Jessica D asked:
I’m planning on going to China for a week in mid April, and im absolutely lost. My plane ticket and hotel expenses are being covered, but need to pay for food, and also have spending money, and for sightseeing. I’m not much of a traveller, the only place I’ve ever been outside of Canada is England, so im having a bit of a hard time figuring this one out. Any help would be much appreicated:)
I’m planning on going to China for a week in mid April, and im absolutely lost. My plane ticket and hotel expenses are being covered, but need to pay for food, and also have spending money, and for sightseeing. I’m not much of a traveller, the only place I’ve ever been outside of Canada is England, so im having a bit of a hard time figuring this one out. Any help would be much appreicated:)
March 24th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: News |
Filed under: News |
March 26th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
You can spend very little to ridicuous amounts of money, but here’s how to think about it:
A cheap meal or fast-food is usually less than 20RMB/person.
A moderate, small “hotel” snack/lunch is around 50RMB/person.
An expensive, fancy meal is normally less than 150RMB/person (provided you don’t buy expensive rare seafoods like sharkfin).
Sightseeing depends on the place, but you would be hard pressed to spend more than 200RMB on sights per day.
Taxis are normally around 20RMB, but occassionaly you have sights that cost 70RMB to get there.
If you want to do some special day trips, you can spend around 1000RMB to get there by taxi. You can also go on public transport to those same day-trip places for around 10-50RMB.
And for general shopping, I’d have maybe 500-1000RMB. (If you’re a big shopper or want to buy expensive stuff, then figure on more)
So, in total… if you’re eating somewhere fancy each night, having reasonably cheap breakfast and lunch, sightseeing each day, shopping, and taking one big side-trip… I’d figure on around 5000RMB or USD600. If you want to travel comparatively cheaply, you can probably get away with half this amount.
I haven’t included alcohol. If you’re going out each night, figure on around 30RMB per drink. If you’re drinking at your hotel, figure on about 50RMB per drink.
If you bring USD notes (I don’t think Canadian dollars are widely accepted), you can convert them as-needed at your hotel desk. And if you have a bank debit card on the cirrus/maestro or visa network (even plus is accepted in many places), then you can just withdraw extra money as you need it.
March 29th, 2008 at 9:48 am
fyi,
If you are sponsored by a Chinese company/institution, most likely they will show you around for free. It’s very common…check with them first.
March 30th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Food is cheap in China but beware of the food stalls, they are not always very clean. You can bargain to get up to 70% off on most items in China. Start low
Do not bring any Canadian or USA money as they are not accepted anywhere except very high end stores, restaurants and banks. You should exchage RMB money in your own country because the banks in China will must certainly give you at least one fake bill. Never use large bills unless you are paying for alot or you will get fakes in return.
Most important is to not carry a wallet or purse. Depending on what airline you take, they will give you a pouch which you can hang around your neck to carry your passport and money. There are pickpockets everywhere, they often work in groups.
Never leave your valuables in your hotel room or hotel safe, people who clean your room will go through your stuff, that means you must carry all money and passport with you. Your passport is very valuable and people will try to steal it.