I've been to China quite a few times now, but I had always stuck to Shanghai or the Shenzhen area and I'd never had a chance to make it to Beijing. Beijing is what most people think of when they think of China and it's chock full of history and amazing things to see, so I was anxious to visit. I was finally able to make it happen back at the end of June and spent two days exploring the city and fitting in as many of the sights as possible. 

First off, I'd recommend not visiting Beijing in the dead of summer. It was incredibly hot and humid and it was so insanely crowded at every sight we saw. That being said, summer was my chance to go, so I went. 

I was traveling by myself and didn't want to deal with the hassle of trying to get to farther sights like the Great Wall at Mutianyu and the Summer Palace on my own, so I decided to book a two day small group tour. This was truly the best option for me and I'm so glad I did it, because I ended up with a really great group and we were able to take photos of each other and keep each other company on some of the longer car rides. The other best part was the guide we had for the tour. Her name was Sunny and she was excellent. She spoke perfect English and she had clearly been doing this for a long time, so she had all the tips and tricks and so many stories and facts to tell us, so she was really invaluable. You can contact her here (and I swear I wasn't paid to say this, but she really was awesome and truly recommend her as a guide). 

​Day One

On our first day, Sunny and our driver picked everyone up from our hotels and dropped us off at our first stop - Tiananmen Square. The square is truly massive and interestingly is the most important location for Chinese tourists to visit. There's a flag raising ceremony every morning at sunrise and people will camp out for hours to get a good spot to watch the ceremony every day. It's truly amazing. From the square, you can see the entrance to the Forbidden City/Imperial Palace and it's quite the sight to behold. The square is surrounded by government buildings and also the National Museum of China, which I didn't have a chance to visit, but I heard it's amazing. 

From the square, we walked through the first gate into the Imperial Palace. The Palace is often called the Forbidden City because ordinary citizens were forbidden from entering the palace unless they had been invited by the Emperor. The city was full of incredible detail and continued on and on and on. It was also so full of people and nearly impossible to navigate at times, but was definitely a place you can't miss in Beijing. ​

Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG 
Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge 
Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG 
Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai
Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou

Suzhou is a small town (by China standards) of about 5 million people located about 60 miles outside of Shanghai. I spend a lot of time in the area for work and have stayed at the Hyatt Regency Suzhou more times than I can count. The Hyatt Regency is a quite new hotel and just opened about 15 months ago. The hotel is located in the Suzhou Industrial Park and is adjacent to Times Square Station. Upon arriving at the hotel, you'll be greeted by hotel employees and led inside. Once inside, you can turn left to find the concierge desk and then continue to the right past that to find the front desk. You'll immediately notice the hotel's 29 story atrium, which is a striking feature of the hotel. It even has "stars" at the very top of the atrium at night. 

The Market Cafe is found on the second floor, just above The Atrium and serves breakfast in the mornings for hotel guests. Breakfast consists of a large buffet area with breads, pastries, pancakes, salads, sushi, meats, eggs, juices, and a ton of other items. You'll find a significant number of staff members in this restaurant ready to help with anything you might need and there's almost never a line in the morning to be seated. ​

Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG 
Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge 
Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG 
Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai
Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou

The third of four Hyatt properties in Shanghai that I've stayed at is the Grand Hyatt Shanghai. It's located in Pudong, just across the street from the Park Hyatt Shanghai in the third tallest building in Shanghai, the Jin Mao Tower. Pudong is Shanghai's business district, so it's bustling during the day, but at night, the area is dead. If you venture across the river to other parts of Shanghai for dinner or drinks at night, be prepared for the fact that taxis won't want to take you back across the river because they likely won't be able to get a fare back. This is easily remedied by ordering an Uber, but is something to consider location-wise with this hotel.

Upon arriving at the Grand Hyatt, you'll enter a lobby area and head straight for the elevators. The lobby is found on the 54th floor and just like the Park Hyatt, has an amazing view of the surrounding area. The Grand Hyatt is tastefully decorated with many traditional Chinese elements, but unlike the Park Hyatt, it's a bit less subtle and not so modern. I prefer the decor at the Park Hyatt, but it's certainly a personal preference. 

Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG 
Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge 
Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG 
Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai
Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou

At this point, I've stayed at 3 out of the 4 Hyatt properties in Shanghai. I've only had a chance to review the Park Hyatt Shanghai so far, but I'm certain that the Andaz Shanghai has the best location of them all. Xiantiandi (新天地) is an affluent shopping district in Shanghai and the area directly around the Andaz is chock full of restaurants of all varieties, high-end shops, and tons of people. As opposed to the Park Hyatt, which is located in a high-rise in Shanghai's financial district (which has very little going on in the evening), the Andaz is the place to be. Andaz is Hyatt's hip boutique brand and in this case, they almost take "hip" to an extreme. 

You'll notice the Andaz from almost anywhere in Xiantiandi, which makes it easy to find your way back after a few cocktails. The building has a unique design with rounded rectangular windows punctuating the facade (although don't confuse it with the Langham, which is across the street and has a similar look).

Upon arrival at the Andaz, you'll enter through gigantic wooden sliding doors and find yourself almost assaulted with the uniquely designed lobby (I unfortunately don't actually have a picture of the immediate view, but it's imposing). The lobby features a bar and seating area directly ahead, while check-in is to your right. To the immediate right is a patisserie where you can buy fresh juices, pastries and the like. 

At check-in, you'll be offered a refreshment, but I've never accepted one, so I'm not sure what you can choose from. The front desk area has beverages and cookies/fruit available throughout the day in case you need to stop by. Check-in is usually quick and efficient and you'll learn about the nightly happy hour from 6 PM to 8 PM which is free for all guests.

Once you're checked in, you will proceed through the lobby and make a right to the elevators. The Andaz is full of interesting art and you'll pass a custom motorcycle and what looks like a giant wad of painted paper on your way. It's all very unique. The elevator area is decorated with a moving fish screen, which is kind of fun.

The Andaz uses wood accents throughout and when you arrive on your floor and step out of the elevator, you'll see nothing but wood. I think it's tastefully done and it definitely gives the hotel a unique look. 

I've stayed at this hotel so many times and I've had a couple of different room types, so I'll cover both the Andaz Xintiandi View King and the Andaz Large King rooms. 

Andaz Xintiandi View King

If you couldn't tell, this room type faces Xintiandi, which gives you a view of the surrounding neighborhood and the Pudong skyscrapers in the distance. When you enter the room, you'll be in a hallway. To the right (usually) is the bathroom followed by a closet and then the room opens up to reveal the bed, a chair, a table with two chairs, and the TV and minibar. 

The quirky decor from downstairs continues upstairs and I think the designers did a good job of making the room a unique and interesting, but still keeping things pretty modern and minimal, which I like.  The bed is very comfortable and the room views are excellent. In addition, you'll notice that the room has some "smart" features as well.

Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG 
Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge 
Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG 
Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai
Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou


Cathay Pacific (CX) #5891, DragonAir (KA) #891
Shanghai (PVG) - Hong Kong (HKG)
Saturday, March 21st, 2015
6:20 PM - 9:10 PM
Airbus A330-300 Business Class

This flight is sold by Cathay Pacific, but it's operated by Cathay's regional subsidiary, Dragonair. Dragonair flies many of Cathay's intra-Asia routes and the level of service that I have come to expect is right on par with that of Cathay. At this point, I've taken several flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong on Dragonair and I'm almost never disappointed. For such a quick flight (just under 3 hours), you'll get a full meal and plenty of personalized service.

I boarded the flight and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cabin. This particular flight had a 3 cabin configuration and the business class was configured as 2-2-2, which is absolutely fine for a short flight.  Each seat has a pillow (with funky orange metallic fabric) and blanket available as well as an in-flight entertainment screen with the same amount of movies and TV shows that you will find on a Cathay longhaul flight. Even though the airplane was a bit dated, the cabin still felt fresh and clean, which is very appreciated. 

As the flight was boarding, the flight attendants came by to welcome us aboard and offer newspapers and pre-departure beverages. In addition to the standard orange juice and water, they were also offering a very lovely alcoholic fruity something, which I took without hesitation. It was excellent, but I have no idea what was in it. 

The seats were comfortable and were able to recline as well as extend a foot rest, which is amazing to have for such a short flight. The seat controls as well as the IFE remote are next to the seat and they're intuitive enough to operate, which is not always the case. 

As expected on Cathay, the flight attendants address each passenger by name when asking for beverage orders and meal orders, which is always amazing. Sure, they use a cheat sheet at the beginning, but almost every time, they've been able to remember my name when de-planing, which is impressive! (And no, I don't think this has anything to do with the fact that I'm very blonde and there are usually very few other blonde passengers on flights in Asia.) 

As I mentioned, you can expect a full meal service on this flight, which is impressive. The crew will hand out trays with a salad, appetizer and bread plate along with your drink, then come back a bit later to add the entree. When it comes to bread, there should be no hesitation - nothing is better than Cathay Pacific garlic bread. Don't even bother with anything else. 

Aesthetically, the menu looks very similar to what you will find on American or Cathay and there's quite the selection given how short the flight is. There are three entree choices, including an "Asian Delight" which is found on a special addition to the menu and changes every couple of weeks. 

​The menu read as follows: 

...

Starters
Chicken and mushroom terrine with zucchini

Mixed lettuce salad with Italian vinaigrette dressing

Main Courses
Braised duck in five spices braising sauce

Roasted cod fillet with lemon cream emulsion, leek with bacon Gratin potato and broccoli

Asian Delight: Thai green curry beef brisket, coconut rice and vegetables

Dessert
Haagen-Dazs ice cream

​...

Since I'm not a fan of duck or fish, I went for the Asian Delight. It wasn't something I ever would have ordered in another setting, but it wasn't bad. I definitely felt proud of myself for trying something new. Dessert was ice cream, which was simple and delicious.

Shortly after the meal service concluded, it was time to prepare for landing in Hong Kong.

There is really no better way to travel between Hong Kong and China and I really enjoy Dragonair. Aside from the fact that the hard product and service are excellent, there's also the fact that the airline has a very cool name, so you really can't go wrong.