HKG airport and beef noodle

I arrived Hong Kong CLK airport early in the morning at 7am, feeling somewhat refreshed. I had managed to catch several hours of sleep after a hearty bowl of warm wantan noodle soup onboard yesterday night's flight from MEL to HKG.

Arriving transit passengers had to go through anti-hijack screening before proceeding to the main departure concourse. The security screening area was not very well organised, queue snaking around a small area.

When I got to the main departure lounge, did some お土産　(omiyage or souvenir) shopping at The Atrium duty free shop before deciding to have a hot bowl of noodles at Taiwan Beef Noodle before boarding. I have noticed this noodle restaurant on the last few occasions I travelled through CLK but had always wondered what it was like so now's my chance, I thought. Especially since it was just next to my boarding gate 67.

I was also getting sick at the thought of eating another inflight meal for now and decided to skip the next meal onboard.

The beef noodle was written in English as "beef noodle in heavy soup". I asked the waitress if I should go for the beef noodle or the prime rib (pork) noodle. She recommended the beef noodle. In Japanese, it was written as ビーフ シチュー 汁麺　(beef stew soup noodles).

It turned out to be beef brisket noodle soup. The bowl cost HK$58 plus tax.

The noodle was firm and not overcooked and the serving of beef was quite generous. The soup was pretty good, the beef stock was not over powering and with just the right hint of spice. The pleasant surprise was healthy dose of collagen that I'd get from the beef brisket. :)

I saw several airport staff eating there so it must be a reasonable place to have a meal for airport workers.

Cathay's HKG-NRT flight was operated with a B747-400. It cabin looked kinda worn and old compared Qantas A330. I had a seat on the upper deck and when I reached my seat, it had been occupied by a "lady" whose partner was seated next to her. Without asking the crew or waiting to see if the seat was actually vacant, she moved from the last row to take my seat. "You don't mind to swap seats with me, its also a window seat, as we want to seat together". Its like asking someone if he minds lending something when its already been taken and used without permission. The couple looked like they were in their late 40s or early 50s. So much for maturity.

So I decided not to insist or fight for the seat and having to seat next to one of them, and ended up taking her seat in the rear. I slumbered immediately after takeoff and woke just when dessert was served. The crew did not notice I was awake and did not offer me a drink or dessert or meal. Later I asked for a cup of tea, and then some snack like fruit platter. The crew looked perplexed and asked me if I cared for the meal and I replied no. She said she'd check and came back with a small plate of cut fruit consisting of some mango, strawberry, melon and orange. Only the strawberry looked fresh, but I ate everything on the plate except for the orange slice, which I could not even slice through....

Still hungry, I asked for some cheese and the crew came back with a plate of 3 varieties of cheese and some table water crackers. I gobbled them up and accompanied by 2 mugs of Hong Kong style milk tea (lai char) !

Finally arrived into Narita airport just before schedule at 2:20pm. Tenp was a pleasant 16deg and headed straight home to catch up on emails till now.