What to SEE and DO in Chengdu

Hurray! Airasia (AK) commerce its flight to Chengdu (China) on the 20th October, the home of Giant Panda. Chengdu located in southwest of China, is the capital of Sichuan province.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 8 killed at least 68,000 people on May 12, 2008. It gives the tourism industry a big impact as September and October is the peak season for Chengdu. Many people around the world flocking into Chengdu to visit the UNESCO world heritage site - Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve. 

Let me share with you guys the must Do and See in while traveling in Chengdu;

See the Giant Panda
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda is the largest of it kind in the world. The park covers a large area which includes a Giant Panda nursery, museum, restaurant and a lake.

Walk at Jinli Pedestrian alley
A alley with Sichuan snack stalls, teahouses, souvenier shops and inns. For those with a tight budget, experience a night stay at Jinli alley will be unforgettable as the surrounding architecture has been restored to look like ancient Sichuan. 



Watch Sichuan Opera, "Changing faces"
Changing Faces or "Bian Lian" is an ancient Chinese dramatic art that is part of the more general Sichuan opera. Performers wear brightly colored costumes and move to quick, dramatic music. They also wear vividly colored masks, which they change within a fraction of a second.

Explore Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve
Jiuzhaigou is all about seeing! The colours of its lakes, trees and mountains are breathtaking and defy adequate description. The altitude changes within the valley to create continual variations of flora, which give each lake and waterfall a unique quality.

The tourist spots listed above are MUST visit places while you are in Chengdu. The best season to visit is between Spring and Autumn.

To be continue....

Malaysia Airlines reconsidering A380 ?

With the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revised its 2009 financial forecast losses of US$9 billion, many airlines are postponing their intention to launch the mega jumbo A380. Malaysia Airlines also facing the same faith as it may also reconsidering swapping the A380 order for smaller wide body aircraft to avoid US$300 million in penalty for canceling the order, according to S&P Asia Equity analyst.

In view of the current economy which effect the aviation industry the most, many business travelers choose low cost carrier as a cost saving alternative. This will effect the passengers traffic for full service airlines the most. According to some report saying that most likely these business travelers wouldn't switch back to full service carrier in the near future. So, what the benefit of having a A380 without those passengers traffic coming in?

Please share your thoughts on this.

Updates: Malaysia Airlines System (MAS) will take the delivery of its Airbus A380 order from 2011 onwards. No change in plan.

Online Travel Agency in Malaysia

Let me share with you guys some of the Online Travel Agency in Malaysia which I knew. These travel portal enable travelers to book and receive confirmation online rather than those which needed to wait for email reply or agency staff calling back.

1. www.12fly.com.my
2. www.holidaytours.com.my
3. www.harperstravel.com
4. www.pyotravel.com
5. www.asiatravelmart.com
6. www.cit.travel
7. www.g2travel.com.my
8. www.srisutra.com.my

will updates more.....

Monetize Travel 2.0 in APAC

In May last year, I've sent an email to The Boot (http://tims-boot.blogspot.com) on the topic monetize travel 2.0 in Asia Pacific.

Hi Tim,


I'm one of your blog reader, found it very interesting on your view on asia travel industry. Recently, saw a emerging market for social networking website in US also europe such as tripit, triptouch, tripwiser, wayn etc. Will this a proven model in asia ?

I found out that each of the social site only provides a small segment of travel service to user, and user still need to search for more info on other website or google, its there any way to group all this info together ?

Based on online research, social network site really have a lot of users in asia, but why the advertiser no interested in this segment ? Because of the conversion ? Our really lacking back of exposure ?

Thanks,
Alvin 


From The Boot reply, I found it to be very true and would like to share with all the readers or starts-up in Malaysia who wish to venture into this segment.


http://tims-boot.blogspot.com/2008/05/will-travel-20-work-in-asia-yes-just-as.html

Please share your thoughts in this.

Blogging

I can't believe that this is happening to me. Learning to blog is totally a new experience for me. But foremost, I treated this as a platform to share what I've learn in travel & technology and my personal view on the current trend for online travel in Malaysia.