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In the air, from Penang to Guangzhou

Written by Nicholas Chan on January 7, 2009 – 1:51 am -

The flight from Penang to Bangkok is around 1 hour plus and another 3 hours for Bangkok to Guangzhou. I was on Thai Airway and of course it’s better than Air Asia with its in-flight service and the fare was a little bit more expensive than Air Asia but a little bit more for the service is good.

It’s not a direct flight but there’s a transit at Bangkok so which means that I got 2 meals air meal in the plane. One was from Penang to Bangkok and another one was from Bangkok to Guangzhou. I didn’t really eat much because I was clearing my stomach for all the nice street food and dim sums in Guangzhou.

You always get to read their local newspaper, I took all of it before getting onto the plane, both the English and Mandarin paper. Dad mistaken the Japanese paper and thought it was a Chinese newspaper but since it’s free, it’s not really problem.

The in-flight entertainment wasn’t really good, no personal screen in front of me, it’s a big screen in front of everyone playing one movie. I didn’t watch the movie but instead watching Diggnation podcast on my iPod and for the rest of the time, I was either sleeping or listening to music. The in-flight entertainment of Cathay Pacific is better than this. I’m writting this because I only got on board on these 2 airlines before, I’ll no need to say about the budget airline Air Asia, since it’s budget, there’s not really any entertainment for you. Prepare your own entertainment. =)

Thirty more thousands feet above sea level? It’s so nice and very cold out there.

When approaching Guangzhou, it turned ugly, no more blue sky but very cloudy with a very hazy background. It’s nothing much compare to Bangkok, it’s like dust particle is in the air everywhere. The greens were not so green. Penang is still the best or perhaps I should say city in Malaysia has a cleaner air. Wee…

By the way, the business class area in flight Penang to Bangkok was very quiet. I think there’s only one or two passengers there. OMG OMG.

Tags: Air Asia, Airport, Bangkok, Blue, Entertainment, Flight, guangzhou, Penang, Plane, Sky, Sleep, Thai Airway, Travel
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From Baiyunport back to Penang

Written by Nicholas Chan on January 6, 2009 – 12:16 am -

I really don’t know where to start. I’ll be splitting my writings on my recent Guangzhou trip into different places that I had visited. Stay tune, I have took so much photos there and need some time to process, filter, pick, choose and upload. That’s the problem of taking so much photo. Hehe.

(There’s 3 terminal, 1 is for domestic flight, 1 is for arrival, 1 is for international flight)

Let’s rewind from the last day of me coming back to Penang. It was Friday afternoon, our driver waited at our hotel (Holiday Inn Shifu) at 12pm, we got on and that marked the end of our trip. We were going to the airport and it tooks like 30 minutes, it’s a long way out of town and the airport is located in Baiyun district.

There’s nothing for me to see after getting on the expressway, it’s just roads and cars.

On the first day of arriving at Guangzhou, there’s an announcement on the plane during landing that told us that we are not allow to take any photos inside the airport. I did take that in mind and also took some short from my mobile. On the last day, I don’t care about it anymore and I just take as much as I like, only then I knew that photography is not allow at the inspection area.

The airport is really good, on par with other big international airport, not like the Penang International Airport. Anyway, our Penang International Airport has a better washroom now. Haha.

After checking in, getting the boarding pass, getting through the custom and inspection gate, there’s not much time left for us to shop. Just window shopped while walking to our terminal at a far end.

A11 was our gate. I was on Thai Airway, the flight did not fly straight back to Penang but have a transit at Bangkok Survarnarbhumi Airport. End up having 2 air meals. =)

One thing is, I was Malaysian Airlines there, proud to see that but it was a very small plane.

3 hours later, we arrived in Bangkok’s Airport. The weather from turned to hot from before cold in Guangzhou. Nothing to see in the terminal, just a some shop and we sat at the restaurant for an hour and we did eat something there. I was just listening to my iPod all the time, sad that there’s no wifi at the airport.

My dad kept my Coke bottle in the hand luggage, he had forgotten to keep it in the luggage that was to checked in to the plane, we passed the first custom in Guangzhou but were asked to take it out at Bangkok, I poured all the juice and just took the can.

1+ hour later, I arrived in Penang, safely.

Tags: Baiyunport, Bangkok, Burberry, China, Flight, Gate, guangzhou, Malaysian Airline, Plane, Shopping, Thai Airway, Travel
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The sky from the window of the aeroplane

Written by Nicholas Chan on January 5, 2009 – 12:20 am -

I love sitting at the side of the aeroplane by the window. Although there’s nothing interesting to see outside the airplane, but if you are lucky and at the correct time at the correct timezone, you might see sunset or sunrise high in the air. One bad thing is, the sun shines into the aircraft and when you are on a lousy airplane with lousy AC, you will feel the heat.

This was taken while approaching Bangkok at around 5pm local time. There’s the nice blue sky, nice white clouds and a little bit of Mr Sunshine. Pretty!

Tags: Aeroplane, Bangkok, Blue, Plane, Sky, Sun, Sunshine
Posted in Photography, Talk Cock, Travel | View Comments