China & Thailand – April 2024

March 31, 2024 – April 16, 2024

A whirlwind tour of China & Thailand. Our first time in SE Asia!

Link to Trip Photos

3/31-4/2 Travel Days: ATL -> Seoul (ICN) -> Beijing (PEK)

It took ~2.5 days of travel to get to Beijing. We headed down on Sunday PM to Atlanta and stayed at the Kimpton Overland. They had a overlook deck where you can see the planes land (and the Porsche test track). We grabbed the free shuttle to the international terminal Monday AM.

Time change – Beijing is 12 hours ahead of Georgia, so we lost 1/2 a day going and had to flip our sleep schedule (2AM here = 2PM the day before at home)
Flights – We flew Korean Air – a LONG 15 hour flight to Seoul, than 2.5 hours on on Beijing. A combo of strategy and luck got us a whole row to ourselves on both flights.
Airport – We arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), one of two airports in Beijing. It took about an hour to get through immigration and customs. We got fingerprinted twice, a random security screening with cheek swab for Peter, and an especially embarrassing photo where I had to pull my bangs down from my headband to match my passport photo (the Chinese immigration offer laughed at my crazy hair)
Language Barrier – There were English subtitles on airport signage and some buildings on the drive, but most people we have encountered don’t speak any English. Translation apps like Google or Microsoft translate are proving essential.
Technology – We have a VPN on our phones for security and to get around the Google ban. We can also tether the laptop off the phones for internet. We have Google Fi Unlimited Plus cell service and so far it’s been a reliable connection. Google Maps is only somewhat useful since Chinese people don’t use it and locations may not be marked.
Payments – I downloaded Alipay and WeChat before leaving the US and linked my credit cards. You’ll see QR codes or devices to scan your payment code at most places.
Plugs – So far we have been able to use our American 2 prong plugs, but devices do need to be able to handle 220v

4/3-4/4 Beijing, China

Our first day in Beijing we explored with my Shaw coworker Nancy and driver Murphy before joining our small tour group on day 2. There are very few Western tourists, so be prepared for funny looks and little kids wanting to say hello.

Confucius Temple – Confucianism still influences Chinese culture today – with a focus on harmony and learning.
Forbidden City – The 600+ year old imperial palace with beautiful buildings (and 9000+ rooms) across the massive campus. The capital was moved here by the Ming Dynasty in the early 1400s based on Feng Shui principles. Lots of people like to rent traditional costumes and take photos here. It was very crowded with Eastern tourists, and tickets sell out fast – get them in advance or go with a tour!
Juyongguan Great Wall – One of several locations to see the wall near Beijing. This one was for tour groups and was a very steep climb up uneven steps.
Tieneman Square – We drove a lap around the square, but did not stop to explore. There were security check line for locals wanting to enter.
Hotel – Chun Hui Yuan Hot Spring Resort is about an hour outside the city center, depending on traffic – which can be terrible. It’s in an area known for the hot springs – we even had a spring filled tub in the room! It seems like a local favorite, and got busier with the Qingming Festival holiday (a day to honor ancestors).
Food – Hot pot and Peking duck are two Beijing staples, so we tried both! We also grabbed a shaved noodle bowl and dumplings near the hotel for only ~$5! Meals are very inexpensive for the amount of food, and there’s no tipping here. I also have a new-found love for Hong Kong style milk tea (SO good).
Transportation – Having a car here is expensive, so there are lots of mopeds and professional drivers. Our favorite was a DiDi car (Uber like service) with massage seats in the back!
Unique Observations – Retired ladies with red armbands sitting in street corners in Beijing – a volunteer “neighborhood watch” of sorts, large apartment complexes with no lights at night, very dim streetlights at night in general, flashing lights on the camera keep drivers alert (think a camera flash bulb), lots of smokers, very young security personnel at all sites and the airport, if something is important it gets repeated in conversation at least 3x for emphasis, cameras are everywhere, the driving seems reckless but somehow works.
Chinese Phrases – Ni hao, hello , Xièxie (“Shi shuli”) thank you
Obligatory Tour Stops – Part of our tour includes some mandatory stops to offset the cost of the tour or “exit though the gift shop” as we’re calling it. We stopped by a jade factory (factory is a stretch) and a Chinese Herbal Medicine Institute – which gave a great foot massage and a highly entertaining sales pitch.

4/5 Suzhou, China

We woke up early for a transfer to the other Beijing Airport (Daxing, PKX) for our flight to Shanghai. This airport is huge with gorgeous architecture and high end shops. Most of the Chinese airlines fly from this airport. We flew China Southern, booked through Delta.

Our new tour guide to Qi (“Chee”) picked us up at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport(SHA) – one of 2 Shanghai airports.
Apparently the climate here is much more humid, and we just missed several days of rain. The flowers along the roads are beautiful, but are giving my sinuses a fit! A lot of the Spring plants are similar to home – peonies, cherry and tulip trees, Japanese maples, etc. We saw a gardening crew of older women maintaining the shrubs in the median – and lifting some really big stones. I was impressed.
Master of the Nets Garden – We toured a historic home and gardens. It was beautiful, but absolutely packed with locals enjoying the holiday. More young girls were dressed up and taking photos in the gardens. We were the only Westerners, so we attracted some followers and saw some sneaky photos of us taken.
Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute – This gift shop was pretty cool, the ladies that make the embroidery were off for the holiday but the detailed pieces of art are incredible, like painting with thread.
Water – Bottled water is a staple here. Locals like hot water, so you’ll see hot water stations at restaurants and the airport.
Toilet Situation – We were warned to bring our own TP and be ready for squat toilets. So far I have avoided squat toilets (I saw them and waited for a normal throne). Many restaurants have a small tissue package on the tables that can be used for tp, tissues, napkins – multifunctional! There’s also an abundance of hand sanitizer/wipes that we have seen.
Hotel – Radisson Suzhou, it’s on the outskirts of town but is nice. We walked to a nearby food court for dinner and raided the convenience store for fun snacks before heading back to the room for the night. It’s been a long travel day.

4/6 Suzhou & Wuxi, China

Today we drive from Suzhou to Wuxi (Zhou – is pronounced “jo”, so Suzhou is “su-jo”, and xi is “shee”, so Wuxi is “woo-shee”). Both are large cities within a couple hours from Shanghai. The massive scale of Chinese cities is mind-blowing, Suzhou has 8M+ people and Wuxi has 3.5M (whole ATL metro is ~6M for reference).

Grand Canal National Culture Area – Suzhou is also known as “Venice of the East” due to all the manmade canals. The old town area was extremely busy with locals. We wandered around and grabbed some food. There is also a small park in the old town area nicknamed “Gossip Boy Park” due to the old men congregating around playing cards all day.
Jiangnan Silk Shopping Center – An “exit though the gift shop” tour of a silk department store in Suzhou. This area is a hub of silk production in China.
Lake Lihu – We had some time to stroll around the park by the smaller lake in Wuxi. It was neat to see families out enjoying the park on a Saturday.
Food – The food is interesting. I honestly like it less than I imagined I would. It’s difficult to order (translation app plus pointing) and most everything is meat based. At lunch we ordered drunken crab and then decided not to eat it once we figured out what it was (crab was not cooked, marinated in wine). The hotel breakfasts have had a wide variety of hot foods – noodles, puddings, vegetables, etc, but I find myself grabbing fruit and bread most often.
Hotel: Grand Park Wuxi – A dated hotel in a local shopping area in Wuzi. The last couple of hotels have had a faint stale smoke smell – smoking seems to be prevalent with older business men.
Wuxi Shopping/Food – The lights in this area at night would remind you of Times Square. We wandered around the high-rise shopping buildings and grabbed some food in a mall food court.
English Words in fashion – We’ve gotten a kick out of seeing English words on clothes that make no sense. I guess it’s similar to the Chinese tattoos in the US that may not mean what we think…
Socialist Market Economy – Laws in 1993 started to open up the country to private investment. That and other reforms since have created a surprisingly capitalist culture we’re seeing now. People’s clothes and mindset on work seem different depending on the generation. I’m certainly not an expert in Chinese politics/economics, so I’m just sharing my perception based on what we have observed.
Property/IDs – People can have a farming or non-farming ID. For farming, land is assigned by government for 100 years. The family shares the farm and they can build a house on the land. Non farming, can “buy” apartments (for 70 years). There are tall apartment building complexes everywhere. Each development has a grouping of highrises that are typically all identical, with thousands of people living there. There are also private landlords that “own” properties for a period of time and lease them out. The way we understand it, nothing is really owned, but it’s such a long period they consider it theirs.

4/7 Wuxi & Hangzhou, China

A long and rainy drive between cities today.

Nanching Street – A shopping street in Wuxi with lots of little shops and restaurants. Good for a stroll. Not one but TWO Starbucks here – ritzy area.
Pearl Center – A brief stop to learn about how freshwater pearls are farmed, before being shuttled through the pearl gift shop.
Travel Center – We made a pit stop between cities at a Chinese travel center. The hall was lined with food vendors, and the huge bathroom only had squat toilet stalls. Peter said the men’s side had ashtrays above the urinals and men chain smoking. A fascinating cultural experience!
Food – We picked up some fun snacks throughout the day, roasted almonds from a vendor, chocolate from a nice shop on Nanching St, peach sesame cookies from the grocery store and some packaged cookies from the travel center shop. We had peanut butter noodles and a chicken/vegetable rice dish for dinner. The portion sizes are BIG here!
WeChat – We have only used credit cards if at touristy places, and linked my AMEX on WeChat for everything else. It’s very easy to use once you figure it out. We have not exchanged any cash.
Medicine – What I thought was allergies to the flowers may be a cold. Thankfully we have a doctor in our tour group and she packed an assortment of medicine, and made a house call to our room yesterday. We finally found a pharmacy this evening and picked up something similar to DayQuil (per google).
Hotel: Holiday Inn Hangzhou Xiaoshan – Dated but decent hotel in Xiaoshan commercial area, close to a mall, restaurants, pharmacy, etc. The non-smoking floor we are on thankfully doesn’t smell like smoke, but they do have ashtrays by the elevators.

4/8-9 Hangzhou & Shanghai, China

A rainy day exploring the West Lake area of Hangzhou before heading back to Shanghai. We got lucky, the weather was gorgeous on day 2!

Long Jing (Dragon Well) Tea – a famous type of green tea which is grown only in the West Lake area in Hangzhou. We stopped at a tea farm to sample some tea and see the workers picking the spring tea crop.
West Lake – A scenic lake in Hangzhou. Even though it was raining, there were lots of people enjoying the gardens and paths around the lake. We took a stroll and then grabbed a hot drinks to warm up.
The Bund – We strolled along the waterfront area and historic district in Shanghai, with beautiful colonial style buildings lit up at night and a view of Pudong on the other side of the river, with the iconic Pearl Tower.
Peace Hotel – A historic hotel along the Bund that reminds me of The Peabody in Memphis. We stopped both days for a snack at Victor’s, the little cafe on the ground floor with windows overlooking the walking street. The have a little museum on the second floor, and what I have deemed the “best bathroom in China”. Both are hidden, so you have to ask.
Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street – This street runs from People’s Square to The Bund. Lots of shops and people watching here – it was crowded!
Metro – The metro is relatively easy to navigate with English signage/announcements. It was a ~40 min ride from our hotel on the outskirts of Pudong to the French Concession area. The machines sell single ride tickets and the fare varies based on where you are headed. It’s very inexpensive though.
Tianzifang- Tiny shops and restaurants tucked in little alleys in this section of the French Concession – a former French settlement with treelined streets and Europen architecture. A great place to wander around for a while.
Shanghai Tower – We took a really fast elevator up the world’s 3rd largest tower to get a view of the city. Well worth the price of admission.
Paradise Dynasty – A friend recommended this restaurant in IPAM mall near the French Concession area. We tried lots of delicious dishes, but the colorful Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) were cool to try.
New Century Hotel – In a residential area away from city center, overlooking a little park where we have watched a cute senior dance class each morning.

4/10-11 Bangkok, Thailand

We flew out of Shanghai Pudong International Airport(PVG), through Seoul to Bangkok. We got in late and had an early wakeup for our tour of Bangkok the next AM.

Heat – It’s in the high 90s here with an excessive heat warning, feels like July in Georgia! Everyone is sweaty, so we blend right in.
Songkran (Thai New Year) – Celebrations are getting started here, which in some areas means big water gun battles in the streets. For us, it meant seeing ‘Bathing the Buddha’, where people pour fragrant water over Buddha statues at both the temples and our hotel.
Food – We love Thai food, so we have Ben really looking forward to the food here! Our guide found us a little place near the flower market for some good Pad Thai and Tom Yum soup. Still on the hunt for fresh rolls…
Marble Temple (Wat Benchamabophit) – a small but beautiful Buddhist temple. We were lucky to see 2 young monks being ordained. They first circled the temple three times with their family in a small procession, took family photos, tossed ribbon flowers, and then entered for the ceremony. It was really cool to watch.
Golden Buddha (Wat Traimit) – Home to the world’s biggest solid gold Buddha statue.
Chinatown District – A bustling market with tiny alleys with motorbikes zooming through, and all sorts of exotic foods. We sampled Durian – a fruit so stinky it’s been banned from hotels. It tasted like a sweet squash to me.
Paklong Talat Flower Market – We learned how to fold a lotus flower and sampled some pastries from a small bread shop.
Dinner Cruise – Night cruise along the Chao Phraya River, leaving from the Asiatique outdoor mall. The buffet was a chaotic free-for-all (a trend we’ve noticed here and China) and the water level was too high to pass the bridge up to see the temples and palace lit up from the water. The breeze on the water was nice after a hot day though!

4/12-13 Pattaya, Thailand

We drove over to Pattaya, a seaside city on the Gulf of Thailand a few hours from Bangkok. We had a full day free the second day, so we enjoyed the beach, got massages and some good Thai food!

Phra Tamnak Mountain Viewpoint – Beautiful viewpoint overlooking Pattaya Bay. Pattaya has an anything-goes reputation with lots of nightlife, especially in the city center area (which we avoided).
Long Beach Garden Hotel – Our hotel seems to be a favorite of Russian tour groups. It’s on the north end of Pattaya right on the beach.
Songkran in Pattaya, People are walking and driving around with super-soakers spraying people at random. The Songkran shirt (aka Hawaiian shirt) is popular. Locals and tourists have dabs of white clay on their face as a new year protection ritual, and there’s a annoyingly catchy song playing on repeat at several places, including our hotel.
Ling Ling Restaurant (Street Food) – Google reviews led us to a little street vendor near our hotel, cooking up some killer Pad Thai and Green Curry.
Ginger Farm Kitchen – a Michelin Bib Gourmand reataurant at Terminal 21 mall, serving northern Thai food. I finally got my fresh rolls! The mall is actually really cool and had live music and vendors for Songkran.
Siladon Spa Pattaya – There are massage shops on every corner in Pattaya, but we booked with a nicer spa with good reviews. For less than $100, Peter and I both got a 3 hour massage. Their “soft” pressure is still very firm – be aware. Feeling relaxed!
Snacks – The 7-Eleven stores here are amazing! So many cool snacks (we’ve heard the grilled cheese is popular), and cheap coffee drinks. It was BOGO drinks on Friday, so we paid less than $2 for a large iced Thai tea, large iced coffee and a coke! Drinks here are served in little plastic bags so you can take your cup togo. Jungle Cafe is a local coffee shop chain – very good. We have tried several fruit stands – mango, passion fruit, dragon fruit, coconut water (straight from the coconut), delicious!
Thai language – originated from Indian Sanskrit. There are two ways of saying hello depending on your gender. I would say hello: “sah wah dee khaa” and Peter would say “sah wah dee khrap” – with a little bow, hands in prayer position.
Transportation – We used the Grab app for rides, an Uber alternative. It’s a little more expensive than the local cabs, but convenient. You may have to wait a while depending on ride traffic – especially at night.

4/14-16 Bangkok, Thailand

We enjoyed one more hotel night back in Bangkok before flying back home. It’s been a great trip but we’re ready to be home to see our pups!

Khao Chi Chan Buddha – On the way back from Pattaya, we stopped at this large carving of Budda on the side of a limestone mountain. There were many Thai tourists, coming in on large colorful tour busses for the holiday.
Wat Pho / Reclining Buddha – A beautiful Buddhist temple complex next to the Thai royal palace. The Buddha is 151 feet long! We enjoyed watching the Songkran celebrations at the temple.
Chao Phraya Tourist Boat – For 270 bhat ($7.37) we got an 2 all day tickets on the hop on hop off tourist boat. We boarded the boat at Wat Pho and rode the boat up and down the river until sunset. It takes about 1.5 hours for the full loop.
Theatre Riverside Restaurant – We got off the boat after sunset and went in search of food. We landed at a nice restaurant right on the river. Due to the celebrations across the river – we waited for an hour to get a Grab car to take us back to the hotel. Thankfully this was a nice place to wait, we even got to see a drone show for the first time.
Travel – It’s a long trek home – a 5.5 hour flight to Seoul and then a 14 hour flight to Atlanta. We leave at 11:30 PM Monday Bangkok time and arrive in ATL Tuesday AM Eastern Time. We gain 11 hours coming back with the time change.