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And the next day we had snow...omg!!!!!!
The HUGE main temple
foreign news reporter
departure
Hi
I am thinking about going to China in January next year. The best price I have is with Air China. I have heard stories about Air China, some good and some bad. I am flying from Sydney Australia to Beijing. Could someone tell me what they are like to fly with?
Thanks
John
Air China is fine in general especially for international routes, although it's not as good as Singapore Airline in my opinion. But overall, service and food are good. And Air China is a member of Star Alliance. It shares airport lounge with Air New Zealand at Sydney airport, quite nice (at least it's better than the one in Beijing airport). Usually Chinese people like to choose Air China when they fly international routes, so most of customers in flight will be Chinese.
I think you hear good and bad about all airlines. Personally my first trip with Singapore was my last, because the experience was nothing like as big as the hype.
On Air China's domestic flights they're a bit tight with food, usually not more than a bottle of water. But they're not alone.
Bad stories I have heard are more about China Airlines (Taiwanese) than Air China (Chinese).
Air China is ranked as a 3 Star airline.
http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/CA.htm
Most of the airlines in the world fall into this rank.
http://www.airlinequality.com/StarRanking/3star.htm
That being said, statistics are statistics after all and each individual's experience could be totally different. One could be murdered in the safest country in the world and not a single incident may happen to you in the most dangerous country in the world.
I flew with Air China a couple of times and it was okay. My last flight to China was on Asiana and I really enjoyed their service. The food was pretty good, too. We flew with them because they had the cheapest price. I am from the US so I am not sure if Asiana is a good option from Sydney.
We just flew Air China from Beijing to Xi'an and had a positive experience. The plane was new, the staff was friendly, and the flight was on time.
I just returned from Beijing 2 days ago on Air China. The domestic flights are better than the international ones. The planes used for the international flights were B757s, very cramped and hardly any leg room. My departure flight was delayed 2 hours. It was a 6 hour ++ flight. Better check with the airline what planes they use for departure from Sydney.
Ah, the good old days before Starbucks and Red Bull. For less than a dollar you could get a six pack of orange soda on just about every street corner in Beijing. This photo was taken during the summer of 1988 when the sight of a flatbed tricycle loaded with flat orange sodas was just as flat out refreshing as the drink.
Although not as cold as much of northern China, Beijingers do need to keep out the sub-zero temperatures for five months of the year.
Everyone wears thermal underwear and then use multiple layers of clothing to keep the chill out. When it gets really cold, many take to wearing cotton face-masks.
These two ladies at the Temple Fair in Ditan Park have added some optional extras to their designer 'warmth kits'.
For visitors, the face-masks, wizards hats and swords are not mandatory.
In Beijing, there are a lot of nice parks. Often, tourists would all go to Beihai Park, maybe because it's the biggest and most close to Forbidden City. Personnally, I think Beihai Park is so huge that it becomes impersonnal.
This Black Bambou Park (bambous are all green here, no black ones !) is small compared to Beihai Park but pretty big from an European point of view.
This park is nice and calm. There are of course a lot of bambous and small ponds, which makes the surrounding really relaxing.
The park is situated right next to the Beijing Zoo, on the west side and the entrance is 2 RMB.
If you go down the snack street at Wangfujing Dajie in the evening there are
lots of stalls selling souvenirs. There are plenty of tasty snacks as well.
Walk among the stalls scouting for gifts for friends, family and why not yourself.
I don't know if this happens every night, but I think it's on special days.
Can't tell you wich though. You'll have to find that out for yourself! :-)
Anyway: loads of different souvenirs, lots of people and great snacks.
Absolutley worth an evening of exploration. Souvenirs, souvenirs, souvenirs... Don't pay too much here, most of the things here are pretty cheap.
Take some time to haggle as well.
Although taxis are very cheap in Beijing , the subway is also a great way to get around the terrible (at some times of the day) traffic jam in the local roads. Subway is cheap, clean and quick. Don't hesitate to walk down and use it !
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