Meetup in the airport and Navigation to Sim's Cozy

Last Oct 2007, while visiting bangkok to attend Boon Yiem's wedding, Benny and Stuart had already planned gifts for Peng and Jackie.. They were 2 jungle hats from Chatchujak Market..

And so on the big day itself, when they met up with Jackie at Chengdu airport, there was a jungle hat presentation ceremony. The plan was to present Jackie with his first, to heighten weipeng's excitement about gettin' his, and then present him with his Mongolian-style jungle hat!!

We captured Weipeng's priceless, shocked and dismayed look on film but i think weipeng's hiding it from us now.. will locate and upload it in due course..

Oh, the rabbits in the middle are the pets of our hosts, the SIM Cozy's Guesthouse, there is a good mix of European, Australian, Japanese and Singaporeans here.

We walked for some distance before taking a bus which cost 1Y (S$0.20) per person.

Day 1 at the airport

Day 1 at Changi International Airport with Sinyi and Aili sending us off

Technology behind the entries

equipped with the ASUS eee pc and samsung Q35, this made it possible that you are reading this. Yup, and to note also, FREE wireless internet from SIM's Cozy Guesthouse.

We got a cosy dorm here with 8 beds and it is 30RMB per person per night which exchanges to SGD6. pictures later.yhorse

crazyhorse logged @ 2348 chengdu, DAY 1.

Enroute and arrival in Chengdu, China

Benny tryin' out various poses on board flight to Bangkok before finally achieving the natural pervertic look.


At Bangkok's airport waiting for the flight transit to Chengdu..
Flight on TG402 to Chengdu was as smooth as was the one to Thailand.

Met up with Mr cityrunner in Chengdu airport, he came in via domestic flight from Shenzhen. Woohoo. Now, it's a team of 4.

Morning, cleared the Singapore customs early and spent some time changing travelers cheque in Japanese yen.

Had it not for the early check in, I would have met you ya. Not so far and behind the glass instead.

Signed off,
Marco



PS. Thank Ms Sinyi for fetching Benny and I to the airport in the morning.

Stuart: Hi, Angela, I'm safe and sound.
Stuart: Marco was really very very excited and hyped up when you came to see him off! Haha.. And he felt good for the entire day!

Booking of Flight Tickets in China

For Booking of Flight tickets in China, it is better to get a China CREDIT CARD*or ask a China friend with China Credit Card to get it for you..

It is quite inconvenient for overseas traveller (without China Credit Card*)... But the price is quite reasonable (Good) for those China Travel agencies website..

Some China Travel Website
1) www.ctrip.com
2) www.9588.com/International/Main.aspx

I got my one-way trip flight ticket from SHA to SIN from CTRIP too (RMB 2275-All In).. Everything goes smoothly, but only the payment part (troublesome)..

Notes
* China Credit Card - only credit cards issued by China banks, even Hong Kong banks are not considered as one

Our costs so far

Our costs so far.. (From http://marcoecrazyhorse.blogspot.com)

Flight to Chengdu, China : SGD436

Application of International Driving License: SGD20

Ferry from Shanghai to Osaka, Japan: SGD300++ (cheapest class on tatami mat)

Only Marco - A big backpack suitable for backpacking: SGD250 (its crazy i even get a 40% discount, i got it because its functional)

Only Stuart - A notebook day bag for safely transporting our Samsung 12.1" and Asus Eee 8.9" notebooks across hazardous terrains. SGD$100

Travel insurance - Benny and Stuart (57 days, S$105 each for $150k coverage from AIG Voyager scheme) Marco - S$93 (31 days from Fill in the Company)

Experience - Priceless...

Rally Point in Chengdu

I checked. So there is only one airport in Chengdu,

Jackie is taking:
CZ3453 arrival time is 14:50

We:TG618 arrival: 14:55.

We probably could meet at the luggage belt, i think the signboards will be comprehensive, else, we could make use of GSM.

No one gets left behind.

"The Ship"

Alright...here's a brief runthrough of what to expect onboard the 2 day water excursion -

First of all, the "Ma Diao" room...

Then, the fruitty machines....

Uncle's favourite "bath house"

Not our room of course...

All images courtesy of Su Zhou Hao, your friendly ship.

We have a new travel companion!

Alright... to start off our mobile blogging and facilitate better comms while we are away, the team has invested in brand new 20Gb Asus Eee PC with 1 Gb of Ram... Power little monster but with a steep familarity curve for the really small keypad.. it doesn't qualify as a keyboard! its too small.

i'm trying tis little guy right now and it is very easy to type the wrong letter and mistake the page down button for the shift button..
Weipeng, Angela and i visited Funan to get tis and all the shops had sold out on this. Tying our luck with a closed booth with a sales lady inside playing Warcraft, ah hah!, they had stock! She was alittle reluctant to entertain us initially as she probably thought we were window shoppers and was in the midst of a major battle with her online buddies.

Cutting the story short, she managed to multi-task and sold us (Or rather we sold ourselves) the moleculer laptop without a single display of salesmanship or interest in us.

It's tough to write too much on this guy... when my full sized laptop is beckoning me right next to it..

Singtel Price List

This is the important part... It will cost u a BOMB at the end of the month...

Singtel Customer (Pay as You Roam**)
In China
1) Call Dir (+659733XXXX) - SGD 3.60 per min
2) Call Back service (*121*659733XXXX) - SGD 2.93 per min
3) SMS - SGD 0.58 per send out (Receiving is free)

In Hong Kong
1) Call Dir (+659733XXXX) - SGD 2.87 per min
2) Call Back service (*121*659733XXXX) - SGD 1.36 per min
3) SMS - SGD 0.90 per send out (Receiving is free)

In Japan
1) Call Dir (+659733XXXX) - SGD 3.10 per min
2) Call Back service (*121*659733XXXX) - SGD 1.08 per min
3) SMS - SGD 0.50 per send out (Receiving is free)

Notes
** For those have Auto Roaming, please offset 20% of the price mentioned above (it is cheaper).
** The prices mentioned above is subjected to changes with/without prior notice and only served as a guide only