3 Weeks around SE Asia LONG (Part 1)

3,700 photos,21 flights,20 days,17 cities,11 airlines,10 countries 1 lucky escape and a typhoon
Week 1
Weds 12 sept:
Start of a gruelling 20 day tour of Asia began at Glasgow International at 1030, got checked in online the night before seat 31K on Emirates flight UAE26 Glasgow to Dubai, and checked on from Dubai to Hong Kong. Boarded B777-300 A6-EBP at 1330,

an odd sight was that Business class had become cattle class, every biz class seat occupied, in Economy nearly all pax had their entire row to themself (me included) Pushed back at 1425(20 mins late) took off from r/w 23 at 1439 ascending to a cruise level of 35,000ft. The 777-300s of EK are truly awesome, once airborne and cruising the window shutters are lowered and a very groovy “starry effect” mood lighting on the roof is applied, the IFE is just outstanding, as you would expect, over 180 on demand movies,TV shows,Documentaries,Sport, News and games, as well as airphone and text facility.
Lunch consisted of a Bresaola appertiser, with seasonal salad Main courses of Roasted fillet of salmon,served with mustard and lemon sauce with Tagliatelle,broccoli florets and carrot batonnes, or, Chicken Tikka in a masala sauce with Basmati rice,aubergine and tomato Ragout. Dessert of Banoffee Torte. All drinks aboard are complimentary except Champagne (USD 8) with a small snack selection before landing in Dubai at 2130(BST)(0030 local) a flight time of 6 hours 50 minutes. Just as we were taxiing in, a passenger had made an earlier request to the flight deck for information on the Euro 2008 qualifiers that were on going (specifically the France v Scotland game) the captain came on the pa to announce that Scotland were beating France with only 20 odd mins to play,the whole plane erupted in cheering 😀
Thursday 13 Sept
So had around 9 hours to waste at DXB i had the opportunity of using the DXB transit hotel, but, decided not to bother, as i would,if lucky,only have got around 3-4 hours before having to return, so opted to stay in the terminal, an extremely busy place through the night with people lying around everywhere, there are some food outlets open all night, and a few “quiet” lounges (that were anything but), that had recliner chairs. i stayed here till about 0700 and found a spot where i could attempt some shooting (through smoked glass)

till boarding time for UAE380 to Hong Kong boarded at 0910, aboard A330-200 A6-EKT was in seat 16K which is 1st row behind business class and has extra legroom, once again, i had the row to myself. Took off at 0950 up to 37,000ft the A330, not quite as nice as the 777, and the IFE is not “on demand” but has a fantastic selection of entertainment nonetheless. Breakfast came in the form of Orange juice, fresh fruit and a choice of Asparagus Omelette served with Gratin potatoes,sauteed mushrooms and grilled herb tomato, or, Fried e-fu noodles with chive dumpling,bean curd roll and chilli sauce. All accompanied by a hot croissant and varied beverages available.
Later in the flight a snack of Roast beef sandwich served with creamy pasta and pickles and an Orange Savarin was served.
No hold ups into Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok airport arriving at 1715 (UAE time)2115 local,25 minutes early with a flight time of 7 hours 25 mins.
Immigration/customs at HKG a breeze, less than 10 mins from a/c to terminal.
Then headed off to Hong Kong on the highly efficient Hong Kong Express MTR which takes 24 minutes to Kowloon station and costs 90 HKD (App £5.70) there are other cheaper options, such as bus, or slow train, but,the MTR is by far the best option.
Friday 14 Sept
Spent the day on the SkyView terrace in Terminal 2. The Skyview is a fancy multimedia display about Hong Kong aviation/airports including some mock cockpits, and a 4D video screen, to access the rooftop terrace costs HKD10 (63p) if you leave (for lunch or whatever, you must pay again….not going to break the bank though really)The terrace is at the 25 end of the runways, the runways in use were the 07’s changing after a while to 25’s far better for shooting, however, Hong Kong seems to be permanently enveloped in a thick mist (the sun at 3pm!!)

which burns off slightly, but, not to a level decent for shooting, however, since i’ve come all this way, shooting was attempted anyway. (All shots from the trip will eventually appear in “Airline Images” forum over the next few weeks) It gets extremely hot on the terrace, so, water is a must, for food, if you leave the terrace and return to terminal 2, there are numerous eateries available (as well as gallons of shops) Terminal 2 is an odd building, it is really a shopping mall with an airport attached!!,the only real clue that you are indeed at an airport is 6 rows of check ins (only a handful of airlines use T2) there is no aircraft stands at Terminal 2, once checked in you board a train to terminal 1.
Saturday 15 Sept
Was off to Manila today, checked in in Terminal 1 for Cebu Pacific flight 5J111 to Manila. Airside at HKG Terminal 1 has many spots where spotting/shooting is possible through fairly clean glass, you can freely wander about all the piers.
Boarded A320 RP-C3240 at gate 47, a very clean aircraft inside with leather seats and surprisingly generous leg room.


I was in seat 14F (no row 13 on Cebu a/c) overwing exit seat with very good legroom. Pushed back at 1050 and joined the queue for 25L behind a China Eastern B734, JAL B743, AFR B772, Cathay Cargo B742F finally airborne at 1105.
Cebu Pacific crew do a “game” midflight involving the cabin crew asking for pax to show them a variety of things(eg: car keys, wallet, a belt!! etc…) first to show the item wins a Cebu Pacific notepad (woohoo)with 3 up for grabs, a very odd event, and, quite fun too, as i found out on other flights the game varies (on one flight a poor American guy had to stand at the front and sing a song!!!) apparently, upon asking why this is done, it is to help keep people active and is a sort of mild airborne exercise, quite clever, (watch out for EZY and RYR adopting these games!!)
Down Town Manila

so flight landed at Manila Airport NAIA terminal at 1245 a flight time of 1h40min. Immigration at MNL is very slow, only 6 desks for non Filipinos took about 40 mins to clear. The airport is run quite peculiarly, you cannot enter the airport without a valid travel ticket for that day, and if you wanted to leave baggage at a left baggage facility you have to leave it BEFORE customs, and when retrieving it you must go through a tedious routine, first, get a visitors pass from the pass centre (you will have to leave a form of ID ,drivcing licence etc.. with them, but not passport, as youll need this)
Once you have your pass, you have to go through a few security checks before you get back to the left baggage place, have the correct money asd they don’t seem to have any change!!(hoping you will just give them the extra)collect your baggage then clear customs!! go out, go all the way back to the Pass office (down stairs so baggage carts are no use) wait in line to hand your pass back then back up to the terminal front for a taxi (you will have NO problem finding an eager taxi driver in Manila) Taxis are extremely cheap, there is no bus/train services to the airport, and forget about self drive, it takes real nerves of steel to drive in Manila!! road rules don’t exist here, you just go!!
Shooting/spotting at MNL is not good, there are very limited views airside, as for outside, you could trawl the perimeter,a fairly risky decision if you are carrying hundreds of pounds worth of camera gear, and you will also have every second person offering you a taxi,tuk tuk, or just generally “bothering” you. I eventually found an off airport place good for spotting/shooting and very quiet, i will go into detail in that place later in the trip report.
Sunday 16 Sept
Today was off to Taipei with Cebu Pacific flight 5J 310
The departure process at MNL is also mental, here is the process (you really do need to allow 2 hours) firstly you join the Queue (outside in searing heat) to enter the terminal, once at the front you show a guard your passport and ticket (only a valid coupon, if you have an E-Ticket you will be sent to find the airline offices, wait in line there to get a coupon then back to the terminal frontage to queue again, then you go through a baggage and body scan (belts and shoes off),now, you find your check in desk and wait in this queue (not the fastest check in staff) you check in and are given a departure card, which you must fill in, then proceed to buy your departure tax from another queued counter (750 Peso, app £8.20), then go to departures via another baggae and body scan, proceed to join the large queue at one of the 2 open of 14 immigration desks, pass this and go through ANOTHER baggage and body scan, then you are in the departure lounge, a central area, you can only go down the pier you are leaving from, no places to shoot from here and just a few shops, you will be pestered by girls offering massages and trying to get you to enter their lounges (i had time and paid into one of the lounges, which is worthwhile, for about £7 you get an Air Con’d lounge with free food/soft drink, TV, Internet access, comfy chairs etc…) when you are going to the gate you have another bag search at the pier entrance, head to your gate lounge where you go through a body scanner and finally you get a seat and wait to go…Phew!! Boarded A320 RP-C3243 had seat 3F row to myself, departed at 1130 and arrived at 1310 1H40Min flight, Cebu offer a pay for food service consisting of pot noodles, snacks and drinks, but it is all very cheap, a can of coke was about 19p.
Immigration at TPE was quite swift and orderly.
Spotting/shooting at TPE is almost impossible, you would really have to have transport and find spots around the perimeter.
Monday 17 Sept.
Today was going to do some trips around Taiwan flying from Taipei Songshan airport (right in the middle of the city)this is the domestic airport, flying around Taiwan is quite simple, very like using a bus,
the main airlines are Mandarin,Uni Air and Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) all have the same set flat fares for flights all around the 2000TWD mark give or take a few dollars (approx £30 a flight) you turn up at the airport and grab a flight depending on availibility, if you can’t get on one airlines flight try one of the others leaving around the same time.
So, first up was Mandarin flight AE261 Taipei to Kaohsiung.
Once you are through security to the departure lounge, there are lots of windows looking out on to the apron and runway good for taxiing shots.although i was told no photography by a keen young airline employee(merely moved along the terminal a bit) at SonShan you will see various a/c by the domestic airlines, some biz, some spam and it is also the Taiwan air force base(got lucky to catch the Taiwan AF BBJ taxi past)
Boarded Fokker 100 B12293 took off at 0925 landed at 1000 (35 min flight) you are given a drink and a small snack (no for sale food, as the airlines are not loco’s)
Kaohsiung has a viewing gallery in the domestic terminal, but, has heavily tinted glass, for spotting/shooting a walkway between domestic and international has many windows, with clear glass and air con vents blowing cool air at you, very good for shooting here (runway shots here not too good, due to lighting poles along the length of the runway between you and the runway) next flight for me was Kaohsiung to Kinmen aboard Uni Air MD90 B17919 seat 9A

as before light snack and drinks offered, Took off 1335 landed 1410 (35 mins flight) Shooting at Kinmen is not too good, only at the departure gates, also, there is not too many movements, just the domestic airlines a couple of spam and a helimed Bolkow here.
Kinmen to Taipei SongShan on FAT flight EF058 Douglas MD82 B-28017

t/o 1630 landed 1715 (45 mins flight) at SongShan you exit a/c through the airbridge back to the departure lounge, if you have no checked baggage you could remain here as long as you like to continue spotting/shooting.
Tuesday 18th Sept.
Was due to return to Manila today, but, due to Typhoon Wipha hitting Taipei all flights got cancelled till next day, so, had to find a hotel for the night (hotels in SE Asia are stupidly cheap, a 4/5 star hotel room for under £20)Taipei city just completely shut down during the typhoon(a bit like walking in a warm shower)
Thats week 1 sorted, week 2 to follow.