Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport 杭州萧山国际机场

It does feel quite strange to have a couple of international airports so close together. Hangzhou has its own international airport in Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport but just less than 45 minutes away is Shanghai’s own international airport. This is the same case in the Pearl River delta with four major airports all bunched together – Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and of course, Hong Kong. Anyway, it was much more convenient for me to fly from Hangzhou instead of heading back to Shanghai, Air Asia flies from Hangzhou to Kuala Lumpur most probably due to costs considerations, it is not a bad idea anyway since Shanghai is just a train ride away.

The Xiaoshan airport isn’t really that new, however they recently completed an expansion of the international wing and made it more spacious. I was glad since there weren’t that many passengers using this terminal yet. A downside is that there weren’t too many eating places here. There was a fancy restaurant at the international wing, but it looked expensive. I ended up having lunch at the domestic wing which had cheaper local food. Obviously, my last meal in Hangzhou wasn’t really that memorable as it as just airport food.

The terminal was nice and modern and it seemed to be well managed. There were some historical items on display at the terminal buildings, one of them was a Hongqi automobile which was one of the first locally manufactured automobiles in China. Apparently, it was used in some important event but I can’t remember what it was. It was a nice ending to my trip to China. Now I dread going back, I need to get back to Kuala Lumpur then take an overnight bus back to Singapore just in time to make it back to work. As usual with these trips, it is never long enough.

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