Part 2 of my trip
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After spending just two nights in Beijing, I headed down to Chendu in Sichuan Province in South Central China. This means getting back on a plane again!
Air China Flight 4102
Beijing-Chendu
Airbus A321, Seat 12L, Economy Class
After flying on the US Airlines exclusively since 2002, it was a bit refreshing to try out a foreign airline. I used to fly Air China quite extensively back in the 1990's but that was long before they joined the Star Alliance, so no credit for all those miles there
After sitting in International First Class, it was a bit strange riding in coach once again, though I didn't mind so much since I've been flying coach for about 18 years and it wasn't until last November that I finally got to ride up front. I went with my dad and another friend of his. My dad's Star Alliance Gold card enabled us to check in at the Business Class counter, which was nice due to the small lines there. We could've gone into the Business Class Lounge with my dad's Star Alliance Gold card, but since he was only allowed one guest, we opted to skip the club rather than leaving one of us outside. For this flight, we were in the domestic end of the new Terminal 3 and the thing is one marvelous structure. The terminal building actually consists of two ends, separated by a taxiway, the near end is the domestic half and the international half is in the remote part accessible only by the terminal train (which I rode on arriving into Beijing the other day). Pretty soon, it is time for us to board. In China, unless you're in First or Business class, boarding is kind of a free for all, everyone just crowds around the gate and tries to shove their way to the front of the line (why? they're getting on a plane that doesn't leave until everyone gets on, and by shoving around, it actually slows down the process...) We waited for the crowd to thin out before we board.
Once onboard, the first thing you'll notice is that all the FAs are really really young and quite attractive and it seems like there is a lower FA to pax ratio than on US airlines. How is this possible? Air China policy requires FAs to retire at 50, and since the airline is state owned, it doesn't have to worry so much about FA salaries and so can afford to staff more FAs on flights. Also, the young and attractive FA image has largely disappeared in the US due to labor unions and anti age discrimination laws. You'll never find 80 year old FAs in Asia. The FA also personally came by and introduced herself to my dad and told him that she was there to fulfill whatever requests he may have. They treat Star Alliance Gold members really well. Another thing we got on the flight was meals in economy on this 2 hour 30 minute flight. Here's the meal below:
I haven't seen an onboard meal in domestic economy since before 9/11 I suppose. Well, it's still airline food and it's edible but nothing to get too excited about. In case you're wondering what First Class was like, we did walk by it on boarding and it looked like the same boring Domestic First Class seat you see in the US on most narrowbody flights. At the end of the flight, the FAs actually bowed to the passengers, a cute little gesture. While the Chinese FAs are pretty, well mannered, and nice to talk to, sometimes I find it hard to take them seriously and wonder if they really would be able to step up in an emergency. I may be in the minority here, but I definitely prefer flying US Airlines over asian airlines as I do feel safer on the US Airlines. Another thing is some Chinese pax are so impatient that they will get up to get their bags while the plane is still moving on the taxiway and the FAs don't bother saying anything about it! If they do that on a US airline, they would be guaranteed to get chewed out by the FAs.
After we arrive, we are directed straight to the arrivals hall. It seems like in China, they do not want domestic arrivals pax to be wandering around in the secure area, which is different from the US, though in Chendu it was possible to stay in the secure area.
We leave the airport and head to the hotel, a four star and five star hotel that has hosted many dignitaries around the world. We stay in Chendu for three days. The entire trip to Chendu was free since my dad was going there for a conference. The first day, we went to an ancient palace which had artifacts from many dynasties ago when Chendu was the southern capital of one of China's many kingdoms. The second day, we went to an archaeological site, which I didn't find all that interesting since the stuff was all a bit ancient for me. The good thing was I did bring along my iPhone 3GS that I bought on launch day (waited just 10 minutes in line for it and scored the last one in stock at my local AT&T store) and managed to record some nice videos.
The 3rd day, I went to the Panda research base with one of my dad's friend's kid. This research base has the world's largest number of Giant Pandas and even has a few Red Pandas.
That was the highlight of the Chendu trip for me, I just love Pandas!
We leave Chendu on the 4th day for Shanghai. We didn't buy the tickets until the last minute and had to fly China Eastern, which didn't net us any miles (Boo!) but did sit in some nice Emergency Exit seats on the Airbus A330 aircraft (yes, I was aware it was the same plane type as the Air France jet that crashed a few weeks back but stuff like that doesn't really scare me anymore, I will even read about airplane crashes before I fly and sometimes even while I'm sitting on the plane during boarding, though I do make an effort to keep what I'm reading away from other pax). We did get to access the China Eastern lounge at Chendu since the agents were a bit clueless on whether or not star alliance gold pax would get access and I guess they wanted to err in favor of us in case we were right. We got meals again but it's just the standard barely edible airline food. We did get to ride the maglev from the Airport though it didn't get to go to the 400km/h top speeds.
We stay in Shanghai for two nights at a Fudan University hotel, where my dad has another conference. The first night, we went out to the Shanghai city center and walk around. Not much to see since we've been there before. The next night, I went on a cruise with the conference's group along the river in Shanghai. We saw much of the Shanghai skyline, the same skyline that I'd seen 11 years ago. Shanghai is China's premier city and does have a sense of elegance that really represents China well. The streets are rather clean, the people are much more open to the west and western customs, and the atmosphere is really like a true international city, though youtube is still blocked (big BOO!).
We leave on July 9th for the small city of Hefei which is on the other size of the Yangtze river from Shanghai. We went by express train in First Class, which was a nice car, except I had caught a cold that day, and the train station terminal was rather unsanitary. One thing that was hard adjusting to was the low standards of sanitation in chinese restrooms, and the excessive smoking that chinese men do and our train was delayed by two hours. Yuck! I prefer flying, even a short 20 minute flight over a train ride, airport restrooms at least have sanitation standards and there are strict no smoking rules in airports and on airplanes that are missing elsewhere.
I only stay in Hefei overnight and fly back to Beijing alone on the 10th. The hotel in Hefei was a five star hotel though the behavior of the hotel staff was a bit less than five star. They kept hounding me over a restaurant bill that I put on the room bill insisting that the university wouldn't pay for it, which I said was fine, I'd just pay what I owe when I check out the next day but they kept calling me all night insisting that I go downstairs to pay immediately. Since I wasn't feeling well, and that behavior was more fit for a one star hotel, I reminded them on the phone that they are a five star hotel, their clients are all rather wealthy, and that they should trust their clients to pay what needs to be paid upon check out. Next day, they just comped the restaurant bill since they were a bit embarassed about their behavior the night before. In the morning, I head for the airport, the bellhop gets me a taxi and carries my bags to the cab and I actually tip the guy some money (not a common practice in China, though at 5 star resorts, it is starting to catch on...). Taxi driver was really cool, got me to the airport quickly, earning him a nice tip from me (I figured, I didn't want to carry around loose change and the tip equivalent was about 4 dimes in US dollars, it was more keep the change...) The Hefei airport was quite small, check in was quick, security was quick, and I got to the gate rather quickly.
While waiting, this saleslady from ctrip tries to sell me on their service, supposedly offering cheap fares across China, which I really didn't care for since I get most of my tickets for free or paid for by others and I also don't read or write chinese so I really didn't need their service. She kept trying to sell me on it so I just told her that I buy only First and Business Class tickets and asked if they can get cheap tickets for those cabins. She said, that premium tickets are sold at one rate and they can't do much about those. Perfect way to get her to leave, convince her that you have no need for the service, which is what I do at most airports when agents ask me if I want to apply for the Chase Mileage Plus card, I just say that I already have it, it gets them off my back, heh heh. The flight is back on Air China on a Boeing 738 aircraft. The seat pitch was ridiculously tight, even tighter than United E- seats. The FA offered to let me go sit in the Exit row middle seat that was still open but I spotted an empty row up front and sat there instead. I figured, lateral space was just as good as extra legroom. Upon arrival in Beijing, we deplaned at a remote stand, (the 2nd largest terminal in the world and we still need remote stands?) and as soon as the aircraft stopped, a huge group of pax just started squeezing up front, enroaching seriously on my personal space...(good time to let out some gas, I thought, but didn't have the heart to do such a thing...). Arrived back at the Beijing airport and returned to my dad's apartment. It was this point that I forgot all about my cousin from Shanghai, who I've known for quite a while and had also just recently got married to a Taiwanese man. Now, I'd probably have to go back to Shanghai just to go see her or maybe just wait for my next trip.
My cousin in Beijing came by to visit that night and we went out to dinner with our uncle. She is the only relative of mine that speaks competent English. She and I are actually 2nd cousins but we've known each other for a long time and have become good friends over the years. Her mother and brother came by to visit a few days later, my dad let them stay at his apartment since he was still away at the time. I went out with them a few times, mostly to places that I've already been to. The only new place that none of us had been to was the Bird's Nest:
I also went to visit the Beijing Apple Store!
The Olympic complex was cool but it wasn't that different from the facilities that I see everyday at the University of Texas at Austin. I did see Harry Potter 6 with my cousins at the midnight premiere. It was in English with chinese subtitles so it was no different than any other movie in the US for me. My cousin's family had trouble acclimating to Beijing, they are from interior China, and could not get used to eating western food, which I cannot stop eating. They found all my eating habits strange: ice water, subway, starbucks, diet coke, KFC, and other stuff. Actually, subway was the most common place I went to eat during my stay in Beijing. Nice, easy and healthy. Yes, I am of chinese heritage but like most chinese-americans, I prefer western food. They left after a few days. My dad came back on the 19th and left on the 20th to head back to America to attend one of his students' PHD final defense. Now what? My cousin (the female that speaks english) agrees to go with me on a sidetrip to Xian, China so I can go see the Terra Cotta Warriors. She also wanted to surprise her boyfriend, who lives there, and I needed an interpreter and I got to employ her for free and she paid for the hotel! That trip would go from July 23rd to July 26th and will be covered in the next part of this trip report!