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Our
Trip to China
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Passport
and Visa Information
By Hilda Snowball
The Chinese government
requires that our passport must be valid for at least 6
months after the expiring date for your tourist visa. We
will need at least one entire blank page in your passport
for the Visa. Passports are also needed for identifying the
traveler. You have to show them when you cash traveler's
checks, make plane or train reservations, exchange money or
establish the holders identity.
If you lose your passport, you should have your ID with the
pictures of you. Many embassies require this before issuing
a new passport. Some embassies will accept driver's license,
but not all of the embassies will. Expired passports will
often save your day. All travelers to China are required to
hold a valid Visa. They should be asked at the embassy of
China or the consulate to buy one.
*Website where I found this information is
www.travelchinaguide.com/visa
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Luggage
and things that we need to bring
BY EMILY KEELAN
If we plan our luggage, we
would bring, light clothes like shorts, light-pants,
T-shirts, etc. because it is usually warmer there than here
in Nunavik. Also we would need hiking boots to walk up to
Great Wall of China.
To kill time, we would bring a Game-boy, cards, a CD
walkman, a still camera, a video-camera, books and a travel
guide too. We would bring a still camera to take pictures
for souvenir and a video-camera to let our family see what
China looks like. We should also bring a journal to write
about the things we saw and learned about. We would travel
light.
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Chinese
Currency
By Joseph Unatweenuk
Currency Chinese currency is
called the Yuan. One Canadian dollar is worth 8 Yuan.
Meals: A cheap meal cost US $1-2. Medium range meal is cost
$5-10. High is cost US $10. Usually you can plan about 7 US
dollars per day for all meals. Food is cheap through out
China and if your careful you won’t have to spend much
more than 7 US dollars a day, However the bottom line is
that you’ll be charged the tourist price a lot of the
time.
Lodging: A lodging budget cost US $25-35. Medium range cost
US $35-100. High is cost $100. Generally eastern
China is much more expensive than the western part of the
country. Visitors to eastern China could budget around US
$50 a day. Credit Cards: Credit cards are accepted in
China.
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Transportation
By Jeannie Annanack
We would leave George River
to Kuujjuaq on Air Inuit. Then we would fly from Kuujjuaq to
Montreal on a First Air flight. We would land in Montreal
and take another plane to Vancouver, where we would stop for
few minutes.
We would go to Beijing after Vancouver and we'd take Air
Canada. We would land in Beijing after all those flights and
we would still have to take a shuttle bus to our hotel.
After a few days, we would be leaving our hotel to go to
Datong. We would take the subway to go to the train station.
On the train it would take us 8 hours. For one seat, it
would cost 8 dollar US. After getting to the Train Station
in Datong, we would take the city bus to go to our
hotel.
The cost for one person for George River to Montreal would
be about $2000 and for Montreal to Beijing would cost about
$1220. So, for 13 people it would cost around $43 160.
We printed a map of the subway in Beijing so we would go and
visit the city on our own.
We would go there on May 3 to May 13.
*Websites that I used are: www.travelchinaguide.com,
www.expedia.com, and
www.redflag.info/transportation.htm.
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Place
to stay in China
By Rosina Annanack
We would stay at the Holiday
Inn Downtown Beijing Hotel while we are in Beijing.
I chose it because it is cheaper than the other hotels and
it’s 3 minutes walk from the subway station. It is also
close to major shopping complexes; only a 5 minute drive to
Beijing Exhibition Center, Beijing Zoo and the Panda
Garden;
and 15 minutes drive to Tiana’man Square and the
Forbidden City.
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Attractions
in China
By Daisy Annahatak
Attractions in Beijing: The
Forbidden City- The Forbidden City was the king’s
palace for the Ming and Qing dynasty. This city is
surrounded by 10-meter high walls, so ordinary people could
not access it. Many people from the king’s family lived
there; their servants and guards lived there too. This city
has 999 rooms. Nine is the lucky number in China.
Summer Palace- Fifteen kilometers to the Northwest of
Beijing is the summer palace. It is a large park of 716
acres.
In older times, it was the imperial garden retreat from the
summer heat of Beijing.
Many hills shelter the site, and the Kunming Lake provides a
cooling effect.
The Great Wall- The Great Wall is perhaps China’s
famous site. Several sections can be visited from Beijing,
including Badaling , the most popular site. There we can
have horsemen riding, and walk up to the watchtowers. These
watchtowers were built on high points every 200-300
meters.
The army and the watchtower guards used them when there was
a Mongolian invasion.
The wall protected the country against enemies. One part of
the Great Wall is 6000 km long and it was mostly built in
the years before Christ.
Our Visit to Datong: Datong is in Shanxi province, near the
border of Mongolia. There are many ancient sites to visit.
The city is very special too. Datong is where we will visit
an 1500 year old Buddhist Grottoes.
We can also go by city bus to Yungang. It is 10 miles from
Datong. We can visit Buddhist statues of different sizes,
actually around 51, 000 statues. Some statues are about 56
feet long.
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Chinese
Food
By Nancy Kooktook
In Beijing, the food is very
famous in China. The main staple in Beijing is wheat flour
and noodles because there is a lot of wheat ground there.
Chopsticks are also really important in China. Chinese
people have used chopsticks for 3,000 years. The chopsticks
can be made of wood, metal, bones, stones or be compound
chopsticks.
There are a few things to avoid doing when using chopsticks.
Chinese people usually don't beat their bowls while eating,
since the behavior used to be practiced by beggars. Also
don't insert chopsticks in a bowl upright
because it is a custom exclusively used in sacrifice.
The typical dishes are roast duck, sliced mutton, and
braised shark's fin.
On our trip we can also try eating duck, vegetarian dishes,
lamb and all different kinds of food.
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Chinese
Culture
By Hilda Snowball
In China, if we are invited
to a party, we should bring a little gift such as wine, tea,
cigarette or candies.
Talking to a Stranger: When you start talking to a stranger,
the topics such as weather, food, or hobbies may be good
choice to break the ice. To a man, a chat about current
affairs, sports, stock market or his job can usually go
smoothly.
If we are having a discussion with Chinese and if we see
them nodding, we should not think they agree.
It's only a sign that they are listening attentively. When
you speak, it is good to look into other person's eyes.
For Chinese, punctuality is very important. They tend to
come earlier to show their earnestness.
If you are late 10 minutes, it might be considered
impolite.
*Websites where I found this information are:
chineseculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa031901a.htm
lonelyplanet.com/north_east_asia/china/culture.htm
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