3 “Neih Hou” Chengdu Touchdown

Slept a little, binged a little and ate a little, that all helped to pass the time away during our  flight.

Watched all 8 episodes of Sinner... Was good, but not as good as Season 1.

It was still dark when we touched down, but you could tell there was that famous Chinese haziness that always seems to blanket the city.

 The plane took take forever to finish taxiing and then find a bay for us to disembark. Just when you thought that was it... once on the tarmac it was straight onto the waiting buses for another long ride to the arrivals hall.

Immigration brought back memories of our TRS line.... A large bank of counters dedicated to the Chinese, hey but there were 100's of them.. wow so glad that the foreigners line is so short... So we waited and waited as each person was processed, some what felt like an eternity... Whilst the massive Chinese line dwindles we slowly inched our way closer to an officer...

Seems the joke was on us, because now the Chinese lines were empty and we were still standing in a queue going nowhere....a little common sense prevailed and some of us were now being directed to the empty China counters. Looking at the positive, we didn't have to wait long for our bags, as they were the only ones left.

Once all together again we boarded our bus and headed to our Hotel. If Chengdu has a national animal, it would be the Panda 🐼. Statues and displays of these "cutest animals on earth" appear everywhere. Even one on our laps thanks to our hosts from our tour company

Arriving at our hotel, the Crowne Plaza Chengdu Panda Garden, SNA ensured our rooms would be ready, so it was not long and Car and I were making ourselves at home in our lovely room.

 A 5 Star hotel which would easily compare with the Shangri La in Sydney. Spacious rooms with floor to ceiling windows. For us it meant lovely views of the park that lay at the foot of the hotel. Huge bathroom with separate shower and toilet and a very inviting full size bath, if only we had the time.

 The only downside to our room was the strong cigarette smell, being only 2 nights we decided to let it go, but if we were here for all four nights I would have asked for a room change.

 Staff were very friendly and always wanting to help, but language was our enemy.

1 Embarkation of another kind.

Today was different to what we are used for a first day of our holidays. There was no waking up, eating the last of the food left in the fridge or leaving home at 10am for an 11am check in on a cruise ship.

Instead this morning we lazed around, got out of bed with enough time to shower and be at my hair dressers appointment by 9 am.

There was no rushing or sense of urgency when Garry met me for coffee, then called into the supermarket for a few things that we had run out of. For today we didn't need to be at the airport until after 5pm.

Our instructions where to meet our host July (pronounced Julie) at the Air China check in counters at 7pm. By this time Garry and I had had our tearful goodbye, well maybe not quite like Bogie and Bacall , but with lots of hugs, kisses and sad faces,  we waved each other goodbye.

But the pout soon turned to a grin, and with my Carly, we were ushered into the vip check in line. Woohoo we were on our way.

Our next instructions at check in were, meet at gate 32 one hour before take off. Great plenty of time to pass immigration, security and TRS.

Immigration, new system, a bit like when you arrive back, place passport into scanner, move forward place your feet on the footprints and look into the camera. Carly tick, Joanne, bong bong. "This way mam", a manual check for me, surely I don't look that different.

Ok, now security, Carly had warned me "mum, I always get swabbed"...... Joanne Tick, Carly bong bong. Off she goes for the mandatory wiped down"

Thinking that I was being clever, I had downloaded the TRS App where I could populate all the information into a claim form, press a button which gives me a QR code that can be scanned to expedite the process at the terminal. Well was there a crowd there or what... Feeling very clever I joined the shorter QR line, which only ended up being shorter in appearance but longer in time.

Finally with the formalities completed headed into the flashy and colourful world of Duty Free Shopping. With Garry's comment "nothings cheap at the airport" still ringing in my ears we moved through at a steady pace. But I did succumb to a couple of bottles of Chambord which I will pick up when I arrive back in Sydney.