IntroductionThe thought process for this trip started in January 2015 as the merger between US Airways and AA was coming to a close, I knew that I'd have enough miles for somewhere far (not U.S., LATAM, Caribbean) in business class, for two people, both ways, as soon as my wife's and mine's respective US/AA accounts merged. And, as we all knew, the devaluation was down the line for the newly merged AA, so I wanted to get this one in while I still could.
We had originally decided on only going to Tokyo for a week in spring 2016 to see the Cherry Blossoms, but after realizing that we were going all that way, why not add another destination?
One of the most common "travel bucket list" related items for people is the Great Wall of China.
It was settled: we'd go to Beijing and Tokyo. And because of the 72-hour visa rule, we'd go to Beijing first as our "transit" onto Tokyo.
Miles Used for Two PeopleJFK-HKG-PEK: 110,000 American Airlines miles, Business class on Cathay Pacific
PEK-HND: 30,000, coach on ANA
NRT-JFK: 100,000 American Airlines miles, business class on JAL
Doubletree Hilton by Hilton, Beijing: 10,000 a night for 3 nights = 30,000 HHonors
The Prince Sakura by Marriott, Autograph Collection: 40,000 a night for 4 nights, with fifth free = 160,000 Marriott points
Hyatt Regency Tokyo: 6,000 points + $75 cash
Airline Products/HotelsFlighsThere are plenty of reviews on the CX and JAL business, so I won't go into that here, but personally:
- I found CX J (on the JFK-HKG leg) hard product to be overrated; the FA service was great, though.
- Loved JAL J; found the seats to be wide and most comfortable; also the non-slanted footwell actually gave me more room. Also, first time on the new Dreamliners and i did feel the difference. However, the service was not as nice as CX J.
- When flying J on shorter flights (like HKG-PEK) I was always against the non-lie flat (so angled or recliner) not being worth it.I take that back. Having those 3.5 hours in angle flat was still nice and I actually slept the whole time!
HotelsDoubletree: Though it was not in the best location, we were only in Beijing for 3 days/nights, 1 night of which was arrival, the other we left early on the last day (so really two full days). It was also a cheap redemption with great reviews on Trip Advisor. Plus, as a Diamond from the easy status match Hilton ran, I was excited to see some of the benefits. And they did upgrade me to a executive suite. They also got kosher breakfast from the Chabad for those three mornings as a Diamond benefit. Highly recommend this hotel if you're in Beijing for 2-3 days. If for longer ,you may want to be more centrally located.
Sorry about the snapchat geotag; was wondering how it would work with the VPN in Hong Kong!
Prince Sakura: Really beautiful hotel. The Prince hotels are Japanese owned and run, but this one is part of the Autograph collection. Interestingly, there was no Marriott branding anywhere. In fact, I found (compared to the Hyatt Regency Tokyo) the more Japanese-esque-ness of the staff gave it a more authentic experience. We were one of the few non-Japanese or Asian guests at the hotel. The room here was huge--the regular king, with plenty of room for our luggage and even a separate sitting area by the window. The low floor (6) was convenient for Shabbas.
As Sakura means Cherry Blossom (and we were there for the Cherry blossoms!), the hotel and the other 3 hotels int he complex were pretty full. There's a pretty large garden behind the hotel that connects all the different Prince hotels, which added to the cherry blossom-ness to the stay and hotel.
It was also a great location, located a 3 minute walk from the Shinagawa train station with a JR and Metro/Subway line. Most importantly to us, it was only a 15-20 minute
straightforward walk to Chabad which was awesome for Shabbas, but also for grabbing dinner at the end of the day.
Hyatt Regency Tokyo: I was pretty underwhelmed by this hotel. As it's Tokyo, it was really clean, but small (compared to the above) and I found that staff to be courteous, but a bit curt, compared to the Sakura. It's also a Hyatt ,so they had a lot of American guests, which took away some of that authenticity. Not their fault, of course.
Three Days in Beijing: Day 1 and 2Avoiding the visa to me was important (yes, I was being cheap), so we had to maximize our time in Beijing because after landing in PEK on Monday evening, we would only have a full day Tuesday and Wednesday. (We left early Thursday morning).
I love organizing things and planning itineraries. And for the Great Wall, it's doable by public transportation. That being said, the language barrier, spotty internet (because the firewall) encouraged me to go on an organized tour.
Now these tours can be hit or miss, even with reading Trip Advisor and Viator reviews.
Luckily, I stumbled upon a great tour with China Highlights: the Great Wall at Mutianyu, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. After picking us up at the hotel, to my surprise it was only 6 people: me, my wife, 1 other couple, the driver and the tour guide! So basically private and no need to compete with a large group bus of 40-60 people.
Tuesday morning, they first took us to the Square, which was cool, but nothing special. I guess it's the natural lead in to the Forbidden City which is really cool.
Side note: I can't believe how many peopled were lined up for the Chairman's mosoleum and the amount of traffic it get's per day. Astounding. But with a population of roughly 1.3 billion, everything is bigger in China.
After that we walked to the Forbidden City (ticket's included). Though a lot of it looks the same, I found the guides explanations to be interesting. The best part was the garden in the middle.
Entrance to the Forbidden City
From there, we drove about 1.25 hours to the Great Wall, with a quick stop at Subway for lunch. It's always fun explaining that you're just going to get the soda and that you have your own brown bagged lunch. Especially when the other people on our tour are European--everyone finds it astounding that we brought food with us from the States.
Lo and behold, one table over at this stop we saw a group of Israelis with a BBQ--kippahs and all. Got to love them.
After that, we took the ropeway (?) up to Mutianyu. The ropeway was pretty janky, but we made it up alive! It was about 70 degrees, so it was beautiful and clear blue skies up there. The Great Wall is really something. The amount of work that went into building it is astounding and difficult to fathom. It's also pretty steep at some points.
Though I've never been to Badaling, I can say that we had Mutianyu pretty much to ourselves. Always a plus not to have to compete with the crowds.
Our guide gave us about 1.5 hours to walk around an explore (which turned out to be more than enough time)--we walked from tower 6 to 11. It was fun having to duck at the archways between towers
.
One thing I saw that totally rubbed me the wrong way: you can walk to the top of one of the watchtowers where you can get great views. Awesome. As we get up there, I see children and adults using some of the rock shards to stencil in their names/cities on the wall. Kids? Okay, maybe. But grown adults? It's childish activities like that that ruin it for the rest of us. *End rant*.
After an hour or so, we met up with the other couple and tour guide to take the toboggan down. I was bit nervous at first, but it was AWESOME (and included in the tour). Hey, if Michelle Obama and Beyonce can do it, I can too. If it's busy or there are slow tourists in front of you, it's a bit less enjoyable, but if the roads empty, zoom on ahead (as I did).
How they promote the toboggan: Michelle Obama
Overall, great first full day in Beijing!
Day 2: The Summer Palace, Hutongs, Riding a Rickshaw and the Silk Market...
