20250926 Friday, September 26, 2025 Beijing to Seoul and Seoul to Seattle

20250926 Friday, September 26, 2025 Beijing to Seoul and Seoul to Seattle

The worst part of any trip is having to travel from home to where the trip is, and then having to do the reverse to get home.  International travel is fraught with all sorts of potential disasters like ending up at the wrong airport terminal, encountering flight delays or missed connections and losing luggage

As for Viking's participation, they did a great job greeting us at all airports and ensuring a smooth and trouble free transfer between where we exit the baggage claims and end up at the hotel, and vice versa.  In this case, our tour director Jimmy had packed some light breakfast take out bags because we had to leave the hotel before the buffet opened for breakfast on our departure morning.  He had booked a private airport transfer for us in a mini-van.  This was a meticulously clean and comfortable Buick Enclave.  The driver was very professional and courteous, even though he didn't speak a word of English.  Most importantly he wasn't a smoker.  Too many Chinese have become addicted to tobacco, and the stench of cigarette and cigar smoke make many places and experiences in China less enjoyable.  

We had written instructions for which terminal to get off, what check in counter to go to, and our gate assignment.  Traffic was light so we arrived 3 hours prior to the flight departure, and were the first ones in line to check in our luggage when the counter opened up exactly 3 hours prior to departure.  The flight from Beijing Capital Airport to Seoul was exactly on time, and it was a quick and comfortable flight.  

We had a several hour layover in Seoul, so it was nice that we had business class flights and could hang out in the lounge.  This lounge had two automatic total body massage chairs.  It was hard to limit ourselves to one 30 minute session, but there were lots of fellow passengers to share the resource with.  The lounge in Seoul was large, comfortable, and well stocked with food and beverages.  They had an odd set up for draft beer.  They have cups with a valve on the bottom.  You place the cup on top of the dispenser, and it fills the glass from the bottom up.  I guess this limits the head of foam that would otherwise form at the top.  It was interesting to watch and do, but there was one huge problem- the valves on the bottom of the schooners sometimes leaked, and this causes the floors of the lounge to be sticky, like a tacky movie theater.  

As our connecting flight from Seoul to Seattle's time scrolled on the displays, a delay was displayed.  There was some problem with one of the connections that had delayed the flight, so our departure got pushed an hour later.  Then when that departure time approached and we waited at the gate, another last minute announcement said the flight was yet again delayed another hour.  Then when that time came up, another delay of 2 hours and a gate change were announced.  This caused a lot of grumbling.  The gate agents offered 20,000won ($14 USD) meal vouchers, but issued them only 30 minutes before the rescheduled flight was to start boarding.  We tried to use them to get some ice cream, but the line at the Baskin and Robbins was too long.  We would have missed the boarding window had we stayed in line for ice cream, so we gave our vouchers to children in the line with their parents and headed back to the gate.  We hope that will improve our karma rankings.  We got back to the gate just as boarding started.  

With a 4 hour delay, we missed our Seattle shuttle connection to home and emailed a message to rebook on the next shuttle.  The flight was smooth for the most part and we spent it either sleeping or eating.  We did end up watching Disney's live action Lilo and Stitch before the dinner service.  The business class pods in Asiana's 777's are comfortable enough, and we were seated right next to each other, so that was nice.  But we got spoiled on Emirates for our last flight from Egypt home.  

When we got to Seattle, we were able to breeze right through customs and immigrations because we have NEXUS memberships which include Global Entry.  All we had to do was stop and look at a kiosk camera.  We didn't even need to pull out our NEXUS cards or Passports. In about 5 seconds, we were cleared to speed right past customs and immigrations right out to the airport exit.  

It turned out that the very next airport shuttle only had one seat available, so we were officially booked on the one after that, which would have required another 2 hour delay, but one person failed to show up, and we both got to ride standby.  Our son picked us up in town at the Shuttle drop off and we celebrated our return home at Dairy Queen.

We had left home on August 18th, so we have been gone a little over 5 weeks this trip.  It was an exciting and very enjoyable one.  Our daughter's Chinese wedding and meeting her in-law's side of the family was the highlight of the trip.  Americans rarely go to Shenyang as tourists, so it felt extra adventuresome and special to have Tom's family and friends show us around the Liaoning Province.  Mongolia and the Gobi were nothing like we had preconceived, and our handlers were wonderful, making us feel like cherished family members.  Tibet likewise felt like an otherworldly adventure with the additional challenges of high altitude thrown in.  Although we had visited Beijing and Xi'an before in 2016, it is astonishing the amount of development and forward progress China has made in such a short interval.  China is now leading the first world nations, and has learned some very hard and painful lessons from it's past when arrogance and closed mindedness lead to the end of Imperial China's glory days, first with the disastrous terms it was dealt by the Opium Wars, and with it's civil war and cultural revolution, which set China firmly into a path of third world country status.  The reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping allowed China to not only catch up to the western world, but in many ways, his pragmatic approach has allowed China to surpass many western countries, particularly in infrastructure and education.  The momentum of Chinese society forward seems unstoppable.  

Japan had a similar history in its initial encounters with the west, but instead of retreating into the past, they learned from their early defeats and embraced the technologies and strategies employed by the west during the  Meiji Restoration, which turned it into the world power that allowed it to conquer its neighbors including China and even attack the US.  They were spared the embarrassments of China's Opium Wars, civil wars and cultural revolutions, but not the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I hope we are misunderstanding China's intentions in the South China Sea and with Taiwan.  Understanding her past, and the vital importance of global shipping to China's economy, the best way to deal with China's increased projection of naval power in the region is to understand her past and work through diplomacy to assure security of all nations that rely on these vital shipping lanes, including China.  China's current economic system is a far cry from Mao's strict but failed visions of a communist utopia.  In reality, there is much more in common between today's mainland China and Taiwan than what separates them.  Our cruise up the Chinese coast visiting the major ports between China and Taiwan make this very clear. Xi Jinpeng would certainly beat Trump to the Nobel Prize if he negotiated a peaceful reintegration of Taiwan and China under a one Country two system policy, or as a Special Economic Zone like Shanghai or Hong Kong.  There's really not much difference between leading Chinese Communist Party Officials and Taiwan's capitalist oligarchs, other than in titles.  A war between China and Taiwan would unnecessarily cost tens of millions of lives and destroy priceless cultural heritage.  Under Trump's short sighted America First dogma, Trump would immediately abandon Taiwan, like he did Ukraine, and it would be a short but terrible war.

It is my most sincere wish that more people would take the time to understand the history of the civilizations of the world.  The promises of populist nativism and closed mindedness gripping the MAGA world can only lead to a downward trajectory like what ended the Roman Empire.  Arrogance and hubris should be no match for truth and science but we now live in a post truth era created by social media echo chambers.  People need to lift their heads away from their screens, get out, and see the real world as it exists around them.  Understand, empathize, cooperate and coexist.

20250925 Thursday, September 25, 2025 Back to Beijing and the Summer Palace

20250925 Thursday, September 25, 2025 Back to Beijing and the Summer Palace

We checked out of the JR Marriott Xi’an after an early 5:30 a.m. breakfast and headed back to the Xian airport Terminal 5.  This enormous facility is less than a year old, which would explain why everything is so nice and new.  

Viking’s air department still managed to fail to seat several couples together, despite promises that we would be seated together because Viking had a block of seats.  This did not turn out to be true.  We had random Chinese travelers sprinkled amongst us, and it took a bit of horse trading to be able to sit with our spouses.  Viking gets a failing grade on the air portions of the inland tour extensions.

Screening at the airport was tedious, in part because they use AI to scan all the checked luggage with a 3D scanner and flag anything that might be a potential problem.  However, X-rays can’t tell a lithium battery from an alkaline battery, so Ben’s suitcase got flagged for secondary screening because he had a headlamp and flashlight in his suitcase that on multiple prior screenings were OK.  From now on, all alkaline batteries and anything with a built-in rechargeable battery has to go in carry-on luggage.  They also made us take out umbrellas for them to inspect.  

Be prepared for a detailed pat-down after walking through the magnetometer, including reaching around the inside of my belt.

The flight to Beijing was less than 2 hours and included a light lunch box with some roll-ups and mini-spicy chicken sandwich buns.

We flew into Beijing’s “New” airport south of the city, Daxing Airport (PKX), completed in 2019.  It is nicknamed the Starfish because of the layout of the terminals and is currently built out to handle 75 million passengers.  It is currently less busy than Beijing Capital Airport (PEK), which is currently handling 83 million passengers a year.  

It is designed to be expanded to a capacity of 120 million passengers per year over time with the addition of more runways and terminals.  Despite its newness, we were shocked to be greeted coming down the jetway with two flights of stairs leading down to the tarmac, where we were jammed into crowded buses and then driven quite a long distance to the main terminals.  This was nearly as bad as Frankfurt’s airport, where the buses took more than 20 minutes to get to the main terminal areas.  

Viking had luggage handlers in Beijing who pulled our suitcases off the carousels and took care of delivering them to the hotel, where they would be delivered to our rooms.  

We boarded a bus which took us to a restaurant associated with a Pearl store.  This was an obvious ploy to generate sales, but the restaurant had a decent buffet lunch with both Chinese and some Western food choices.  One of our fellow travelers, who is well versed in pearls, said everything was marked up quite a bit over what they should be.  We didn’t end up buying any souvenirs.  

From the restaurant, it was a short drive to the Summer Palace.  We had visited it with our Travel China Guide small group before the Viking cruise, so we knew what to expect.  However, our Viking guide took us across the lake on a ferry, which was tranquil and provided different views of all the landmarks than what can be seen from the shores.  This was also less fatiguing for those in our group with mobility issues.  We also got different narration regarding the Dowager Empress and the history of how the Palace was constructed.  

We walked from the Marble Boat down the covered walkway, stopping periodically to hear the stories behind several of the paintings on the walkway.  Many had come from the epic tale Journey to the West.  We took a return ferry to conclude our tour and then headed into Beijing rush hour traffic to our hotel.  

We arrived at the hotel earlier than planned, or so we thought.  We disembarked the bus and were escorted by very enthusiastic and friendly staff at the Shangri-La Beijing to an executive reception room on the 64th floor, where they had comfortable leather seats, espresso coffee drinks, and a spectacular view of Beijing’s tallest skyscraper just a few blocks away.  

The staff took our passports as passengers arrived from the elevators, but as they tried to process the first two couples, there came a terrible realization that while the hotel was expecting a busload of Viking passengers, it was not our bus they were expecting.  We had been dropped off at the wrong hotel!

It took about 30 minutes to get another bus back to the hotel to then take us to the correct hotel (Beijing Ritz Carlton) through gridlocked traffic.  The traffic was so bad that Jimmy, our guide, hopped out of the bus and jogged to the hotel as the bus struggled through the traffic.  

He had taken all our passports to exchange them for our room keycards.  It took another 30 minutes to get to the hotel through maddening traffic.  It was 7 p.m. when we finally got up to our rooms.

Ben’s data plan had run out of data without warning.  Unfortunately, China is one of only 3 countries that won’t allow e-SIMs to be activated after arrival in the country.  Nomad had failed big time by failing to notify us that we were running low on data because it is possible to add additional data before the plan runs out, but if it does run out, you can’t reactivate it unless you leave the country and return.  Crazy.  So we ended up having to use our primary cell carrier’s international data pass, which is vastly more expensive ($10/day for up to 5GB, vs $10 for 20GB over 30 days on the eSIM).  But since we only need one day to pay for tonight’s dinner with WeChat Pay, it would have to do.  We had allotted all our remaining Chinese currency to tips for our tour director and driver.  

We walked to a nearby mall’s food court and found a noodle shop where we had some good bowls of noodles for little money.  It cost less than $6 per person, including a beer for dinner.  

We reconfigured our luggage to move heavy things back from our carry-on bags into our large suitcases because in business class, the checked bags can weigh up to 70 pounds or 44kg each.  And we are allowed to check two bags each as well, but Ben will keep his carry-on bag because it has all his prescription medications for the next 2 months in it.  

Tomorrow, our Korea and China adventure will come to an end. We leave the hotel at 6:45 a.m. and fly to Seoul, and then from Seoul back to Seattle.  We arranged for a shuttle to pick us up in Seattle to take us the last 2-1/2 hrs drive from the airport to home.  

20250924 Wednesday, September 24, 2025. Xi’an Terra Cotta Warriors, City Wall, Tang Dynasty Cultural Show

20250924 Wednesday, September 24, 2025. Xi’an Terra Cotta Warriors, City Wall, Tang Dynasty Cultural Show

After breakfast, we made an early start driving to the Museum of the Terra Cotta Soldiers. As we drove through Xi’an rush hour traffic our Guide Jimmy gave us some background history about how the first Emperor of China unified China at the end of the Waring States period in 221 BC. The first Emperor built a grand mausoleum which included a lake of Mercury which ultimately ended up protecting it from pillaging because it was so toxic. But to the east, he buried the massive TCS army to protect himself in the afterlife. 

First Emperor of Qin Dynasty’s coffin floats in a 

lake of mercury in this man made mountain.

During a farmer uprising shortly after the death of the first Emperor, the Terra Soldiers were discovered and destroyed by smashing them and then setting fire to the supporting timbers, causing all the tunnels to collapse. The site was forgotten for over 2000 years. 

In 1974 the site was discovered by farmers digging a well. What they found was nothing like what we see today. They found pottery shards and fragments, but they must have found something remarkable like a large fragment of one of the heads. The Chinese government made the site an archeological preserve and began the work of excavating the site. 

The Terra Cotta Soldiers missed being buried forever by just a few meters because the farmer’s well was at the very limits of the site perimeter. Had the farmers dug just 10 meters to the east, they would have never found the Terra Cotta Army. 

Sign marks site of the original well.

Excavation site #1

Excavation site #3

We had a perfect day for touring in Xi’an with scattered clouds and temperatures in the 70’s.  The site is huge and sees the second most tourists in China, with the Great Wall being number one. 

Excavation site 1 is truly awe inspiring. It is in a building the size of an aircraft hanger and houses rows of reconstructed soldiers and horses in formation as they stood before the site was destroyed. 

Each was painstakingly reassembled from fragments where they originally stood. The excavations and reconstruction work is ongoing.  3D scanning and AI are now being used to speed the reassembly and restoration of pieces. 

The “Lucky Guy”- only intact warrior.

Calvary man and his horse

The General

The only places we encountered severe crowding, pushing and shoving were around three display cases in Excavation site 3 containing “The Lucky Guy” who was the only figure unearthed intact, a General, and a Calvary soldier with his horse. 

 

 

We did notice two changes from when we visited in 2006 and today. One was in Excavation site 2 where they used to have glass walkways directly over some of the excavation pits so you could look straight down just 8 or 10’ below. Now the observation platforms have been moved to the periphery of the building and there are now air conditioned restoration laboratories in the excavation sites. 

The second change was there were two spectacular bronze horse carriages found in the Emperor’s Mausoleum that had been on display.  These have now been moved to a new Museum at the Mausoleum site. 

Our visit today was also more pleasant than in 2006 because it was much cooler inside the excavation sites.  The outside temperature may have made all the difference, or improvements in air conditioning and facilities modernization may have also played a role.

From there, we went to a nearby city where we had lunch and toured a facility which had a display on how the Terra Cotta Warriors were originally produced. They now produce miniatures for the tourist trade and they also have a huge multilevel store selling everything from furniture, silk embroideries, ceramics, and Jewelry. Janet ended up buying another jade bracelet after haggling  the price down 50% and getting a Terra Cotta Soldier figure and jade bead thrown in.  The sales girl swore Janet to secrecy on the price and followed us around after the sale to keep reminding Janet not to disclose the discount.  Later we learned that at this particular store, discounts of more than 20-30% are extremely uncommon.

The lunch was a decent buffet which featured Xi’an “burgers”, which are spicy shredded beef tucked into a pita like roll, and Xi’an hand pulled noodle soup where you could add your own condiments and ingredients from the buffet to customize your meal.  The main buffet had Chinese staples like curry chicken and black pepper beef, along with western salad fixings, Asian vegetables, soft drinks, wine and beer. 

Our next stop was the Xi'an City Wall Museum, which is actually built within a portion of the city’s inner wall near the southwest corner.  Inside the museum, there is a completely enclosed cross section of the wall revealing the different layers of construction and dates associated with different phases of construction and remodeling.  The majority of the structure is rammed earth with facades of stone and brick.  

Outside the museum, a film crew was filming something with a bunch of actors in imperial dynastic costumes.  

We headed up to the top of the wall and walked about a mile to the next towers.  It is impressive how high and thick the wall is.  It as very pleasant walking on the city wall.

Here, as in many historical sites around China, women and girls like to dress up for glamour photos.  

The film crew we ran into outside the City Wall Museum entrance had moved down to the next towers, where we turned around and walked back to the bus. 

 

The perimeter of Xi’an’s city wall is 8 miles.  It is notable that in 2006, just about anywhere we went, we would get swamped by aggressive hawkers.  During this visit, there were only a couple of places where hawkers were even mildly annoying, and these were mostly around temples.  There were some on the way in and out of the Terra Cotta Soldier Museum, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as in 2006, or in Egypt. 

 
The bus took everyone back to the Hotel.  There were originally 8 of our group that were going to the Tang Dynasty Cultural dinner and show, but two decided to back out because they were too tired to sit through a show.  We combined with another Viking group to fill a bus, and headed to a dinner theater.  Actors in costume were standing out in front of the theater and the theater marquis said Welcome Viking VIP’s.  

Inside the theater, a similar message was on the huge backdrop of the stage.  
We had excellent seats as our bus was the first Viking tour bus to arrive at the theater.  The dinner was good both in quality and quantity.  The did individual servings so there was no fussing with family style plates, but they did seem to rush through the many courses in order to get our dinner service completed before the show started, and they did manage to achieve that goal. 

Below us was another VIP group (not Viking) with a different banquet set up.  They had hot pots and cold appetizers sitting on their tables, but they arrived much later than us, and had to eat most of their dinners in the dark while the show was in progress.  

The show was a beautiful display of Tang Dynasty dancing and music.  The dancing involved lots of pretty girls in very pretty costumes in routines that looked more like ballet than folk dancing.  They were graceful, poised and polished.  The music was pleasant and dramatic when it needed to be, and it was very much like the Siegfield Follies in some ways.  

Between dance numbers, musicians would take to the stage an demonstrate some unusual but very expressive music with some unusual instruments.  One man played an instrument called a Sheng, which is what you might get if you crossed a harmonica, accordion and saxophone and compressed it into the size of a soprano saxophone.  

Another man used a suona, which is a double reed instrument with a brass bell on the end combined with throat singing, circular breathing and an extremely unusual way of making high pitched bird call like sounds with just his vocal cords, and upper airway.

  
There was also a remarkably expressive percussion ensemble that did two very different numbers with one being light and comical, while the other was dramatic.

It was a very worthwhile and entertaining evening to cap off a very long and busy day. We certainly made the most of our very shot time in Xi'an.  We got our checked bags out by 11pm, and we leave the hotel at 6:30am tomorrow to fly to Beijing.