with Business, Premium Economy and Economy.



Boarding was by class of travel and FF status, with separate queues within the gate area for J, PEY and Y. A good boarding system.



Business Class is laid out in a reverse herringbone [Thanks, HUGE AL, for explaining the difference between regular and reverse herringbone...] 1-2-1 layout, where all seats have direct aisle access.



These seats are similar to the J seats on CX's 77W's, although the dimensions are slightly different due to the slightly narrower A350 fuselage.

A J window seat...



A pair of J seats in the middle block...



Flowers in the J cabin were a nice touch...

[yflyer]

The PEY cabin, in 2-4-2 looked quite impressive.



The PEY seats looked very comfortable. They had good recline, and all rows had a calf rest that extended quite far upwards.



To me, these seats looked less chunky, and more stylish than SQ's PEY on the A350.



Large IFE screens...



Just a quick glance into the Y cabin, laid out 3-3-3...

[yflyer]

I headed back to my seat in the second J cabin, which had just two rows of J seats.



My seat was a window seat, which had the best of both worlds: aisle access as well as a view.



Large IFE touchscreen that fold out of the partition wall.



Large pillow and blanket with each seat.



A lot of space in the footwell ahead, when the seat is in upright or lounging position.



The middle seats have a different footwell configuration...



Convenient storage area by the side of the seat...





The seat controls were quite intuitive. Along with these controls, you had an adjustable reading light and touchscreen IFE controller.



The reading light has a dial which you can use to adjust the brightness of the light...



Touchscreen controller...

[yflyer]

Active noise cancelling headphones in a small cabinet by the seat...



The universal A/C power and USB charging point are also within the cabinet...



No individual air vents...

[yflyer]

Pre-take off beverages...





Hot towel...



The safety video superimposed an animated person over live cabin footage...



Some airlines, e.g. SQ, do the full safety video with live action, others like BA do a full cartoon. CX decided to combine animation and live footage!



Not the most entertaining safety video I have seen (Compared to Air New Zealand or even UA's latest...) but then neither is SQ's.

We passed one of Cathay's A330s, still in the old livery, as we taxied for take-off...



A smooth, and very quiet, take-off on runway 02C, just as dawn was breaking...



Flight time today: just under 3 and a half hours...



Great views of sunrise as we climbed through the clouds...

[yflyer]

After the seatbelt sign went off, I checked out the seat...

The seat can recline continuously from upright mode to lounging and lie-flat sleeping mode...no need to get up to flip the bed.



I found it quite easy to get the seat into a comfortable position, whether for eating, resting or sleeping.



The seat reclines fully flat...



...and completely flush with the sides of the seating area.



The armrest also goes down to be flush with the seat, which means you have added space to stretch out.



I am not very tall, and had ample space to lie flat. There was at least 20+ cm of additional space to stretch out, so I suspect that unless you are very tall, you would have sufficient space to stretch out.

[yflyer]

The widescreen touchscreen IFE is quite impressive, with a large selection of programs, and an easy to use user interface.



There was a large movie and TV selection...



The music selection (Both albums and playlists) was impressive as well...



There are also satellite TV channels...



And duty-free shopping which you can order directly from the IFE...





Picture and audio quality were very good.



There is also time-based wifi internet.

[yflyer]

Common magazine rack with a selection of magazines...



Unlike SQ, CX still has stickers on the magazines reminding pax not to swipe them and take them home...



The CX inflight magazine has a feature on Tel Aviv, which Cathay will begin service to later this month.



They even have an Israeli music channel on their entertainment system...

[yflyer]

The tray table is a folding design...



It is not the largest table I have seen, but it is quite sturdy...

[yflyer]

Today's menu...



3 selections of main for breakfast...



Beverages...



I began with coffee and coconut water...



Cabin service was polite and very attentive, with cabin crew members addressing each passenger by name...

[yflyer]

Bread and croissants from a basket...



Fruit platter to start...



...then breakfast cereal was offered.



For my main, I chose the fish congee and steamed rice rolls (i.e. chee cheong fun) with spicy XO sauce...



This was very tasty...



...with very generous slices of fish in the hot congee...



Mrs yflyer opted for the noodles with chicken...



...which she let me taste as well...also quite delicious...



Overall, an impressive J breakfast service.

[yflyer]

I checked out the bathrooms.



These are stylishly decorated in off-white and grey/white stained wood finish, with Jurlique amenities.



There are J bathrooms in the front of the aircraft and in between the 1st and 2nd J cabins.

I strolled to the front of the aircraft to check out the bathroom there, and was delighted to find that the forward bathroom had an unusual feature...



A window! The first I have ever encountered in an aircraft window, although I later found out from SQflyergirl that this was, in fact, fairly common, and that they could be found on some other aircraft types as well. SQflyergirl sure flies a lot!