But for four and a half hours, I survived. Any longer than that and I would want better seating.
Managed to get a couple of snoozes in, and it went by pretty quickly. We arrived at Chengdu's Tianfu airport at 7:15am.
Sunrise at 32,000'.
Our first view of China.
It was 22C (70F) and raining when we arrived.
Immigration was fast and easy. As Canadians, under a special agreement we are allowed 30 days visa free until December 31st of this year. This is why we took advantage of that to travel now.
The terminal is new and spotlessly clean.
Decorated with a lot of these lantern things.
Chengdu is all about the pandas!
We always try to take public transportation to/from airports. For Chengdu, you can take high speed train, metro, or bus. We chose the metro option because we had lots of time and the price was cheap. And it was so easy and efficient to use. It cost the equivalent of $2.30 CAD ($1.62 USD) for the 50 kms ride!
We had to take three different trains to get to within a km of our hotel. Very easy to follow directions, with almost all signs at least partially in English. The metro trains themselves are also spotlessly clean, with police wandering the trains. And fast... at one point we were going 140 km/h (87 mph). But that's nothing in China where the high speed long distance trains often pass 300 km/h (186 mph).
We walked to the hotel, and arrived at around 9:50am.
Entrance to the Hanshi Hotel.
The Hanshi Hotel is known as a "museum" hotel. There are a lot of authentic pieces decorating the lobby, hallways, and rooms.
The hotel lobby.
We knew we were still early, and expected to be able to leave our luggage until our room was ready... but we didn't have to, because our room was ready. Nice!
The girl at the desk didn't speak any English, but they have a special tablet and microphone setup that you just speak into and it does the translation immediately.
When the elevator doors open on the second floor.
You see this piece.
Our door is on the right... room 1220.
The facilities. This is a step up from the Buhanka!
The bed itself is a museum piece!
This plaque is on the wall beside the bed.
I think the telephone is actually more modern than it looks.
View out our window on a wet morning in Chengdu.
We are paying 202 yuan ($42 CAD, $30 USD) per night for a 4 night stay. And it includes breakfast! Oh, and it includes laundry too!
We relaxed for a while and we had a nap before heading out to explore the neighborhood.
We came across this pedestrian only area with lots of shops and food stalls.
We found a place to have some lunch. They were all locals in there, and it was a bit confusing as to how to order the food. But eventually, the guy at the cash noticed us and waved us over. He used his phone to tell us that it was easiest to take a photo of the food pictures on the wall, and he would order it for us.
I did better than Ruth, and ended up with pork curry and rice. She had some kind of beef and rice dish, but it was okay. The curry was quite good though. I forgot to take a photo. Lunch cost 48 yuan ($10 CAD, $7 USD) for the two of us.
The main street across from our hotel.
Back at the hotel to relax for a while, and there was a knock at the door. A hotel employee bringing us a little snack...
We went out again after dark and to grab another bite to eat.
As I said, Chengdu is all about the pandas!
There is very little traffic noise because the majority of the vehicles (including scooters) are electric.
We shared a small noodle dish... it was very spicey!
And then we shared some yogurt ice cream for dessert.
We had to pick five different cubes. Yummy!
Next blog post... our first impressions of China!
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A lot of lights in this town of China very different from your last country. Enjoy !
ReplyDeleteYes, there are lots of lights here and it really looks so pretty at night. Chengdu is definitely very different from Kyrgyzstan but we loved Kyrgyzstan for it's natural beauty and how open and spaceous it is.
DeleteThis is a wonderful post. Thank you so much for the photos.
ReplyDeleteWe are so glad that you enjoyed the post and the pictures and there are going to be lots more coming in the next few weeks if our first day is any indication!
DeleteThe Chinese are so far ahead of the rest of the world. I envy them and wish them well in a world where many people know little about them. Hopefully you will be able to enlighten many people.
ReplyDeleteWe agreed they do seem to be way ahead in many categories compared to the rest of the world and we already enjoying our time here. It is very clean, pretty quiet overall considering the amount of people and vehicles. The city of Chengdu has really impressed us so I guess it was a good city to start off our visit here in China. It will be interesting to see how the other places that we will visit will match up to it.
DeleteI hope that we can show everyone what China is like compared to what some people think about it.
How fascinating! Your hotel looks very fancy and at a great price. I love the toilet (haha, never thought I'd write those words!) I look forward to following along with your travel there.
ReplyDeleteFor people who aren't real fond of big busy cities, Chengdu is certainly impressing us. It isn't crazy like what Bangkok was like and it is really very clean and pretty quiet overall. The public transportation system works well and doesn't cost a fortune to use and it gets you almost everywhere in the city.
DeleteOur hotel is gorgeous, it was a great find and yes, very inexpensive. The toilet is crafted to look like the famous blue and white porcelain that China is so well known for. The furniture is all traditional Chinese period furniture from way back when. They even have an area upstairs with traditional Chinese clothing that we can put on and wear around the hotel or even outside if we want to pay a depoist on it. We will try to get a few pictures of us dressed up in the next day or two.
Mostly electric cars!!! Wow, bet that is sort of other worldly with no noise and lots of cars! Love the toilet!! Very pretty!
ReplyDeleteFor a big city with lots of vehicles it really is pretty quiet but they do have to use their horns, lol!
DeleteWe are loving our room, it is such old style Chinese and it really does feel like we are staying in a museum! The toilet is cute and crafted after the famous blue and white porcelain that China is so well known for.
I'm just LOVING following all your travels. I live here in Unitarian House w your mum, Kevin.
ReplyDeleteJudy Dunlop
We are so happy to hear that! We look forward to showing you more of China over the next few weeks!
DeleteYep, I agree China seems to be way ahead of the other countries despite what we hear in the USA. And, I love Chinese food lol....at least in America. I figured there would be lots of lights like in China Towns here in the states....I wasn't wrong, I see lots of glitzy lights.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how far China has come in just the 40 years after opening up to the world. The public transportation system has to be one of the best that we have used worldwide and it is super clean and inexpensive. The only big issue is that most outside social media sites are blocked but there are ways around that along with quite a number of other websites that we are used to using almost everywhere else. I think the only other country that banned/blocked many of these sites was Turkmenistan.
DeleteThe Chinese food here is definitely different than back home, not a sweet and sour chicken ball to be found but what we have been eating has been good and cheap!
There are a lot of lights at night, at least in Chengdu and it really looks very pretty.