Given that this year (2016) is a great year to travel since that Chinese New Year public holidays lands on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – Ms Buddha and I decided that we would bid Hong Kong a temporary farewell and kicked off our first holiday of the year early.
As I mentioned before, the same flight on CX was cheaper on JAL, I managed (not for the lack of constant calls) to buy my business class ticket via JAL for considerably less than what was on offer from Cathay and then also redeemed a companion ticket with points for Ms Buddha (since that companion tickets makes offers more value) – given the high season, it worked out that we weren’t paying that much more each compared to economy tickets.
The “direct” flight that Cathay runs to Fukuoka actually stops for an hour in Taipei, so the journey was pretty much two flights both less than 2 hours each with a short break in between – although I don’t get how this is “direct” – it worked out and I wouldn’t complain.
Check in and boarding was smooth as usual with Cathay, and almost immediately after we sat down, we were offered some drinks to begin our holidays.
Given that it was such a short flight, it always amazes me how efficient the flight attendants can be – and they up to the usual high standards that Cathay is known for. Without much delay, menus were distributed shortly after the seat belts sign was off.
Ms Buddha immediately said she wanted the lamb, and since that I wanted to make sure I can try as much as possible, I said I’d select the prawns then. Unfortunately, when the mains cart came through after the entrees were provided, there was only the lamb option unless I was willing to wait – and frankly, I really didn’t want to make the lovely staffs’ life any more rushed than it was, so I went for the lamb as well.
First off, unless my taste buds have just died, Cathay must’ve found out that a fair few clients feel that the saltiness of their food has been sky high in recent history – but this time, the beans were fresh and not salty, and the lamb was very delicious! One comment that Ms Buddha had was that maybe make the lamb cutting a little easier to eat. But overall, the lamb had the right level of fat and tenderness and I polished it all off as I hadn’t had lunch yet that day.
Buddha Explores 