Journey to Nowhere

If you want to buy air tickets for the Greater China region, check out this website
www.travelzen.com. It claims to be China’s only web-based online travel agency. You can book flights departing from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, with instant booking and confirmation. This looks like a real convenience for travelers to China. Currently, China’s other major travel sites like www.elong.com are not able to provide instant web-based booking and confirmation.

I’ve tried the interface of Travelzen website and I like it so far.

According to its website, the “Travelzen Group Limited is a joint venture between Shanghai Ever Bright Town International Travel Agency Limited (SEBTI), China’s largest private air ticketing wholesaler and a reputable international private equity group”.

If you fly in to China, this may be what you will encounter:

After a flight lands on an airport in China, two guys in white medical uniform will board the flight. The first guy will walk through the corridor and take photos of the passengers. This is followed by the second guy who holds a laser machine to check the temperature of each passenger.

Well, at least this is what has happened to me when I took a Southern China airline flight to Sanya, Hainan province, from Hong Kong just days ago.

These are the precautions taken by the Chinese authority for containing the swine flu, as you may have guessed. And I guess the first guy taking photos of passengers is for keeping a record so that in the case of one passenger later is identified to have caught swine flu, those sitting next to him or her would be able to be identified and traced down.

Flying into/out of Hong Kong can be cheap, as quite a few budget airlines operate from the city.

From Hong Kong Airport:

Air Asia

Airasia flies to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur from Hong Kong.

HK to Bangkok: Starting from about  HKD470  for a one-way flight, with tax included.

HK to Kuala Lumpur: Starting from about HKD560 for a one way flight, with tax included.

Cebu Pacific

Cebu Pacific  has one of the best connections to the Philippines with very low price. Other flights from Hong Kong go to Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok and several places in the Philippines.

Jet Star

Hong Kong to Singapore: one way ticket costs about HKD 560 up. From Singapore, Jetstar serves a big network around the region.

Hong Kong Airlines

With Hong Kong Airlines, you can reach all major tourist cities in Mainland China, such as as Guilin, Kunming, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing. Destination outside China is also served, such as Hanoi, Vietnam or Okinawa, Japan.

Flights to China on Hong Kong Airlines are not particularly cheap. It is even cheaper to take flights from Shenzhen airport across the Hong Kong border. The best place to make a booking for flights from China is through elong.

From Macau Airport

If you have time you could also consider taking the ferry to Macau (about HKD150 one way) and take a budget flight from Macau Airport.  Both Air Asia and Cebu Pacific operate from there as well and the price can be even lower.

For more about flying from Macau, view this post by me.

The good thing about budget airlines is, besides the obvious fact that they are on the cheap, the booking is based on a one-way price so if you travel around the region, it is a good choice indeed.

Beijing’s new air terminal, Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport, reputedly the world’s largest airport building, will start trial operations this Friday, 29 Feb.

The new terminal will have 64 restaurants, 90 shops and a high-speed commuter train that will transport passengers to the city centre. And its runway is big enough to handle the huge Airbus A380 superjumbo. Its floor space, to match up to its reputation as the world’s largest airport building,  is nearly 100 hectares.

The building, designed by the famous British architect Lord Foster, is decked out in red columns and gold roof, the typical “Chinese elements”, an evocation of the imperial palaces in ancient China.

What interests me most is that the state media hailed its world-record pace of construction – finished in under four years. But not to forget that it also means a world-record pace of destruction – more than 10,000 villages have been demolished over a short period of time to pave way for the construction.

And the fast pace is intended – to open the new air terminal in time for the Olympics in August when a huge number of visitors are expected and the current airport capacity can hardly cope.

Recently I flew to Kota Kinabalu (KK), Malaysia from the Macau International Airport with the Malaysia-based low fare airline AirAsia. A return ticket (Macau <=> KK) costs only HK$1100. AirAsia also flies between Kuala Lumpur and Macau.

The Singapore-based low fare airline Tiger Airways also has operations at Macau International airport. And Air Macau has flights to China’s major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing and Xiamen.

So this post is a reminder that you can consider flying from Macau International Airport to some Asian destinations, including China - some routes offer good price.

The Macau International Airport recently introduced Express Link service, meaning that you will be exempted from normal immigration procedure and can check in at Hong Kong Shun Tak Ferry Terminal (the ferry pier to Macau in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong) for your flights from the Macau International Airport. So if you leave Hong Kong for Macau to catch a flight, the service will afford some convenience.

Check out here (Macau International Airport Website) for the details.

Hong Kong is the gateway to China and understandably there are many flights each day from Hong Kong to major China cities. But flying is not cheap. A sure way to save money is go to Hong Kong ’s neighboring city Shenzhen and fly from there. As it now becomes the domestic flight, the flight ticket will cost a lot less.

Hong Kong Shenzhen Western Corridor

The good news is, you can now check-in in Hong Kong for flights from Shenzhen Airport. The Shenzhen Airport authority has set up a flight waiting room in the shopping mall right above the Kowloon Station of Hong Kong Airport Express. After check-in, you can just take the direct bus to Shenzhen Airport from Kowloon Station via the newly opened Hong Kong-Shenzhen Wesetern Corridor port of entry (this entry is convenient as the passport control of Hong Kong and China sides is carried out under one roof – in the same building.

The aforementioned through-bus is a new service, the first of its kind, launched at the same time as the Kowloon Station check-in service. Buses depart almost every half an hour, running from 6:15am to 7:15pm at Hong Kong side, and from 9:30am to 9pm at Shenzhen side. The whole journey costs about HK$100 and takes about 75 minutes – that is the ideal bus journey time, excluding time for immigration etc. So always allow more time for catching a flight.

For details of the direct bus service, see this post.