Day 1-Off to Chengdu

---

Gotta love our work schedule in China as we are off another week of work and get to tour around China. Some may think we have seen it all already but far from it. China is much larger in size than the USA so we have only seen a small part of China. It would be like a foreigner going to the USA seeing Boston, NYC and DC and saying they have seen the USA.

Our Sunday morning started off rough, we got to the bus stop at 6:45pm which was when we wanted to be there by but... there were 2 buses we could get on the 327 or 355. Again it was 6:45am and I didn't sleep well thinking we would oversleep and miss our flight. Needless to say the 337 bus came and we got on then the bus attendant asked us which stop, we said Fei Ji Chang(airport in Chinese) we handed her our bus cards and she just shook her head no. No What? Either they did not take our metro card or the bus didn't go to airport. Well she pointed us to the door as we came to the next stop and pointed across the street. So we got on the wrong bus then had to cross over the pedestrian bridge and wave down a cab or bus. Two buses stopped and we asked if they went to the airport in Chinese of course before we got on. Two NO's DAMN. Thank Goodness a taxi came along and we hopped in, we arrived at the airport for only seven kuai.

It was quick to check in, to get through security and then onto the gate. We bought some muffins, oj and coffee for our breakfast at the gate. Our flight was to leave at 7:55am, then was pushed back to 8am. Finally at 7:45am we get on the bus that takes us out to the plane on the runway area. All 3 airports that we were at on this trip have buses that take people out to planes and to pick them up, not enough gates for all the planes I guess.

We then proceeded to sit on the runway for over 45 minutes until an announcement was made only in Chinese that the flight was canceled. We could tell cause everyone stood up, moaned and grabbed their belongings. A Chinese man told us the flight was canceled, so we got off the plane headed back onto the bus and the bus didn't move. In about 15 minutes everyone got off the bus back onto the plane and another bus arrived with more passengers. Then we waited about 45 more minutes. Finally we took off 2 hours later than scheduled. It was a safe flight but we probably will never fly Shenzhen Airlines again after that ordeal.

Once we got to Chengdu we had our directions to the hostel and hopped in a cab. We spoke enough Chinese to the cab driver that we got to the hostel 44 kuai=$6.44 later. The hostel directions said it would be about 50 kuai so the driver didn't take too many back/long ways around to make more money on us. We stayed at The Loft Hostel in Chengdu. It was an old printing building that they converted into a hostel in the last few years. The rooms were cool and the price was 120 kuai per night= $17.57. We booked our tour out to the Panda Breeding Research Base for Monday morning from 7:20-noon and also booked the Sichuan Opera for Monday evening when we checked in.

We got up to the room and rested for a bit before we ventured out to see Chengdu. We heard great things about the city but you only need 2-3 days there is what we were told and it was correct. We had lunch which was a good pizza at the hostel, then walked to Hutong's that were 350 years old, People's Park, Tianfu Square, Carrefour(French Supermarket, competitor of Wal-Mart). We were exhausted after walking all around that we took a cab back to the hostel to rest. We then had dinner in the Restored Hutong area at Scent of a Woman. It was a great restaurant, we had sweat and sour shredded pork, kong pao chicken, green vegetables, rice and a great Bailey's coffee ice cream dessert. I could impress everyone with my Chinese translation of each dish but you wouldn't understand.

We had a great Day 1 in Chengdu, off to bed since our Panda Tour leaves the hostel at 7:20am. Lots of early mornings on this vacation but it was all worth it. We aren't used to early mornings in China since most of our classes don't start until late morning.

---

Photos

The Loft Hostel
actually had soft beds

Hutongs
over 350 years old that had been refurbished into shops, teahouses, and restaurants.

Starbucks
blends in

Portland Brewery
This beer is made in Portland, Oregon so Pete had to get his picture since we were in China.

People's Park
park on a Sunday afternoon with many locals rowing boats around the lake

Mao Zedong statue
In Chengdu city square

Comments

[Mom]

Day 1
Thanks for taking the time to post all of your pictures and the neat explanations....