We were all set and ready to go by 9am at Changi Airport. Looking at our backpacks, we looked indeed like some professional mountaineers… Whatever the case, we can’t wait to fly! Off we go to 成都!
Silkair service is quite good, plenty of food and drinks during the 4.5 hrs of flight. But too bad, there are just 2 toilets and there was always a queue to use them. Still it was an enjoyable flight, playing Big 2 helped to kill time…
Finally we reached CD! First thing we did was to buy an IC card so that we can call the travel agency.
We have decided to let Kenneth do the talking since he was our expedition leader. His classic starting line: “你好，不好意思。想请问你。。。“ Whenever he asked for info, that would be his opening line. SOP. Still it pays to be polite since we are not exactly that good in speaking Mandarin.
We got our card, called the agency and headed our way there. The taxi driver chatted with us and found out we intend to drive into Tibet from Chengdu (自驾车旅游) and volunteered to call another agency to ask about the price. Turns out to be same price as ours; 600rmb per day for the jeep. This is going to exceed our budget easily.
We reached there in no time and the people there seemed to be expecting us too. We started negotiating with them, reading the terms and conditions (which were in Chinese) carefully, all the time they were eager to please and persuade us to take the offer. They gave me a feeling of being overly zealous to sell. I was a bit sceptical about their credibility but still maybe I was being too careful.
Although we had to pay extra 3000rmb for the 5 days of return of the jeep (this was only made known to us at the later stage), we still settled for this. Our driver, Mr. Zeng was nice enough to send us to our lodging, Sim’s Cosy House. This Mr. Zeng had tiny eyes and one look, I had a feeling he is a bad guy. Most villains have tiny eyes.
Sim’s Cosy House is owned by a Singaporean backpacker (老沈) and his Japanese wife Maki, also a backpacker. They met in Tibet many years ago, fell in love and decided to open a youth hostel in Chengdu. They have 2 lovely daughters, aged about 5 and 1 I guess. It is really a home away from home.
We settled for the nearest restaurant for dinner; 四川名菜：串串香. 1 stick only cost 1 cent and people were grabbing like free like that.
Then dump into the鸳鸯锅 and cook. Once done, dip the stick into chilli oil before eating. It really upsets our stomach. Too much spice and oil. Still it was a unique experience. We will throw the sticks into a bucket and in the end, the waiter will come and count the sticks.
With our stomachs full, we shopped around at the supermart and went back to prepare for our trip to Er Mei Shan (峨嵋山).
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