Finally, I returned to Beijing. I took a flight with Sichuan Airlines which takes around 2.5h. When I was at the gate, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I'm going to fly with an A350, for the first time in my life. The not so pleasant surprise was that the flight was delayed for nearly 2h. This was something I didn't experienced when I took the high-speed train. In general, using the high-speed train in China is pretty convenient. What's a bit annoying is that as a foreigner, you can buy the tickets online but still have to line up at the ticket counter to get your passport checked to pick up the ticket. And as every Chinese who can just buys the tickets online you can imagine the crowd that still goes to the ticket counter - mostly older people, so it takes its time. While I flew back to Beijing, I opted for the train for my initial journey from Beijing to Chongqing. Though it was a high-speed train, it still took 12h - my longest train ride so far. Admittedly, it's nearly 1800 air line, so not bad! You can buy hot meals in the train, but I usually just brought instant noodles with me. In all trains, hot water is provided free of charge.

On the last evening, I had a typical dish - hot pot. It's a (spicy) broth in a big pot, and you and your friends sit around it. Then you can cook all different kinds of meat/tofu/vegetables you want. My tip: fish tofu, it's tofu with a light taste of fish, really delicious. But I have to admit that I prefer the Chongqing style hotpot over the Chengdu style.

Hot pot (火锅)


Over the clouds


Cabin

The cabin was really nice and modern, even with an IFE for a domestic flight.

Meal

And I got a complete hot dish for this 2.5h flight.

With this, my trip to Sichuan (the province in which Chongqing and Chengdu lie) ends. But maybe I post a trip report about my travel in China after my semester ended