Our Hong Kong City tour and culinary experience

Air Journey always organize  a city tour of the city visited and grab culinary experience.

This year adventure are "in" for the food taste...

Hong Kong was not a disappointment , beside the Pekin Duck and other delicacy, we got ourselves temped by the "Sea Cucumber"

YOU need to try that one...

Our funicular journey to the top of Victoria Pick

Louis Alain did find a Panda Family

always amazing view from the top of Victoria and this time lucky no rain and no cloud

Our onboard Concierge. All her hard work make our stays in the different places so enjoyable.

By now she must be the "terror" of the different hotel staff a,one the way

But man our accommodations are great....

The real one ?

I will not go into politic, but the slow down of the economy here is not a know name in their vocabulary

and why not a purple yacht...you really have to be gusty for this one

We only  did a Junk tour

I have to share with you my Apple Computer experience .

While I am ready, when the computer is not working the way you are expecting...it is very annoying .

This was the case. I took an appointment to the HKG Apple Store,. man what a place it look like the metro at peak bust hours

the technical desk was amazing, all speak english but most important they understood the predicament and I got my bottom part, keyboard, track pad and mother board replace under warranty in less than 12 hours in a cordial and efficient way

more of it the Peking duck

another local taste

The only comment I would repeat was Doug's" Should I be proud or jealous"

we went to an open bar at the 35 floor of the building behind the Mandarin

Cotton candy readily available

what a night view and all to the sounds of a local band

defintely a place toi return to

Landing Hong Kong

This time we did follow the controller instructions " a la carte" and we made it accross

It is difficult to give a perspective to the buildings but these 2 towers are very impressive from the ground

Our hold on Juliet 6 in front of the take off runway gave great opportunities for great videos

An expensive FBO but a first class service

On Flight to Hong Kong with N510HW

here we are, ready for one of the most exciting leg of the journey

Flight plan is on file, Slot confirmed, weather thru TAF and METAR not giving us any problem.

Here we go.

First it is a VFR departure...and we have a shower overhead, but our runway 25 with a right tuen on course will give us a clear path VFR to climb to our altitude.

Ready to go we launch.

Unrestricted climb to FL 340

N510HW crew, always ready and smiling

WZ in Subic

For the pilot you will appreciate the ISA plus 19 temperature, the rate of climb was anemic and at our flight level we were still showing ISA +14..this was for a very slow climb

But we had plenty of fuel and reserve for HKG

Oh Oh, this monster one is in pour path..remember we are at FL340 and this thing is going at least to FL500

The radar did painted the cell very well from far away

and yes we did get a hold clearance at BETTY, with a further clearance at 52 past the hour... about a 25 mn hold while descending at each turn, at least we were in the clear and we could see the airliner below us, doing the same and all of us slowing down to keep fuel

After 4.5 turns we were clear to the Mangoes Intersection. I ask an amend clearance to LIMES to stay clear of the clouds....the airliners behind us did the same

Upon exciting the hold we are ask to maintain 250 KTS minimum until further notice and descend to 5000 feet and 1000 increment following controller instruction

at 5 nm out reduce to 180 KTS, the first set of flaps is 185 its but no restriction on the gear speed. Captain Tanabe-san did managed this very well, no use of speed break and after a little confusion we aimed a 7 left behind a 777, the usual caution for wake turbulence and wind shear was mention

TBM direct to Hong Kong

Here we are, the big day to fly to Hong Kong, one of the most busy and unusual airport on this part of the globe.

The TBM based on his range decided to go non stop from Cebu to VHHH. It was a non issue and still landed with 100 gallons on board....

The ramp appeal might not be a sexy as the Mustang, but this is a Very Fast Turboprop and very capable with one engine.

I made the decision to land and refuel in Subic bay because not only the length of the route about 930 nm but mostly because of the chance of some delay due to traffic or du to weather.

What an insight that was. you will understand why on the next posting

VHHH as a slot system and this is the best we could get and all agreed to

This is the route of the TBM from Cebu, ours is the same after leaving Subic Bay

Pretty simple until you get to Noman the boundary for Hong Kong

the mention of flight plan enroute is always a warning of something rather unusual

we were giving the Noman arrival. Thanks to the G1000 and the 530.430 to have all of these programmed in their database. Our only chore was to find and choose the right one on the offered menu..not a simple task

I brief the group on the hold procedure, since I am up to 14 of them so far on the journey...a record...I am ready for the next assignment.

Lok at this "Fruity " ILS arrival 

View from the air

and the don't get lost on the ground scenario.

Non-pilot think that flying is the difficult part. most pilot will tell you it is on the ground that things happen and Hong Kong has most of the ingredient to make the pilot life complicated.

En route to Hong Kong, first stop is Subic Bay north of Manilla

We are now going back toward mainland China and the former British Colony.

The weather and the low have improved and dissipated. The TAF and METAR look good for our route of flight.

Just to make sure the handling in Subic Bay will be fast and efficient we took with us the handler from Cebu.

Here is our proposed route of flight

Of course we got direct, after take off we were to proceed direct MIA ( This is Manilla VOR, not Miami) and then direct to Subic Bay

Beautiful weather enroute.

To our surprise while in the descent Manilla Center switch us to Subic Bay still passing thru 16,000 feet..

Our initial contact informed us that no approaches were available and we had to proceed VFR and we we her clear to descent at pilot discretion.

The runway assigned was 25.

The beauty of the G1000 is the terrain and SVT synthetic vision capabilities. After setting up the non available ILS 25 we proceeded to start clear of the cloud down to 2500 feet in the valley and went in the general direction of the airport.

The runway soon appear and we had an uneventful landing.

On our company frequency I did mention the strange approach and the displaced LOC and was recommended an approach over the water with circle to land on 25.

The airport was full of history

Enjoyment in Cebu

We had another relaxing day in Cebu in the China sea. The weather was overcast and misty, so we decides that a little relaxation and enjoyment at the hotel would be appropriate.

We all went back to our youth:

It is nice when the hotel his that small and you are the only guess, all can be done

when was the last time you did some of this:

Celebrating the 4th of July

We must be the only American celebrating the 4th ahead of the main land. when we woke up this morning the East Coast was going to be.

Very nice to have the heads' up on what is happening in the world.

Our Yacht for the Day, very much part of this world

Photos all day

we are loaded in booze and water

Snorkeling it is 

and every one went in the water

BYOM, bring your own music..I have to say their equipment looks suspicious , but it does work

In a race

Approaching our lunch place

way too American, too many warning on the beach

Improvised shower

a father and son talk...or may be the report on what happen last night at the Casino

I know, I know too many photos

Any time, any place etc.... always ready for a nap

We have a privatize local Junk to tale use to a private BBQ place with snorkeling on the way.