Most famous for it’s panoramic landscape, especially the Rice Terrace (Terraced Paddy), Friday Escape brings to you the city of Guilin, China a lands of picturesque limestone mountains and formations.

- Guilin - taken from http://www.chinahighlights.com/tour/ -

Located in Guangxai, Guilin is one of the many sites in China a that had made it into UNESCO World Heritage sites, preserving it’s unique natural scenery. There are many spectacular scenic places within Guilin itself that is worth a visit. Just to name a few, Shanjiang - Longshang with it’s Longji rice teracces, Li Jiang river, small city of Yangshuo, the magnificent stalactites and stalagmites of Red Flute Cave, Elephant Trunk Hill with it’s arch resembling an elephant dipping into water, Yaoshan Hillpark for a hike and many more.

- Longshang Rice Terrace - taken from http://www.cnadventure.com/docc/ -

We were simply ecstatic when the MAS Airlines (Malaysian Airlines) launched it’s very own Sub- Zero Fare promotional flights. Who wouldn’t? Flight tickets are FOC! Of course the free tickets do not include tax, fuel charges and other surcharge. But still. It’s a good deal.

Too good to be true? Well… the answer is yes and… no.

Since we were already planning for a trip to somewhere, we decided to check out MAS’ website wondering whether we are having a better deal at MAS or at Air Asia (the competing airline). We tried the nearest and mostly affordable destination which is Yogyakarta.

In comparison:-

* Assuming both MAS and Air Asia is having a zero fair promotion.

MAS total fees double the ones in Air Asia. This will be true for all destinations since MAS is using the state of the art KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) for landing which of course means tax and fees by MAS Airlines are way higher than those charged by Air Asia. Air Asia by the way, using the run down strip of LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) guarantees lower fees.

All this makes MAS promotional sub-zero fare not too impressive doesn’t it? Plus the zero fare is only applicable to short destinations to nearby Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and such. For such a short trip, i would think that traveler or tourist would rather opt for a lower fees alternative.

We’ll just have to wait and see if the sub-zero promotion will be open to other destinations besides Asian countries. If so, it’ll be a fantastic deal. Nobody wants to sit 8 hours cramped up in a low cost carrier.