อ่านทริปนี้ ภาษาไทย คลิกที่นี่ค่ะ
(DRAFT)
It was a business trip that brought us to Chengdu this time, so why not check out the town??!?!
Chengdu is one of the most important economic, transportation, and communication centers in Western China, and the provincial capital and largest city of Sichuan Province.
From out trip, we had 3 days in Chengdu and then another 3 days in Xi’an before the business trip begins!
*The exchange rate is about 5 baht per 1 CNY (or RMB)… so it’s about $1 per 6CNY
As so you know China is a huge city, so we hired a tour company through http://www.discoverchinatours.com
Actually, we didn’t know them at all, we found by Google and they seemed very nice on the online chat.
I checked with 2-3 tour operators online, and we decided to go with Discover China tour.
The picture below in yellow background is the company tour program.
Day 1 Bangkok – Chengdu
We flew with Thai Airway (Ticket cost about 14,xxx baht or $500), the flight was early in the morning 10.15am. We needed to get Suwanabhumi airport about 8am and we could see that it was crowded with Chinese people who just visited Thailand…I guess!
But I don’t think that Chinese people queue up well! Once the airplane landed in Chengdu international airport after 3hours from Bangkok, the Chinese people who sat in the back row were running in front and it seemed nobody will stop for us (the front row) to get off!
That was OK for us..as when in Rome do as the Romans do…
The airport of Chengdu maybe the same size with our Suwanabhumi airport – it was a few minutes to immigration check but it was a little long and loud to get our bags…
But when we walked out, we saw the driver holding the sign with our names…that’s a good start then.
It was very hard for us when the driver can’t speak English at all as we can’t speak Chinese at all. But as we committed the tour company to pay another 70% with Driver on arrival… we didn’t expect to pay in the car, it would be nice to pay when we arrive the hotel!
We tried to tell him that we would like to pay at hotel, but unsuccessfully…he tried to show the receipt for how much 70% is??? But it worked out.
For us..We were just a little nervous since we paid them totally all on day 1 before the service started! But we found out later that in China, pay first and then serve!
First night was at Yinhe Dynasty Hotel, this hotel is huge, nice and clean, really nice room and breakfast. More than that, the hotel is located in downtown where the most popular shopping street(Chunxi Pedestrian Road) is 10 minutes walking distance away.
But once for the working day, we stayed at Shangri-La hotel. I really love this hotel – FIVE STAR!!!
From Shangri-La hotel to Chunxi shopping street needs to take a taxi but it’s about quite cheap, 10Y-15Y only. But there are so many nice restuarants around this hotel, especailly at NIGHT!
But from Yinhe Dynasty Hotel, we got the direction from the hotel receptionist to this Shopping street first! This shopping street has more than 700 shops in the area including shopping malls, department stores, boutiques and street stalls.
Great Stop, especially if you are looking for some souvenirs or thing about Panda (as it’s a panda city here!), it’s much cheaper 10 times to compare with the shops in Airport!
I think I have money but I can’t buy any because my Chinese is so, so, so, bad!
The first day, I didn’t get much but yes, only a shirt since I tried to check just the size but about 10 ladies in the shop try to take care of me. I’m sure that I got this shirt because I worried what would happened if I don’t buy it!
It was very hard for us to eat local food around Chunxi Shopping street because all the menu is in Chinese even fast food like KFC. The KFC workers do not speak English as well, so we picked food from pictures!
But if you like a shopping (like I do…) there are so many malls around the street. Just like we tried to get a new suitcase since the one that I brought from Bangkok broke. The sale lady started at 1035Y but we finally get it at 400Y (2,000 baht or $66)!
This shopping mall opens every day around 10am – 8pm…
2 things that amazed us in China….
ONE….Why Chinese kids show BUM?
I saw babies,toddlers, young children here that don’t wear diapers. They wear something called “split pants.” When the kids squat out they come!!!
I think this is so cute for visiting westerners and people who have never been to China before…
Think it’s “FASHION”…I guess!
| And we saw many of chinese males and females spit often and every where…and any time!!! TWO…Why Chinese spit often???    It’s so disgusting, it’s all on the ground in the street (an off-white blob!!!) Even the tour guide tried to make me feel better by telling me a fairy story that THEY SPIT WHEN THEY WANT TO “SALUTE”…but I dont’ think this is help!Well, it’s just their CULTURE and HABITS, I guess… |
