Ctourus -- 7-day Tour of Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China
Day 1 - Los Angeles to Changsha, Hunan via Beijing, November 6~7, 2017
Last year, we joined a tour of Jiuzaigou, Sichuang, China with Ctourus and four pages of that trip report soon became part of the top ten most popular posts on this blog. With a pretty good experience on record last year, we did not hesitate when family members organized another trip to China which included the 7-day Zhangjiajie, Hunan tour and an 8-day Jiuzaigou, Sichuan tour back-to-back for a total of two weeks in the month of November this year. The second part of the tour was identical to the one we did last year but we did not mind. Having the chance to travel with family members is always on the top of my list and this time we have 12 people going. This turned out to be quite an 'adventure' for us and you will understand why as I try to describe our trip in this report.
LAX-PEK-CSX
Our flight was scheduled for Monday, November 6 at 00:40AM, which means we had to get to LAX Sunday night for check-in. After a very busy day at church, and a big early dinner of whole roasted pig celebrating all the October/November birthdays in the family, we headed off to LAX in three separated vehicles. LAX on a Sunday night is generally a nightmare with super heavy traffic especially on the departure level. We were dropped off at the arrival level which had a little bit lighter traffic and we just took the elevator up to the departure level which worked out fine for us.
After checking in with the long line of people we were ready to go through security. Unfortunately even though we have Global Entry, it really did not work here for some reason. No TSA pre-check and we had to go through that horrendous line at Tom Bradley Terminal. It was like a mad house with thousands of people going through security. LAX/TSA really need to do something about that ridiculous process which was the worst I have seen anywhere!
LAX to PEK CA 984 (Air China) Boeing 777-300
Our flight departed on time and the boarding process was organized nicely. With a long flight throughout the night it was important that we would catch up on some sleep before touching down in Beijing. My in-flight entertainment system did not work well, the touch screen did not work at all so it was a pain trying to navigate that thing. Might as well, I needed to sleep anyway.
Dinner was served about two hours into the flight. Food was pretty good, actually!
I managed to sleep for a few hours before they served the second meal which was about two hours prior to landing at BCIA.
Second meal served.
Unfortunately, we were parked at the remote area and required to be shuttled to the terminal. It was cold!
First group picture while waiting for the shuttle.
Arriving PEK at around 5:30AM, we had to go through transit with security check while at BCIA. It was not as bad as our experience in Pudong Airport last year. They were still very thorough though, but much better than LAX. Fortunately, our connecting flight was also with Air China so we did not have to go to another terminal for the domestic flight. With about five hours between flights, it was not enough time to go into town so we just spent the next several hours wandering around the airport.
Some in our group had access to the airport lounge but most of us stayed in the public area. Breakfast sounded like a great idea and we headed up to the food court.
Quiet food court early in the morning.
We ended up here for some Tianjin meat buns. We figured that this is a good time to try out some famous Tianjin buns. Little did we know that what happened later on this trip lead us to have the real thing just a week later.
Tianjin meat buns and they were quite good!
Some kind of porridge.
This was a good thirst quencher, icy kumquat drink with honey.
Charging station airside.
There were some sleepers next to the charging station for people to rest up.
Some cute things for kids.
Waiting to board our flight to Changsha.
Our boarding gate. Unfortunately, we had to be shuttled to our plane, again.
Finally on board this CA 1373 flight.
A meal was served, quite delicious, to my surprise!
After 2 1/2 hours we arrived at the Changsha Airport and picked up by the tour operator to our hotel.
Changsha Airport
Toll booth
Tall buildings on the way.
Dolton International Hotel--159 Shaoshan Road, Changsha
After a long drive with traffic jam we finally arrived at the Dolton Hotel. This hotel has a bright and airy lobby which was quite welcoming. The staff was quite friendly and helpful, especially the young tall gentleman by the elevators. He was courteous and had a good attitude. Room was fine, not fancy but clean and comfortable.
HouGongDian 火宫殿 -- (Main Branch) 127 PoZi Street, Changsha, Hunan
After settling in, we met up and took taxis to the pedestrian street. It cost about $10 RMB for us to get from the hotel to the pedestrian street. Our main goal was to find some authentic local Hunan food for dinner and Hou Gong Dian (Fire Temple) was it! They have many branches but we wanted the REAL thing. Even though we came in three separate taxis we all managed to meet up and walked toward Hou Gong Dian. My husband and I had been here for a meal the last time we came with another tour and had vivid memories of the place. That was why I wanted to bring my family back here this time. The only problem was, we had to figure out how to do things on our own this time around.
We got in on the ground floor of the restaurant, where carts of food were pushed around like the dim sum restaurants. We were instructed to go up to the second floor instead because they did not have a table big enough for the twelve of us. It turned out to be better for us anyway. Instead of picking food from the carts of food being offered, this floor is more like a cafeteria style set up with different stations lined at the back. We all went to check out the food selection and picked out whatever we liked, put them on our trays and then paid for what we picked at one of the cash registers. There were many different items to choose from, appetizers, main, noodle, soups, dumplings, and some other things we have never seen before. We ended up with a variety of food among the twelve of us and it turned out to be an interesting meal. By the way, they do charge for the disposable utensils and you need to tell them how many people are in your party so they can put the charges on your bill. The waitress will then bring you the sets of utensils being charged for printed on your receipt.
Entrance to the Fire Temple.
Mao statue was right outside the restaurant. Many famous personalities have visited here and Mao was the most important figure of all.
A whole table covered with Hunan cuisine.
Steamed sticky rice
Don't know what this is called, it's some kind of fried chewy dough. Quite delicious!
Lots to choose from. Not cheap but a memorable meal.
Exterior of the restaurant. The decor was traditional Chinese both inside and outside.
The actual Fire Temple in the courtyard.
After the wonderful meal, we took the taxi back to the hotel. This time the fare was a couple of dollars more because we picked up the taxis on a one way street going the opposite direction of the hotel. We were certainly glad that we had a chance to come here on our own because the tour did not bring us here on this trip.
