Siqi and I visited 2 European countries and approximately 9 cities in China in 2024. I took thousands of photos on my phone! The road trip that Siqi and I went on with my parents was particularly special. See below for an illustrated summary of where we went when.
January 24 to 29 – Tirana, Albania
Siqi had a work event in Tirana. Never having been anywhere in the Balkans, I decided to take time off work and go with him. I was lucky with the weather, and enjoyed walking around the downtown area in the sunshine. (There are multiple blog posts documenting this trip.)
A trip from Hangzhou, China to Tirana, Albania
February 11 to – 14 Yangzhou and Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China
During Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), I went on a road trip with Siqi and his parents to see two tourist sites: Shou Xi Hu (Slender West Lake) and Tai Hu (Tai Lake). So we stayed overnight in the cities of Yangzhou and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province. Because it was a holiday period, we had difficulty parking at these scenic areas; we parked far away. Once we entered, there were a lot of people: “people mountain, people sea” is the saying in Chinese. But the crowds were still tolerable.
May 30 to June 2 – Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
I went to a conference for work in Suzhou from Monday to Thursday. Then I took Friday off. Siqi came to Suzhou with his parents and we spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Suzhou. We visited the famous Suzhou Museum and Humble Administrator’s Garden, which Siqi and I didn’t see last year when we went to Suzhou during a holiday. Luckily, we were able to find the lovely Italian restaurant we discovered on that trip; it had moved!
June 22 to July 1 – Munich, Germany
Siqi attended the RISC-V Europe Summit in Munich, and I went along. I booked guided tours to visit The Eagle’s Nest (Obersalzberg and Berchtesgaden) and the concentration camp at Dachau, and spent a good long time wandering through the Munich Residenz and Treasury. Siqi and I also managed to visit the old city area, some elaborately decorated churches, the Hofbrauhaus, and the English garden.
August 16 to 27 – Zhejiang Province, Anhui Province, and Shanghai, China
There is now a huuuuge series of blog posts documenting this trip! My parents flew into Shanghai and were brought in a van to our house in Hangzhou, and then Siqi drove us to Longquan, Huangshan, and back to Hangzhou. Then we took a van to Shanghai and all stayed there briefly before my parents flew off again and Siqi and I returned to Hangzhou by train.
October 2 to 7 – Jingdezhen and Qiandaohu, China
For the National Day holiday, I thought maybe Siqi and I could go see another mountain nearby, but we determined that it probably wouldn’t be fun to visit a popular mountain site with large crowds during a holiday. We also considered flying to Hong Kong or Singapore, or somewhere in Southeast Asia; but of course the abundance of people with similar ideas push all the prices up. We figured a road trip would be better. So, having seen the town where Longquan celadon porcelain comes from, we went to see where blue-and-white porcelain comes from: Jingdezhen. On the way back we stayed two nights at Qiandao Hu (Thousand Island Lake).
November 10 to 16 – Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China
The government of Zhejiang Province recently changed its policy, in accordance with which, newly married couples can avail themselves of 13 paid days off work (!!!), rather than just 3. Siqi and I used 5 and went to Lijiang, whose mountainous landscape I’d admired in photos back in 2011. It’s a high-altitude city surrounded by even higher mountain peaks, and has several well-preserved UNESCO-recognized old town areas. We walked a lot.
December 28 to 29 – Shanghai, China
Siqi and I took a train from the conveniently located Hangzhou West Railway Station to Shanghai on Saturday, had dinner with a previous boss of mine from Singapore who was in town, visited a tourist site (Jing’An Temple), and took the train back on Sunday. Although Christmas was already past, the Christmas decorations were still up; apparently Shanghai doesn’t change them over as fast as Singapore does to decorations for Chinese New Year!
Post Script: List of 2024 China holidays
Below are listed the days I had off from work for the traditional holidays in China. (Not every office follows this schedule.)
Longer holiday periods are created by transforming weekend days before or after the holidays into workdays; this is as normal (and disruptive) for China as it is for the US to implement daylight savings, but happens more often than twice a year.
Unlike the US, China honors the exact lunar or solar day of the month for celebrating each holiday. Thus, a holiday on Thursday can shift the “weekend” forward (as in the case of Qingming 2024) and a holiday on Tuesday can shift the “weekend” backward (as in the case of Mid-Autumn 2024), whereas the US strategy for some holidays is to celebrate the holiday on a Monday regardless of when the holiday actually is.
New Year’s Day
Monday, January 1 is a holiday, which is combined with the weekend.
Spring Festival
8 days of holiday from Saturday, February 10 to Saturday, February 17. Work on Sunday, February 4 and Sunday, February 18. [5 workdays off, 2 reclaimed; 3 days of holiday (net).]
Tomb-Sweeping Day (Qingming)
3 days of holiday from Thursday, April 4 to Saturday, April 6. Work on Sunday, April 7. [2 workdays off, 1 reclaimed; 1 day of holiday (net).]
Labor Day
Wednesday, May 1 to Sunday, May 5 are holidays, a total of 5 days. Work on Sunday, April 28 and Saturday, May 11. [3 workdays off, 2 reclaimed; 1 day of holiday (net).]
Dragon Boat Festival
Monday, June 10 is a holiday, which is combined with the weekend.
Mid-Autumn Festival
Sunday, September 15 to Tuesday, September 17 will be a holiday, a total of 3 days. Work on Saturday, September 14. [2 workdays off, 1 reclaimed; 1 day of holiday (net).]
National Day
7 days of holiday from Tuesday, October 1 to Monday, October 7. Work on Sunday, September 29 and Saturday, October 12. [5 workdays off, 2 reclaimed; 3 days of holiday (net).]
