Chengdu (CTU) – Jiuzhai Huang Long (JZH)
Flight: Sichuan Airlines 3U 8615
Aircraft: A319
Registration: B-6176
First Flight: 10 May 2007 !! Brand New !!
ETD: 0715
ATD: 0745
ETA: 0805
ATA: 0830
Flight Time: 40min
Cruise: 32000 feet
Seat: 4A
Class: Economy
Pre Flight:
After 3 tiring days of touring Chengdu and Mt Ermei, we all had to drag ourselves out of bed at 0430 in the morning. I had the task of giving everyone morning calls too . We arrived at Chegdu airport which was pretty nice, but we had to get to the communist era terminal which was used for flights within Sichuan province and that was pretty bad, it was actually clean, but it lacks facilities and such, thank god that I managed to find a walkway which links it to the new terminal after security control, so that’s where some of us spent our time before boarding was called.
The communist era terminal used for flights within Sichuan province only
There was a delay as there was heavy fog at our destination. I am pretty excited again as this is also going to be my first time on Sichuan airlines and the destination is Jiu Zhai Gou which is a world heritage site and some people say it’s the most scenic and beautiful place in the world. Plus, the airport itself is one of the highest in the world at 10,000 + feet. With treacherous mountains on its left and right, and also major drop offs at both ends of the runway. Going to be exciting indeed.
B-6176, a 4 month old A319 ready to take me to JZH
In Flight:
As the aircraft was parked at a remote stand, we took an ancient communist era bus to the aircraft which was a brand spanking new A319, what a departure from the terminal and bus! Legroom was pretty ok and I was fairly comfortable too. This is one of the newer A320 family aircraft I have been on as all previous A320 I have been were made in the 90’s to early 2000’s.
Cabin views
Pretty beat up safety card, probably used by some pax to fan themselves during the summer heat! No need for me to do that this time as it was freezing outside!
Bye bye Chengdu, see you in 3 days !
Inflight Mag, ain’t she cute…
They still bothered to serve a nice full bottle of mineral water to each pax and also a pack of beef (or Yak) jerky which was nice for this short hop to JZH.
Top of descend, what a change in scenery
Touch down! & U-turn at the end of the runway to the terminal, a little more and down the cliff’s edge we go !
I was wide awake the whole way and seeing the descend to landing was really breath taking and really turned out as I imagined. Once we touched down, it started snowing and fog rolled in again. What perfect timing we had! This is really one of the nicest airports I have been to as the terminal is still new, really breathtaking scenery and also scary locationbeing surrounded my cliffs and snow capped mountains. Interestingly enough, when we met up with out tour guide he mentioned that it only started snowing the night before. Really looking forward to the next 3 days of sightseeing here. 3U was a really nice airline to fly on. And hopefully I have the chance to fly with them again soon.
Service: 6/10
Aircraft: 10/10
Food: 5/10
Arrival hall, baggage claim and landside! Brrrr it was freezing!
As snow just fell the night before, ice was all over the road, and there was congestion going out of the airport due to an accident!
This area of China was actually settled by Tibetan tribes people, therefore everything looks pretty…errr…ermmm ethnic
Before going to the hotel, we first headed towards one of the national parks here called Huang Long, I will let the pictures do the talking so you guys know what I really mean!
The following day, we went to another national park. This one was just breathtaking. Due to the varying altitudes, oxygen was also pretty thin in some areas, but worth the suffering as we get to see both autumn and winter scenes in 1 day!
A tibetan village in the middle of the national park
Off to another part of the park we went. Please do take note, as the park is sooo big (according to the guide, 5 times the size of Singapore!) we had to spend from morning till almost sundown at the park.
On our last day, we went yet to another national park, this one is privately owned by the same owners as our hotel
They really have their way with the English language don’t they!
Love the name of the bus company!
Hotel Stay
City: Jiu Zhai Gou
Hotel: Intercontinental Jiu Zhai Resort
Category: 5 Stars
Room: Deluxe
Service: 06/10, Location: 07/10
This is one of the best hotels I have stayed my entire life. Rooms were huge! Food was good, and the lobby, well as you can see from the pictures, just awesome! Really nothing more than I can say regarding this hotel. I will just let the pictures do the talking.
The next couple of pics are of the hotel lobby! Amazing ain’t it!
My hotel room @ The Intercontinental JiuZhai Resort
16 Oct 2007
JiuZhai Huang Long (JZH) – Chengdu (CTU)
Flight: Sichuan Airlines 3U 8606
Aircraft: A319
Registration: B-6175
First Flight: 22 April 2007 !! Brand New !!
ETD: 1140
ATD: 1135
ETA: 1235
ATA: 1220
Flight Time: 55min
Cruise: 32000 feet
Seat: 3A
Class: Economy
Pre Flight:
After a beautiful but extremely tiring time going up and down mountains (by foot for most of them) viewing exceptionally beautiful scenery, truly one of the most beautiful or should I say the most beautiful places I have been to ( and trust me, I have been all over the world from north to south and east to west) its time to depart for Chengdu.
Passing small townships on the way to the airport
This time we can really get the time to explore Chengdu as on the way to JZH, our time in Chengdu was packed with sightseeing. I really thing everyone has to come to Jiu Zhai Gou at least once in their life to really see what I experienced. I will be glad to provide travel information to anyone interested. Our tour bus took us from the Intercontinental Resort to the airport with 2 shopping detours ( for the ladies in our group) and we still arrived at one of the world’s highest airport with time to spare. I managed to catch a signboard too, the height of the airport is at 3500metres!
Scenes I manage to snap whilst waiting for our a/c
And soon enough, I catch it, and it’s the sister ship of the aircraft that took us here. Its B-1675 which is only around 3 weeks older than its sistership.
In Flight:
Getting ready to take off from one of the highest airports in the world!
Taxi to the end of the runway and then make a u-turn for take off!
Everyone asleep in the cabin and also another light snack and water offered for this short trip
Really nothing much to talk about on this short hop to CTU, but crew was again polite and efficient and I spent all my time again looking out the majestic scenery out the window, although on approach to CTU it was disappointing as it was covered with smog and haze, welcome to the industrial revolution of modern China !
Walking from the communist era gate, into the new terminal and its modern baggage reclaim area, really a stark contrast from one to the other!
Leaving the modern airport
Service: 6/10
Aircraft: 9.5/10
Food: 2/10
Pity that they are not a member of Star...