lijiang flights
 

Thank you all for being patient!!!as I have finally got an itinerary...HK,Yangshou,Lijiang,Chiang Mai, Bangkok....I want to fly back from Lijiang to Kunming and take a flight to Jinghong where I can get a flight to Chiang Mai on the discovery pass...Im not finding anything listed for that on WACTS or China travel...can someone help????

There are almost hourly flights from LJG to KMG on China Eastern.

From KMG to JHG, there are also almost hourly flights, on China Eastern, Shangdong, Air China, Shanghai Airlines, etc...

Also, there one of two daily non-stops between LJG and JHG on China Eastern.

thank you again....I cant believe there are two direct flights from LJG to JHG!!!! what times and where did you get that?? ...clueless

I saw it on an online Chinese timetable, but I also found it bookable on elong.net.

I don't know why they schedule it this way, but the two flights are only 25 minutes apart:

MU 5950 21:00 22:00
MU 2581 21:25 22:25

I think the reason you didn't find it is because some sites call it Jinghong airport, other (like elong.net) call it Xishuang Banna.

BTW, there's really good air transport in Yunnan, compared to other Chinese provinces. Because of its geography, there's limited rail service, and only very recently are there better roads.

i will still have to go thru kunming nad change to a jinghong flight as the direct is later than the flight to CM thanks...the biggest problem of going to me will be the airports..how can on manage without mandarin??

How do you manage even before you get to the airport? @-)

yes good question B.... you may assume I'm slow...but we do manage..
.I do it this way.. I always get a hotel with an English speaker and have them make the gound transportation arrangments.

Going to Yangshou won't be a problem for English and Im assuming Lijiang will have some English speakers as well.Am I wrong? But frankly the caligraphy is worrying me at the small airports...Charles de Gualle was hassle enough and I speak a tiny bit of French. I'm assuming The Thai cities shouldnt be a problem except for the bargining....Anyone out there that know no chinese or Thai..any advice?

I have been to Jinghong (this is some years ago now) & travelled on an airport bus into the town. My husband is a Chinese native speaker though & so its easy for us. However, the airport was, & from what I can see is still small & I do remember that this was a very organised place. I have found this link:-
http://www.toandfromtheairport.com/yunnan.html
& would suggest that locating the CAAC office & trying to ask there about a bus should be ok. In my experience all Chinese airports have buses to & from & if you locate this main set off point it should be do-able.
Hope thats helpful.

Thanks...it is 9 degrees there now! Is April going to be too cold?(55 or less) as we dont want to take coats etc.Is it a high altitude?

hypatia - What I mean is that by the time you get to fly out of Lijiang, you should be quite comfortable (or at least figured out) how to travel in China without knowing the language. I don't see why you will have extra problems at any of those airports.

At least in KMG, they have electronic boards telling you where to check-in for your KMG-JHG flight. You really don't need to know any Chinese to accomplish that and to find your gates.

[I don't know if they'll transfer bags though, but you definitely will have to go through security again - as you'll go directly to the baggage claim and then out the arrivals hall; you then go upstairs and check-in for next flight.]

LJG and JHG are smaller airports and I doubt you'll have trouble finding your ways around.

7000 ft....Thanks... the airports I'm concerned about are Guilin and Kunming and Shenzhen.You are right coming back is always easier than going out. The only return flight will be from LJG to KNG. If there are people who speak English than I won't have as much trouble...it's really that easy??

hypatia - Yunnan can still be kind of chilly that time of the year. They call Yunnan "4 seasons like spring", but you know spring can be kind of cool too.

You won't have problems at any of the airports in general. There are two terminals, side-by-side, at SZX, so you need to find out which one you depart from. But once inside, there are large electronic boards telling where to check-in. It's very apparent where security is, and so are the gates. Give yourself ample time, and you'll be okay.

But it's always a good idea to have basic information written on cards with both English and Simplified Chinese on it. Like "Shenzhen Airport", "China Southern Airlines" (or whatever you're flying), name and address of your hotels, etc.

In general, you'll find the English skills of most people extremely limited, but that doesn't mean you'll have much problem, as flying is more or less the same in China and here.