Waiting. Waiting. Waiting!
The flight was cancelled which meant we weren't going to get to Chengdu in time to make our flight. We rang Sichuan Airlines. They said someone would be at Chengdu to help us.
Another 2am arrival and Chengdu airport was almost barren. We were tired, upset and totally irrational.
We did eventually find a young man. Although he possibly now has grey hair. He was not from the airline but worked at the airport. He said we needed to find a hotel as there were no flights out that night. We said it was Sichuan's fault and we shouldn't be out of pocket. I guess we raised our voices. Then he said, "I'm an intern. It's my first day on the job and I can't handle this. " He then proceeded to cry.
This has to be the lowest point of our trip. We hugged and comforted him.
The young man finally got through to Sichuan Airlines and got permission to organize us a hotel.
I use the term 'hotel" loosely. As we drove along dark streets the others who had been stranded previously said, "This feels a lot like the accommodation we had in Shanghai and it was ghastly."
No smoking! At least they could have got rid of the evidence.
Although evidence to the contrary
And it was. We sat in the lobby looking at the NO SMOKING sign next to the overflowing ashtray. We sagged across the couches dreading the hard beds.
Rest while you can before you experience the beds
Our room had a mosquito coil. It had a squat toilet. There were seniors in our group. The young man from Melton found a new girlfriend – a large black cockroach in his bed.
Our door didn't lock. There was a wake up call which seemed to come only a few minutes after we shut our eyes (Something I must say the Hilton never managed to organise.) The caller simply said, "Let's go."
Say no more!
We raced downstairs. For breakfast we were thrown a lump of cake and some lucky people even got a bottle of water.
Breakfast anyone? Some people even gave it back.
At the airport I showed photos of our previous night's accommodation to the Sichuan officials who were telling us to go back to the hotel, as there were no flights to Melbourne for three days.
They didn't seem to care about us
They wanted us back there as it was affiliated with their airline.
All this time we kept in contact with SNA.
The waiting game
While there were times the resident wits in our party referred to SNA as Seriously Not Acceptable I must say they came through for us. And they spoke Chinese which none of us could becoming buffers and interpreters through all this mess.
Q for sure. Decidedly questionable.
There were some heated phone discussion so I would suggest they really pulled some punches.
We were whisked away to a businessman's hotel. It was not the Hilton but it was luxury after our previous night.
A bit of an improvement on the last hotel provided by the airline
At midday Garry arrived. He was freelance tour guide employed by SNA. He said. "I am sorry all this has happened. But I'm here now and I am going to take care of you. "
We almost fell into his arms.
Living it up in Chengdu
Not all bad!
He took one look at the lunch we were being served and phoned SNA. The next three days were a whirl of fantastic tours (pandas, markets, historic sites) great meals (outside the hotel) and the company of Garry our knowledgeable guide who did not take us to any jade factories.
A chance to visit the pandas. We believe this one was a teenager.
All of this at SNA's expense.
By the time we boarded that flight we felt we would travel with SNA again.
Chengdu - chance to see the world's biggest shopping centre
The balls-up was mostly with Sichuan Airlines, which doesn't have enough flights in and out of Melbourne at present to be effective. Plus some of their affiliated accommodation is less than acceptable.
Surprisingly when we did get our flight it went without a hitch.
Our intern we had upset on his first day of work even came out to say goodbye. He wanted a photo.
Perhaps that photo is even now doing the rounds and we will never be allowed back. That SNA group from Melbourne. Those Seriously Nasty Australians.
There were times when our personalities totally changed