Thanks, rkkwan!

Appreciate any unique sights, eats, experiences in Chengdu and Xian that you'd recommend.

Question about Tomb of Emperor Jingdi in Xian:

We're thinking of seeing it on the way into Xian from the airport since it's along the route. What is the best way to get there? If we take taxi, how much should it cost and how do they charge for wait time typically? Should we negotiate everything in advance? We probably spend 2 hours there.

Otherwise, if we have the taxi drop us off at the tomb, is it possible and easy to take a public bus to Xian from there?

Thanks!

Definitely agree that the pandas are worth seeing. Do you mean Qingchen Shan? If so, I really enjoyed my visit. For my trip to Chengdu see wilhelmwords.com/rtw2004 - Chilly Chengdu.

OK, I'll make sure make a trip to see the pandas. thursday, could you please resend the link. It didn't work.

Anyone know of a clean, safe, inexpensive hotel near the Chengdu airport? We just one to stay there for 1 short night before our early morning flight out to Jiuzhaigou. Thought it may not be too convenient (and expensive) to stay at the Sheraton for that night.

Thanks

In my recent travels to China, I think the best bet for inexpensive lodging is one of the major business hotel chains, like Home Inns 如家. They don't have one right by the airport, but several of their Chengdu locations are not too far from it. Taxi shouldn't cost more than about 50RMB and not more than half an hour. Room rates are general under 200RMB/night. They are almost comparable to Holiday Inn Express here.

Sichuan is known for its snacks, and if you just wander around the main business district - like the areas around Chunxi Road 春熙路, you'll find the snack carts and stalls all over the place.

JD98 - Sorry, I haven't figured out how to get my iPad to let me cut-and-paste within Safari...

Try http://wilhelmswords.com/rtw2004/index.html

Thanks, rkkwan. I'll look into Home Inn. Hope they speak some English.

thursdaysd, thanks for the link. Wow, looked like you took a train trip of a lifetime! I'd love to spend time browsing other destinations that you went to. Sounds like you had an interesting time in Chengdu, although somewhat wet and cold. How did you go to the Panda Reserve? By public bus?

Thanks!

JC98 - I took a mini-tour arranged by the guesthouse. We left early - you want to get there before the pandas finish breakfast. I liked Chengdu despite the weather, although I suspect it's changed a lot since I was there - a lot of development was going on. Definitely a good place for food.

My (still!) unedited pix from Chengdu are here: http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/R...e-World-2004-5 - password chengdu.

Home Inns don't have a English-language booking page and they don't show on Expedia. Maybe other booking sites may.

Another chain, Motel168, also doesn't have English booking site, but they are bookable through Expedia.

I have stayed at the GreenTree Inn in Chengdu. It's a smaller chain with just one location in Chengdu, near city center. They are both bookable via Expedia and they have their own English page. http://www.998.com/eng/index.aspx It is clean and very decent (apart from the free breakfast). And their rate is about 165RMB or $25.

Or you can just stick with real Holiday Inns. Chengdu is fairly cheap - around US$60.

Could you recommend a good website or agent to book a one-way flight from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou? I checked ctrip, but the ticket is around $200 USD one way. Would it be less expensive if bought elsewhere?

Thanks

The flight tickets for Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou are difficult to buy, you'd better book them in advance to secure them.You can try to search the flight ticket with departure from 06:10 to 06:50, then you may buy tickets with around 20% off.For your flight tickets from Jiuzhaigou to Xi'an, you'd better buy them in advance too,I found there are only several tickets left on Sept.22.

All the agents get the same fares as ctrip, though maybe with a slightly lower fee. Like MariaTravel says, seats are limited for Jiuzhaigou/Huanglong, and you should expect high fares.

For the website of booking flights,you can also try www.elong.net

Thanks, rkkwan and Maria, for your response. Maria, as an agent, would you be able to get the tickets any cheaper than online?

Thanks

Jc98,Today I found that the flight tickets for Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou are full price even for the departure from 06:10 to 06:50. Most of the economy tickets are only 1 ticket available.Most of the first class tickets for 1970+130 CNY are only 2 tickets available.The rest are 2620+130 CNY.We can provide tickets with 10% off, but clients should go Chengdu-Jiuzhaigou-Chengdu. Sine you will fly to Xi'an from Jiuzhaigou,so sorry I can not help you.

Jc98, if you fail to buy the air tickets, you can consider taking bus to Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu.The price is around 140 CNY per person.

Hi, are there hotels near the Jiuzhaigou airport? If we fly in at 7:30 p.m., we might want to stay put near the airport.
Is the road from the airport to Jiuzhaigou (Sheraton) dangerous to drive at night?

Thanks

You can go to Chuanzhushi for accommodation,it is only several kilometers away.However it's better for you to book your car in advance, most of the cars waiting at the airport are going to pick up clients, usually they charge money by tourists'itinerary.

The distance from airport to Sheraton is about 90 KM. If you have your private car and driver, it is not dangerous at all.

Want to give an update and advice about flight info. All the websites (elong, ctrip, and others) are all wrong about availability of flights to Jiuzhaigou. They were showing everything sold out, but on the actual date of flights, there were tons of seats still available. We were able to fly on the date and time desired (in the morning), and the plane still had many seats available. I think because of the flexible cancellation policy, travel agents probably hog up a chunks of seats and cancel them at the last minute if they can't sell them.