Day 1 (arrival in CQ, to CD): Jin Yu Xin
Thanks for sending us off Samuel and Selva!!
Our plane departed from Singapore Changi Airport at 12:35am on 17th Dec 2016. Looking out of the airplane window, you can see the city sleeping soundly like a child with golden sparks glowing small and distant. After an uncomfortable sleep, we finally reached Chongqing around 5:00 AM. The temperature there was 20 ℃ lower than Singapore but surprisingly it wasn’t as cold as we thought. We boarded the taxi with plenty of luggages squeezed on our laps and traveled to Chongqing north station before boarding the train to Chengdu, our next destination.
Starting the journey off with a group photo!
Once there, we moved quickly to the ticketing counters (the plural is no exaggeration) however because of our foreign passports the process took longer than usual. Thereafter, we settled down at a noodle restaurant, 李先生, Mr. Li for our breakfast.
Safe and sound and ready to dig into Mr Li’s beef noodles!!
The Beef Noodle was plentiful and extremely delicious, totally warming up our cold stomachs!
Ultra delicious…
Full and ready to move, we took the 1 hour and 27 minutes High Speed Rail to Chengdu where everybody slept (must be the uncomfortable plane ride).
Joo Ern found his shadow printed on the walls of ChunXi Shopping Center.
When we arrived in Chengdu, we changed to subway line 2 to go to Chun Xi Road, the city center as well as the restaurant my uncle wanted to treat us to a meal.
Awesome lunch treat by my Uncle, where they tried rabbit meat for the 1st time!
The lunch was enjoyable but also very spicy, definitely the first time many of us had such spicy food. After that, we walked around Chun Xi Road similar to Orchard Rd in Singapore with many shopping malls and huge crowds.
Can’t miss this giant panda shot in Chunxi’s Mega Uniqlo branch!
Walking around the streets, taking in the Christmas spirit, tasting the wasabi ice cream and taking photos using the 360 camera (generously loaned by Samsung), it was truly a relaxing time especially since this was right after our finals!
The matcha desserts to die for…
Everyone put on your most glamorous post!
Finally, we made our way to HelloChengdu hostel at around 5:30 PM. The hostel had a beautiful garden and the owners had many cute pets. Half an hour later, Edwin came to our room and suggested that we go to “ Ren Ren Le” to stock up on snacks for the next few days and so we did! After shopping, we had Lamian and sushi for dinner, as well as Ji Pa (鸡扒) and COCO milk tea for supper before returning to hostel at 9:00PM to attend the briefing by Edwin. This is the first time we met the whole group of ice climbing team who were very friendly and experienced indeed!
Group shot together with Edwin and most of the team who are going to Ice Climb with us!
After the briefing, we repacked our stuff and brought what is necessary to embark on the exciting Ice Climbing and Dafeng Climb! So for now, goodnight!