Today we are leaving Japan and traveling to Chiang Mai, Thailand with an overnight layover in Beijing, China. We traveled on ANA for the first leg of the trip and Air China for the last leg.
Japan’s Haneda Airport was beautiful. Lots of interesting things to see. They have some replicas of points of interest in Japan. A fun Godzilla statue overlooking one area of the airport.
We enjoyed a bit of time in the airport lounge and then we were off for a four hour flight to Beijing, China. The inflight meal on ANA was a pretty big disappointment. They served a breaded chicken dish but the breading was mushy from being steamed. I wasn’t able to eat it. The rest of the meal was fine and they had Hagan Das ice cream for dessert so that was a plus. We arrived in the evening at the airport in Beijing. The immigration there was pretty intense for just a 24 hour (no visa required) layover. We were photographed and finger printed and it took over an hour to make it through their immigration system. We were pretty tired so we just headed straight to the hotel and settled in for the night.
We stayed at the Marriott Beijing Northeast. It was a lovely hotel and looked absolutely beautiful when we walked into our room. That is, until we looked closer. The room hadn’t been upgraded since the early 80s and the technology in the room was well below today’s standards. There were no USB2 charging plugs and very few outlets in the room. The plugs they did have were the old VGA computer monitor plugs and some really old round USBA plugs. Since we were only there for an overnight stay, it wasn’t too big of a deal and we found enough outlets to charge our phones for the next day.
The next morning we were on our way. We arrived back at the airport for the final leg to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Our trip through immigration in China was pretty thorough again. Once we were past security, we went to a really nice airport lounge. It wasn’t over crowded and had excellent food. Then it was time to board the plane. We had seen mixed reviews about Air China so we weren’t expecting much. To our surprise, the inflight meal was excellent and the flight was comfortable enough for us.
Landing in Chiang Mai 5 hours later and going through Thailand immigration was a breeze. I think it was the fastest we have ever gotten out of an airport yet! Our airport transfer was waiting for us and were at our hotel a half hour later. We were staying at the M.I.N.D Village and checked in right away since it was late afternoon when we arrived. This is our landing accommodations that we booked for 3 days until we get the lay of the land and decide where we want to have home base for our month in Chiang Mai. First thing on our list of things to do is to explore the city.
Watch the video to get more details and closer look at our travel day experiences.
