Fly Me to Chengdu, China – Part 1

Where To Stay in Chengdu

Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan Province in China, is more often known as the place to visit the famous Giant Panda bears. It’s my first time travelling to China, courtesy of Air Asia X and Dorsett Grand Chengdu and I was super thrilled to the max. To be able to travel and learn about other countries and their heritage and cultures is indeed a precious and priceless excursion. Our five day escapade was filled with an amazing experience of the richness of Chengdu from all aspects of life.

Photo courtesy of Ching YS

There’s more to Chengdu that meets the eye. It even has a list of nicknames from Heavenly State, The Brocade City, The City of Hibiscus and Land of Panda. Chengdu is the gateway to many amazing places in China. One of the more popular places to visit in JuiZhaiGou, a world-acclaimed tourist spot, as it has the most breathtaking sceneries in China. Chengdu also has a rich history from its many dynasties ruling as well as a haven for the renowned spicy-numbing Sichuan cuisine. You can read more about Chengdu here.

Our escapade kicked off with us taking Air Asia X (AAX) which has a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Chengdu in the evening. AAX flies seven times a week from KL to Chengdu with a four hours and fifteen minutes journey and lands at the Shuangliu International Airport.

Photo courtesy of Ching YS

Photo courtesy of Ching YS

Photo courtesy of Ching YS

Photo courtesy of Wilsurn Lim

Flyers with AAX will be please to know that they can opt for the Air Asia X Quiet Zone for a peaceful flight to several destinations with Chengdu included. This Air Asia X Quiet Zone is located after the premium flatbed cabin and offers flyers a comfortable and quiet ambiance with minimal noise or disturbances. The zone is only available to flyers aged 10 and above and meals will be served faster as well compared to the regular economy zone.

And we are off….

 Photo courtesy of Ching YS

We had our meals pre-booked for our four flight. Do check out the selection of meals available when booking your flight if you are always hungry as I am…

We arrived late in the evening at Chengdu and checked into Dorsett Grand Chengdu for the trip.

Dorsett Grand Chengdu is a five-star hotel located in the bustling historical Luoma Market area in Chengdu’s Central Business District. The 556 guestrooms and suites hotel is impressive at sight when we enter the lobby. Spacious and fitted with marble everywhere from wall to floor, the lobby also has impressive high ceiling be fitted with opulent chandelier of a blooming flower. 

Grandeur with elegance best describes the ambiance at the hotel!

Wall panels are also decorated with striking copper colored panels with lotus and gingko leave motifs. 

We checked into our rooms respectively and mine was Dorsett Room with King sized bed located on the seventeen floor.

The room was dressed with minimal but elegance décor. Finished with a mix of contemporary and elegant fittings with touches of Asian theme, my room was spacious and comfortable at sight. The neutral warm colors made the room serene and elegant.

White luxurious beddings, choices of pillows and the firm mattress ensures a good night sleep… at least I did! On a personal note, I like the cute little panda bear greeting on the side table…

There is a full size executive glass workspace on the side of the room as well as complimentary WiFi for business or personal usage or simply relax with some television actions at the end of the evening…

There is also the usual mini-bar, coffee and tea treats as well as Chinese tea set, plenty of bottled water refilled each day as well as an electronic safe. Did you know that Chengdu is famous for tea houses?

Inside the ornate cabinet, there’s plush bathrobes and slippers for comfort.

The bathroom is very spacious and has a glass enclosed shower fitted with rain shower as well as the regular one. Long baths are considered a luxury these days and I certainly had a few good soakings during my stay. There is full range of bathroom amenities for extra pampering.

All rooms features a bay window with a view of the bustling city.

Dorsett Grand Chengdu has other room categories such as Deluxe Room, Dorsett Suite, Executive Suite and a grand Chairman Suite. We had a hotel tour and here are some of the rooms as options.

If you are aiming for more luxury, go for the Suites as these have separate bedroom and living room as well as a bigger bathroom with shower and bathtub as well. The separate living room area has plush velvet sofas with separate office space as well as entertainment space.

On another hand, if you are going to go all out and enjoy the ultimate luxury living, you might just be looking for the Chairman Suite located on the highest floor of the 42-storey hotel. There are two plush bedrooms, one with king sized bed and the other with twin beds, beautifully furnished with stylish furniture, wall panels and ornate lightings.

The separate bathroom is very spacious with its own Jacuzzi, massage room, sauna and steam room facility.

Just right outside the master bedroom is the separate stylish workspace filled with dark wood office desk and leather seats as well as marble flooring.

The large living room space has elegance written all over with its modish chandelier, velvet covered sofas, marbled table, a fireplace, huge tv and wall to ceiling plasters.

The Chairman Suite has an elegant dining room with a modern chandelier which I really love a lot. It has its own kitchen space for entertainment preparation.

Indeed a Chairman Suite made for anyone who enjoys living life in pure extravagance!

For breakfast in the mornings, we visited Yue Rong Café located on level 2 each day. Open as early as 6.30am, many are already seen enjoying the large spread of breakfast buffet filled with lots of delicious breakfast treats.

I was in awed of its spread of tempting bread and pastries as well as the large spread of fresh fruits, fruit juices, yoghurt, cheese plus coffee and array of teas for light meals.

However, whenever I am traveling, I do tend to treat myself to a full breakfast since it’s not often I have time to sit down and enjoy a good breakfast. From the hot buffet warmers, there’s the English breakfast treats of bacon, beans, hash browns, sausages, eggs made-to-order and more. The list is an endless spread of goodies…

I also had porridge with classic Chinese condiments of pickled vegetables, fried Yau Cha Kwai and fried treats. There is also a noodle bar with various noodles and dumplings.

At Dorsett Grand Chendgu, you eat breakfast like a king!

Yue Rong Café also serves lunch menu. For full-fledge dinner, Dorsett Grand Chengdu has Fu Yue Xuan Chinese Restaurant serving Canton and Sichuan cuisine so stay tune for this in my next post of Where to Eat in Chengdu!

There’s also the Lobby Lounge for light snacks and drinks available throughout the day.

Dorsett Grand Chengdu’s Grand Ballroom is opulence and fits up to 486 persons, perfect for business and private functions. There are 11 Individual Function rooms as well for smaller parties.

We can’t wait each day to explorer the city of Chengdu. Another thing I admired at sight was the usage of electric motorbikes and bicycles which is environmental friendly, leaving the air at Chengdu better than most cities I have been too.

So if you are thinking to travel to Chengdu, do check out Air Asia X for the direct flight at affordable prices and a comfortable stay at Dorsett Grand Chengdu. The hotel is within distance of some of the neighboring bustling downtown shopping area as well as public Metro transportation.

DORSETT GRAND CHENGDU

168 Xi Yulong Street, Qingyang District, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041 China

Tel: +86 28 8332 8666 | Fax: +86 28 8332 5666

Website: www.dorsetthotels.com/chengdu

For more details on AIR ASIA X, visit their website here.

Stay Tune for What To Eat in Chengdu next...

Eat withlocals.com: Dining Nyonya with Eric!

Experience a Malaysian Home Cook Meal through Withlocals.com!

I love to travel and can never get enough of visiting the world and what it has to offer. It is such a blessing to be able to travel and see other countries’ geography, culture, people, food and more. Though most of the time we can see the sights and places, I think it’s through people and food that speaks out louder to me that gives out the best travel experiences. I feel lucky to be born during this era as traveling is now so much easier and accessible compared to before. With the WWW on our fingertips, travelling is definitely made easier with all the information we can obtain and research.

With this said I came across Withlocals.com, a website that offers so much to travelers who wishes to travel on their own and yet experience local experiences on their own without a local tour guide. Withlocal.com not only offers travelers an insight to a country but also provide sustainable income for locals who wish to share their knowledge, skills and talent to everyone on the country they called home.

It is basically a networking platform that brings both sides who share common interest together from all over the world. Currently, Withlocals.com is now offering many activities in Asia under the categories of Eat Withlocals, Tours Withlocals and Activities Withlocals. Each category features dining, sightseeing and other local activities respectively. Right now, there are tours of pasar malam, city tours, mountain trekking, jungle trekking, cooking classes, photography sessions, festival photo tours, local home dining and many more activities.

I don’t know about you but if I happen to travel, I would love to visit the home of a local to experience a home cook dining meal. It would certainly be an eye opener as this is as real as it gets. With that said, I had the opportunity to join the Eat Withlocals for a local Nyonya dining experience with Eric available here.

I happen to love Nyonya cuisine and while scrolling through the website, I spotted Eric K. and his offer for authentic home cooked Nyonya dining experience. The site shows photos and sample food photos of what Eric’s signatures are with location and pricing, so once you made up your mind, simply contact Eric for the arrangement. If you have something you cannot take or do not prefer, no worries, Eric can personalize the meal for you.

Click on the Contact Eric button to start your Eat Withlocals experience! Booking is also very easy and payment can be made through Paypal.

Each experience is truly unique and Eric takes up to four guests each time. I grabbed some foodies with me and we confirmed our bookings for one evening. Once the booking is confirmed and payment is finalized, Eric and Withlocals.com will send you the full address of the dining location. I happen to like surprises so I left the menu to Eric.

We arrived at Eric’s house without any difficulties. Immediately, Eric and his wife with his little one welcomes us to their home. The experience is casual and I like it because it makes me feel right at home. Eric and his wife chatted with us briefly and showed us their home. He has a beautiful kitchen where he and his wife also held cooking classes. A man of many talents, Eric loves to cook and he does a lot of food recipes testing too. He offers cooking classes upon request.

Eric and his wife have whipped up a lovely spread of Nyonya dishes that evening for us. Our drinks are Chilled Lemongrass Drink homemade by the couple. It’s very light and thoroughly refreshing with subtle hints of lemongrass. It’s perfect with the heavy flavors of Nyonya cuisine.  

A soup is essential in every Chinese household and so it is the same with a Nyonya one as well. Eric made us a very unique soup from a plant named Du Jiao Si Mao. I am not familiar with the English name of the plant and so I refrain from butchering the information of this plant. It shares a similarity with the more common spring onion but this one has a bigger bulb beneath the plant and is naturally colored purplish pink while the flavor is heavier. Eric was kind enough to show us the actual plant.

The soup is lightly tinged with a hue of pale pinkness. The Du Jian Si Mao Soup tasted oniony and sweet. Apparently it has good medicinal benefits and many elders used to boil this plant bulb in soups. With the modern generation, this is almost lost unless the information is handed down from an elder.

This is what makes dining local truly beautiful. I love to learn something new as such information can only sometimes be obtained when you learn from a local!

The appetizer of the evening is one of my favorite dishes in the Nyonya community. Pie Tie takes effort and skills to be made and even then, every household has its own recipe. Eric made his Pie Tie shell from scratch and is beautifully thin and golden.

We spooned in the sautéed jicama and vegetables into the crispy cups and add on a dollop of homemade chili sauce. Such juicy and sweet with crispy crunch… the Pie Tie is delicious! I lost count of how many I had that evening…

Main dishes that evening were Nyonya Curry Chicken, Nyonya Style Steamed Fish and Nyonya Chap Chai to be served with rice.

The Nyonya Curry Chicken is lovely and well balanced with all the spices. Nicely creamy and medium spicy, the chicken is braised till tender and absorbed the curry flavors well. Chunks of soft potatoes meld well with the curry chicken. I can taste hints of kaffir leaves in the curry as well as the aroma.

What I love the most that evening was the Nyonya Style Steamed Fish! Eric used Jade Perch with his own sauce. The sour and spicy Nyonya thick gravy is gorgeous and makes a lethal combination with rice. The fish is sweet and soft while the gravy is robust and flavorful. Lady fingers and tomatoes added texture and richness to the dish. I practically spooned the gravy straight into my mouth as it was so addictive and tantalizing. I can taste the lemongrass among the spices and I also enjoyed how sour and spicy the gravy is.

For greens, we had Nyonya Chap Chai. My mom makes a similar dish but with heavier flavor notes. Eric’s version is decent and has the usual combination of cabbage, cauliflower, wood ear, carrot, mushrooms, vermicelli noodles and chives.

Dessert for the night is Pumpkin Onde Onde, little balls of pumpkin with glutinous rice encasing bits of Gula Melaka, steamed and rolled with fresh coconut. The little balls are nicely soft and lightly chewy. I would have loved a little more filling to get the richness of the Gula Melaka. Still, it’s a decent well-made kuih that completes the evening with much sweetness.

We lost track of time while dining there. Soon it was time to head home and we bid our farewell to Eric and his family for hosting us that evening. Dining at Eric’s left us a lovely experience as we felt very comfortable and at ease from the moment we step in till we left.

It’s thanks to Withlocals.com for this truly unique dining experience that brought us and Eric together. There is just so much on Withlocals.com and they are expanding through Asia so we can now really explorer Asia like a local!

 I can’t wait to try Withlocals.com in other Asia countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal and more…

For more information on Withlocals.com, do check out their website: www.withlocals.com or Facebook: www.facebook.com/WithLocals