A relaxing afternoon after a very hectic morning/half day of travel stress! My flight was originally scheduled for 2:20AM from Kuala Lumpur to Guangzhou, arriving at 6:40AM then I had a few hours layover until my flight to Chengdu at 9:30AM which got me in at 11:55AM. With almost 3 hours to enter China in Guangzhou and grab some breakfast, I should have been fine. But as we boarded the plane in Kuala Lumpur and settled in, the captain announced a 2 hour delay! They hoped we could maybe get an earlier slot (hence why we were boarded), but our departure slot was now 4:20AM =O That left me with under an hour to enter China (meaning go through passport control and get back through security again), won’t lie, that was a stressful thought! Because of that I didn’t get much/any sleep, and my seat neighbour didn’t help – he was a ‘manspreader’, not only putting his leg into my foot space (and his socked foot onto my bag?!?!) but also stretching up then leaning on my shoulder with his elbow?!?! So while he nodded off within about 5 minutes of them announcing the delay, I did not. We indeed took off 2 hours late and I think I managed 20 minutes of sleep here and there, but definitely not enough – at least I had brought some snacks.
What happened next is what I can only describe as the most efficient late-arrival process – I have never experienced this anywhere else and have had delayed flights meaning a super short connection at other airports (not in China). Around 1 hour before landing they announced a short list of flights that people had missed, and apologised for the delay, then announced the list of flights that were regarded as short connections. This included my flight. A member of cabin crew then had a list of passengers with a short connection, went along the plane and gave us all a big green sticker to put on our arm – this was to identify us to airport staff so they knew who to rush through. The captain did ask that non-rush passengers let those with short connections get off first, but I think you can imagine that that did not happen. But to be honest once we’d landed and I saw I had about an hour until take off of my next flight, I wasn’t too stressed, and I already knew there were later flights to Chengdu on the same day. Luckily as I was waiting to get off one of the cabin crew managed to pass me my arrival card (for foreigners arriving to China) and I started to fill that in. Anyway, got off the plane, and at the end of the walkway was a team of airport staff for short-connection passengers, they checked your destination, told you what gate, gave you a fast-track security sticker for your arm, and told you to run! Despite this I still had time to stop for the toilet and stop at a table to complete my arrival form. Then there were more staff looking for us on arrival at passport control – I was stood looking at what side to go on and a member of crew from another flight stopped to ask where I was headed to try and help, before I could answer, an airport staff member rushed up saying ‘Chengdu? This way!’ and pulled me over to the right queue. This was the slowest part, while the queue wasn’t long there were only a few desks open, so I did have to wait a bit, but I wasn’t too concerned as I was pretty sure I had plenty of time. On the other side of the desks I could see the first staff member who had met us off the plane waiting for people on the other side of passport control. Once I got through (which I think was quicker because I have a VISA, I’m not sure how the process would have gone if I was applying for the visa-free entry), the lady then took me directly through the crowds to domestic departures where my hand luggage went through security check then I was through – she told me my gate number again and told me to run! I was just so amazed by how efficient it was! And I even had time to go to the toilet again and refill my water bottle before going to the gate – which felt like it was just about the furthest gate from where I had come out of security at. But I made it! Would have loved a breakfast stop, but definitely no time for that, when I got to the gate they started boarding people onto the buses to get them to the plane. Once I was settled on that plane I promptly fell asleep haha! That was the fastest 2 hour flight ever! And because it was Chinese New Year time, they even gave us a special little box with red envelopes, some tea and some China Southern branded biscuits. Arriving in Chengdu, and I was amazed that my luggage had made the short connection – I’ve had longer connections through Amsterdam that the luggage hasn’t made! So I was pretty happy at this point and headed out to catch a taxi to my hotel.
Where to stay
I flew into Shuangliu airport, which is closer to the city centre than Tianfu (I wouldn’t take a taxi from here, it’s so expensive, and actually I don’t think any time is saved over taking the metro to town, and then a taxi from the train station). There was no line and a huge number of taxis waiting, so I was heading into the city in no time at all. The ride was only around 30 minutes and I liked seeing the city flying by. I stayed at the Crowne Plaza City Centre, where I’ve stayed twice before, so I’m familiar with the hotel and area. Even though I was early, I was able to get checked in no problem and was soon off to my room on the 20th floor. I had one of the more modern rooms and had a fantastic view over the city, almost identical to the view I had in 2023. I did think I had breakfast included in my rate, but the receptionist said I didn’t when I checked in, so I ended up paying extra for that (it was 80RMB per day I think), with hindsight I shouldn’t have bothered because I only had time for breakfast on a couple of mornings, but I was sleep deprived and not thinking clearly at the time! I thought about just staying in the hotel for the afternoon and relaxing, but in the end decided to head out because I had a busy next few days and didn’t want to accidentally sleep the afternoon away then not be able to sleep at night.
Panda Post
As what has become a bit of a tradition, my first stop in Chengdu after leaving the hotel is to head to the Panda Post shop around the corner. Love this place a lot for cute souvenirs and of course they have an excellent range of post cards. I spent a good 30 minutes browsing the selection before making my choices – although it’s getting harder because I now have a lot of them, so I have to check what I’ve bought/not bought before (I have pictures on my phone). They also have lots of ink stamps here, so I also got a few of those in my stamp notebook although again I already had some of these from my previous visits. Then I headed off towards the metro to get to my next destination.
Wuhou Shrine/Jinli Street Lantern Fair
From the Panda Post shop I took the metro to Wuhou Shrine and Jinli Street where there was a lantern festival/fair going on – I was there on the 12th of February which was the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and the last day for most of the lantern exhibits so I took advantage to go and see something. I did also want to see the Panda Lantern Festival as well, which was actually running longer, but I didn’t manage to do this – it was very limited entry, and even though it was free you had to make an online reservation in advance which required a Chinese phone number. Anyway, from the Gaoshengqiao metro station it’s around a 15 minute walk to the Wuhou Shrine and Jinli Street – normally this area is open for anyone to come in, with just one section of the Shrine being ticketed. At this time for the Fair, the whole area was ticketed. There were QR codes up to buy the tickets at, and I didn’t see any signs for limiting number of people in at once. You did also need a Chinese phone number for this, but I asked one of the staff members outside for help, and she bought the ticket on her phone and I transferred her the money – it was 40RMB to get in. Entry was via your ID (card for Chinese visitors, passport for foreigners) after a quick security check.
The whole park area was full of spectacular lantern displays in a wide range of styles, plenty to look at and check out, and of course I also used the opportunity to see the Wuhou Shrine which I hadn’t done before. I didn’t think it was too busy at all, there were always easy opportunities to get pictures of the lanterns. My favourite was definitely the centrepiece on the lake, there were so many different components to it and something to look at from all positions around the lake. The main attraction was clearly the stage performers, there were lots of different things going on and that seemed to be where most visitors (I’d say around 1000-1500) were gathered – I didn’t really stop because it was very loud and I wasn’t sure what was going on. I had planned to stay until darkness to see the lanterns all lit up in full glory, but at that point it was still a couple of hours away, and while there were food stalls to eat at, I didn’t think I could fill that whole time with food. So I got a snack (those syrupy dough ball things on a stick) and then headed for a quick look through Jinli shopping street. Of course, had to make a Starbucks stop before exiting to check on what mugs they currently had – all ones I already have.
ChunxiLu/Taikooli
Then I headed back to the metro station and took the metro to Chunxilu and made a round-about route to my hotel via the Taikooli shopping area to see the lantern display there, plus via McDonalds for an early dinner and was back in my hotel room before night time. The display was small but I loved it for the area, it fitted in well with all the gold and I thought the colours were beautiful – a more modern take on lanterns and light displays. Of course I also had to take a quick stop to see the panda climbing the IFS because it’s become a bit of a tradition for every trip. With not much sleep the night before I was really ready for an early night because my schedule for the next few days was absolutely packed!
