Zhangjiajie, China tour (19-26 April 2008)

 

First time I joined Commonwealth Travel for a package 8 day tour to Zhangjiajie. Although slightly more expensive than other tour agencies, their itinerary is more comprehensive. However, though the counter staff promises 4 star hotel, we only get 3 star hotels in some places. The food given throughout was also pretty cheap consisting of vegetables, toufu and eggs with freshwater fish throw in. The only good food is in Guangzhou.
It was just our luck that we flew the day after a typhoon visited Guangzhou. Our connecting flight to Zhangjiajie was delayed due to tropical storm in the area. In spite of receiving news that the airport was closed, the pilot of the China Southern Airlines insisted on flying there after more than one hour of delay. However, after midnight, we were told that due to bad weather in Zhangjiajie, the plane had to detour to Guilin. We were kept in the plane to await further information about the weather. At about 1 am, the announcement came through that the weather had cleared and it will take about half an hour to fly to Zhangjiajie.  The flight was quite bumpy throughout and water had to be rationed . After more than 2 hours flight time, we were told that we would be flying back to Guangzhou!!  This time, we were allowed to disembark from the plane and check in to a hotel to wait for further notice. By the time, we reached the hotel, it was about 5 am in the morning and before we had a proper sleep, we were interrupted by a morning call at 6:30 am, telling us to go back to the airport!  All this could have been avoided if the pilot and staff of China Southern made the decision not to fly and risk our life in the first place. If we were to fly Singapore Airlines, I think the scenario would be diferent. Hoped that the insurance company can compensate us for this 12 hour delay!
Apart from this frightening start, the rest of the tour were quite smooth sailing. Zhangjiajie has become quite a commercial destination with lots of local and foreign  tourists flocking there even if it is not a peak season. Had to queue to take photos of favourite spot and to take the cable car.  Because of the long queue in petrol stations for diesel, we were not able to make a toilet stop while enroute Yueyang. (4 hours journey).