Rajeev's World: Aviation

Showing posts with label Aviation. Show all posts

Sunday, February 12, 2017

再見香港 - Goodbye Hong Kong!

After two relaxing days in this amazing city, we are now heading back from Hong Kong to Incheon...

A display in one of the MTR passages, and that has important financial lessons...

The BMW ahead of us has a license plate "THE CEO"...

And there it goes...

We chase the CEO through the streets of Central...

These vanity license plates are quite a rage in Hong Kong and are often auctioned off to the highest bidder after a wait period, which could be incredibly long!

Checking out the 1881 Heritage in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon...

The 1881 Heritage was the headquarters of the Hong Kong Marine Police from 1884 to 1996. The site has since been restored and besides several buildings and artefacts of historical interest that have been preserved and restored, and the site also features a shopping mall, a heritage hotel and an exhibition hall...

The 1881 Heritage is a combination of Victorian colonial and neo-classical architectural designs...

At the airport and ready to depart, I must say, it's always a treat to visit Hong Kong!

Friday, February 10, 2017

Hong Kong, Here We Come!

Today we are heading out to Hong Kong to meet and bless our new born nephew...

And as we left Songdo, the sun was setting on Incheon, making for a wonderful view...

This will be a short trip to Hong Kong - we will be leaving Hong Kong on Sunday night to get back to Incheon on Monday morning. And we will be travelling on Korean Air Boeing 747-8i - the newest version of the Jumbo Jet! This is my third flight on the Boeing 747-8i and is Neeti's first and are eagerly waiting for that!

Hong Kong, here we come!

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

ありがとうございます, 東京 - Arigatou Gozaimasu, Tokyo!

From Andhra Dining, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. And imagine the convenience - we ordered an Uber taxi. We had been using Uber in Mumbai, and always found it super useful, but little did we imagine that the app would be of use to us in this alien land, where the language barrier makes communicating with taxi drivers really hard...

After a 30 minute Uber ride, we reached Haneda airport and had to wait a while for the Peach check-in counters to open...

As we waited, we reflected on our trip to Tokyo. We were pleased we finally made it to Tokyo and enjoyed Japanese hospitality to the fullest. We got to experience the peace and calm that Fuji-san and its surroundings had to offer. And not to mention, the incredible and diverse culinary experiences we had in Tokyo, including the spicy tastes of home...

As we get ready to board our Peach Airbus A320 flight into Incheon, all we can say ありがとうございます, 東京 - Arigatou Gozaimasu, Tokyo, or Thank You, Tokyo!

Friday, January 27, 2017

Edo, Jedo, Yedo, Yeddo, Tokyo - Here We Come...

With a short break coming, we made last minute plans to head to Tokyo. We took a late night out of Incheon to land at Tokyo's Haneda International Airport a few moments back...

Haneda is one of the two airports serving the Tokyo metropolitan area, the other being Narita which is a bit far - 77 kilometres from the city centre, as opposed to Haneda, which is just 22 kilometres away...

We again flew in on Peach, a Japanese low cost carrier - the one that flew us in the last time into Osaka-Kansai...

This is our second trip to Japan - on the first trip, while did want to visit Tokyo, we ended up dropping plans to focus on Osaka, Hiroshima and Kyoto. And we ended up so smitten by Japan that we've returned back here at the first opportunity we got...

This is quite a historic and exciting city to be in and we did get a sense of that vibe as we got off the plane. The Tokyo metropolitan area is the most populous urban agglomeration in the world followed by Mumbai and Delhi...

The city also has quite a history it. Located on the eastern coast of Honshu island, the city was known as Edo during the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868. The name was romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo. During this period, Edo grew to become one of the largest cities in the world and home to an urban culture centered on the notion of a "floating world".

During the Edo period, the city was ravaged by about 100 fires that mostly begun by accident and then quickly escalated and spread through neighborhoods. The wooden constructions aided the spread of the fires. It is estimated that between 1600 and 1945, the city - Edo or Tokyo, as you may call it, was leveled every 25–50 years or so by fire, earthquakes, or war.

In 1868, when the shogunate came to an end, Edo was renamed Tokyo or the "eastern capital". Then, Emperor Meiji moved his residence from Kyoto to Tokyo, making the city the formal capital of Japan.

And then came the Second World War, during which the city was repeatedly bombed by the United States. After the war, Tokyo was completely rebuilt, and was showcased to the world during the 1964 Summer Olympics. And now, Tokyo is on course for the 2020 Summer Olympics...

As we head into the city, we say Konnichiwa Tokyo - こんにちは東京 and salute the spirit of the Tokyokko - the people of Tokyo...

Friday, December 30, 2016

Plane Spotting With A Twist...

Yesterday, I realised that my yellow fever vaccination certificate had expired. The certificate is an essential travel document to visit certain countries where yellow fever is endemic, without which one can get detained for a period of upto a week...

Given that travel schedules are at best uncertain, at worst last minute, I decided to get myself vaccinated today, taking advantage of the New Year holiday lull. The quarantine clinic at Incheon Airport administers the vaccine and the vaccination becomes effective after a 10-day period...

So I headed to Incheon Airport earlier today for the shot and on the way, I was greeted by the wonderful sight of an Asiana Airbus A380 lifting off...