Lhasa to Chengdu to Chongqing - Day #11

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Sunday, September 11, 2005 Weather: Beautiful Temperature: Hot

Today was one of those exhausting days of hurry up and wait — a day of travel. Our flight from Lhasa was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and departed on time. Since we had over a one hour bus ride to the airport this meant that we had to be finished breakfast, checked out and on the bus by 7:30 a.m. Keep in mind that we are still at 12,000' above sea level and not moving too swiftly!

Our group was routed to Chengdu on Air China with a layover and change of plane to Chongqing in the afternoon. The other group that went to Lhasa was lucky enough to be scheduled on a flight directly from Lhasa to Chongqing getting them to the ship hours earlier. Oh well.

We arrived in Chengdu Airport around noon and were taken to a restaurant in the airport where we had a buffet lunch provided by Viking. It was nicely presented but Chinese at lunch and Chinese at dinner are starting to get old at this point. After lunch we were led on foot from the main terminal to an adjoining smaller terminal and eventually to a "regional jet" or CRJ that holds about 40 passengers for the one hour flight to Chongqing that was also uneventful. Upon arrival we identified our luggage and were then taken to a bus for a short drive to the beautiful Century Sky docked on the Yangtze River.

Our arrival was welcomed by the staff who lined the entry way giving us a cheery "Welcome Aboard" that was quite sincere. We arrived about 5:00 p.m. and the ship was scheduled to stay in Chongqing for the night. Our first dinner on board was a WESTERN DINNER (at last!). The food was quite nicely presented and very tasty. There were several choices on the menu including beef, fish and vegetarian. We were quite happy with all of the meals on board the Century Sky. There was open seating at dinner although most passengers seemed to be sitting with members of their group. If there was anything special after dinner I don't remember it as the day was long and the bed beckoned at an early hour. It felt sooo good to be back to sea level! We had no trouble sleeping after the busy but boring day of travel.

Next: The first day on the Yangtze in the Three Gorges.

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Photos

Lhasa Airport
Our 767 awaits to fly us to Chengdu

Chengdu luncheon
Typical Chinese lunch at airport restaurant

Century Sky
Our cabin on Deck #3

Century Sky
Interior view of cabin

Yangtze River
A busy waterway

Chongqing Skyline
A picture of Chongqing from the river.