Our visit to Thailand ended with a visit to Pattaya, a beautiful beach resort founded by GI’s after WWII ended. Our hotel on the Gulf of Thailand gave everyone on the tour a chance to relax after a wonderful, but crowded schedule. First stop was a gorgeous pool with two dolphins caught forever in a diving pose and beautiful Thai ladies and their gentlemen friends posed in tradition costumes around the pool. The best part was adult beverages and a hot oil massage by the beach. We had extra time in this paradise before returning to Bangkok and a long crowded five hour flight to Beijing. Our arrival was not fun. We were told that we did not need a visa to enter China for the brief time we plan to be here. However a rather surly official send about ha of our group to apply from a temporary and unnecessary visa. One young woman was near hysterical imagining her fate at the hands of the Chinese. Troy and I were just perturbed. Very few of us had visas, but the luck of the draw sent us to a narrow minded beaurocrat. This little foray delayed us well over an hour and with was about 4AM before arriving at our hotel. A little rest and we were off to the Forbidden City.
