Review of Ethiopian Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok in Business

After a few days spent in Hong Kong where the weather wasn't very clement it was now time to go back to the airport for our next journey.
We took a taxi to Chek Lap Kok Hong Kong International Airport. On arrival we looked for Ethiopian Airlines counters. The counters were divided in 3. Passengers for Bangkok had a counter to them and then Business class and Economy Class passengers to ADD and other african cities.
People were everywhere !!! Cardboard boxes to the ceiling, bags, trolleys, no respect for the queues or other people, it was a nightmare ! You could see that the Cathay Pacific ground staff was not enjoying this flight. Loads of excess baggage had to be paid and the CX staff was very firm and wouldn't move in front of the surprised passenger who discovered that they had to pay for excess baggage fees for their 3 or 4 cartons piled up behind them !
Seeing all this we asked to pay for an upgrade to Business Class and we were told that it would cost us 300HKD for both of us, payable in cash. So we ran to the ATM, withdrew the money and paid for the upgrade and went to the lounge.
Shanghai Tang's shop airside.

The boarding gate for our flight ET609 to Bangkok, our 767 had just landed from Bangkok.

No picture of the lounge which was also used by El Al at the time. A cook was preparing made to order noodles and there was also a good selection of hot dishes and sandwiches.
We were surprised to see that the El Al's pilots were using the lounge and having dinner and that the Ethiopian Airlines crew was also sitting in the lounge. It was important in the way that the lounge wasn't really big and the crews were taking quite some space.
We decided to go to the gate and wait for boarding there.
We were dissapointed to see the cabin. We had a 767 with very very very old seats. There was a lot of room for the legs though.

Very few passengers, there were only 5 of us and the Ethiopian Airlines ground engineer.
The female cabin attendant asked each of us if what we wanted to drink before departure. A glass of Champagne and a glass of water for us !

The menu was handed out early.

The safety demonstration was done via the main screen. Entertainments are sparse and no individual video, only the airshow showing on the main screen.
The dinner was served just after take-off. The meal wasn't a big gastronomic discovery but the quality was there.
Starter, shrimps and veggies.

The chef's special, very disappointing, filet of fish with a very liquid tomato sauce containing mushrooms and boiled vegetables.

Cheese and dessert.

Tea to finish my meal and descent towards Bangkok would start soon after.

Disembarking would be fast, bags were also quick to come out as the majority of passengers would continue to Addis Ababa.
Few pictures of Bangkok and most notably these pictograms… A nice laugh in the taxi !

Our Executive room at the Pullman King Power near Victory Monument.