Flying China Eastern was our first introduction to Chinese hospitality. The flight crew were very accommodating and happy to help. The meals were delicious!
We departed Sydney an hour late at 1 p.m. due to the late arrival of the incoming plane, and the crew were most apologetic. We worried about the connection and turn around time in Shanghai but we must have had a tail wind because we managed to make up at least 50 minutes! We were also jealous of the passengers leaving Sydney on the direct flight to Guangzhou as the route via Shanghai would add another 6 hours of flight and transit.
However, the connection at Shanghai's Pudong Airport was a revelation! Flying in to Shanghai at night is a fairyland. The lights on the arterial roads have arcs that don't appear to overlap so from the air they look like a "connect the dots" game.
Customs at Pudong were polite and efficient so I pressed the green button for "very satisfied"... "you may comment on my performance of my duties".
In the terminal we had time between flights to have a look around, although when we asked for permission to take photos we were politely refused. What I wanted to use the camera for was 1. The live crabs available in the same store as chocolate, cigarettes and dried kiwi fruit. 2. The magazine called BLOG WEEKLY which seemed such an oxymoron - a printed magazine about blogs!
PUDONG AIRPORT IS HUGE! The transit included a 10 minute bus ride to change terminals and a step out on to the yellow lit runway to be ushered on to the domestic flight by ground crew in thick, padded winter attire in the bitter wind and subzero temperature.
We finally arrived in Guangzhou and collected our baggage with no problem. We later found out that one of the other groups traveling on a previous China Eastern flight had arrived without their bags, so we were grateful for small mercies.
Organizing travel with a large group is always challenging but when we got to Guangzhou and counted heads, we were apparently missing 2 people who were on the list of the Chinese university staff who greeted us. It took us close to another hour before things got sorted and we wandered out to buses to go to our hotels. Passport checks, registration and finally in to rooms at... 2 a.m. Local Beijing time - 5 a.m. Sydney time... It had been a LONG day but we were all still laughing - trying hard to keep the "happy face"!
We departed Sydney an hour late at 1 p.m. due to the late arrival of the incoming plane, and the crew were most apologetic. We worried about the connection and turn around time in Shanghai but we must have had a tail wind because we managed to make up at least 50 minutes! We were also jealous of the passengers leaving Sydney on the direct flight to Guangzhou as the route via Shanghai would add another 6 hours of flight and transit.
However, the connection at Shanghai's Pudong Airport was a revelation! Flying in to Shanghai at night is a fairyland. The lights on the arterial roads have arcs that don't appear to overlap so from the air they look like a "connect the dots" game.
Customs at Pudong were polite and efficient so I pressed the green button for "very satisfied"... "you may comment on my performance of my duties".
In the terminal we had time between flights to have a look around, although when we asked for permission to take photos we were politely refused. What I wanted to use the camera for was 1. The live crabs available in the same store as chocolate, cigarettes and dried kiwi fruit. 2. The magazine called BLOG WEEKLY which seemed such an oxymoron - a printed magazine about blogs!
PUDONG AIRPORT IS HUGE! The transit included a 10 minute bus ride to change terminals and a step out on to the yellow lit runway to be ushered on to the domestic flight by ground crew in thick, padded winter attire in the bitter wind and subzero temperature.
We finally arrived in Guangzhou and collected our baggage with no problem. We later found out that one of the other groups traveling on a previous China Eastern flight had arrived without their bags, so we were grateful for small mercies.
Organizing travel with a large group is always challenging but when we got to Guangzhou and counted heads, we were apparently missing 2 people who were on the list of the Chinese university staff who greeted us. It took us close to another hour before things got sorted and we wandered out to buses to go to our hotels. Passport checks, registration and finally in to rooms at... 2 a.m. Local Beijing time - 5 a.m. Sydney time... It had been a LONG day but we were all still laughing - trying hard to keep the "happy face"!
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