In Nov 2006 I arranged a chartered tour of 17 members comprising seven of my Hong Kong high school classmates (from N America) to Hangzhou, Huang Shan, Tunxi, Wuzhen, Suzhou, Lake Yangcheng & Shanghai. You can view the trip photos & journal from my Pbase library. 34 months later I led another group of 17 with five from the original ‘cast’ plus two ‘new’ schoolmates for a six days trip to Chengdu, Huang Long/Jiuzhaigou & Mount Emei. Here’s the trip journal:

Day 1 (9/15) – Hong Kong to Chengdu

Its typhoon signal #8 as Typhoon Koppu swept through HK in the early hours, shutting the stock market & closing schools & most businesses with winds as high as 139 kilometers (86 miles) an hour. There’s no taxi service. Thanks to KKM who picked Maggie & me up at 07:30 from our home & delivered us safe & sound to the Airport Express Station in the Central. We reached the airport around 08:30. All my fellow travellers are already there with our tour guide, Frank in front of the Air China counter. Due to the adverse weather condition, the airlines staffs absolutely had no clue at all when their plane from Chengdu would arrive in HKG for our 11:10 CA 412 flight.

Most of us opt to have congee breakfast at the Ocean Empire Food Shop. Around 10:45 we were given our boarding passes for security check & immigration processes. Once inside the passenger restricted area, we split up into small groups to “invade” various duty free shops. As the flight delay dragged on we went for lunch at Café de Coral around 12:30. Then five of us (Bob, Danny, Peter & me plus James as standby) selected a comfortable spot to play bridge while others either took a nap or continued their shopping. Finally we boarded around 16:30. As it’s an international flight and with delay over five hours our guide got us the relevant certification from the ground services company, Jardine for insurance claim purpose (from HK$160 to HK$250 depending on the type of insurance cover). So it’s less than a dollar per minute for our incarceration!

It took about two hours & a half to reach Chengdu. The local guide, Jo Jo (Ms Ko, an efficient & experienced guide) took us to a local Sichuan restaurant for dinner. And the original planned tour of the Chengdu Panda Breeding & Research Center was rescheduled to Day 4. ‘Thunder’ & his daughter cum son-in-law were picked up by their friends at the airport (flew in especially from Xian) to have their own evening gathering. For the first meal (only circumstance) we adopted the 2006 tour tradition with the men and women seating at separate table. To cope with the foreigners’ taste, the dishes served were less (I’d say much less) oily and spicy than the typical Sichuan cuisine.

After the dinner the coach took us to Jinli, a recreational & cultural street located at the center of the city. Within Jinli there’re quite a few teahouses, guesthouses, bars, pubs & outlets selling local delicacies & crafts. Personally I prefer the ones in Hangzhou or Lijiang. By 22:10 we checked into the Century City Holiday Hotel. As we’ve to have to get up at 05:00 to catch the 08:40 flight to Jiuzhaigou, we all retired to our rooms without further ado.


Equipment Used: Nikon D3 + 70-200/f2.8 for Photo 1 and Lumix LX3 for the rest.