When I go on trip, I would mark down all my expenses. I like to know how much I spend for future reference. It makes it easier to budget for the next time. After computing my expense for this last trip to China, to my biggest surprise, I found out that we spent less than one thousand dollars during our journey. If we add up the cost of the tour and every miscellaneous expenses, the total spent on this trip is US$3,243.68 for the two of us! (I used the rates of US$1 = RMB¥7.30 and US$1 = HK$7.60) and I budgeted $5000!
The biggest portion of trip was the tour, which cost $1209 (per person), then we had to add $35 (per person) for Saturday return flight. Visa to mainland China was $45 for dual entry for us (for the American passport, it is flat rate of $100). Therefore, before leaving, we spent $2578.
Yes! That means... we only spend $665.68 during the trip!! and that includes 7 days that is not part of the tour, ie. eat and stay at our own expense! Hehe, we were very lucky and blessed, my relative took care of our extra night lodging in Guangzhou and we stayed with my good friend in Hong Kong. I wanted to spend more, I wanted to go crazy clothing shopping, but bad timing I guess... I really don't like this season's style and plus, it wasn't sale season either. Too bad for me, but DH is very happy he got 3 pairs of cheap pants and 1 sweater (all 4 items for RMB¥200, about US$26.32).
Finally, as my friend said, we are so under budget that we can use that money for a mini-getaway :D :D. Our next trip: Honolulu, HI at the end of January!! (This one is from attending one of those timeshare presentations: flight + 2 nights hotel for two in Waikiki, we paid $100 in "taxes").
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Back from China!
It's been about a week and a half that I've been back from my trip to China. We joined a tour and went to Beijing, Nanjing, Wuxi, Sozhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou and finally Guangzhou where the tour was dismissed. Then we made our way to Hong Kong and flew back to San Francisco from there.
The trip was good. My main concern was DH getting a culture shock with the food. Not only he didn't complain and ate a lot, but he also didn't get sick! What a relief. Well, we visited big cities, it should be much safer than visiting say Xian or other remote areas.
In preparation for the Olympics, the Beijing National Stadium (or the Bird's Nest) was already there, we drove by and could have a look. It was either a very foggy or smoggy day, we couldn't see well. Streets in big cities were clean and I noticed significant reduction in number of people spitting (almost none!). I have to give them credit, every time I go back to China, I can see significant improvement: they evolve at very quick pace!
When we got to Guangzhou where the tour was dismissed, we finally got to eat food other than "tour-package-deal" meals. DH was very pleased. Guangzhou is known for good food. We met up with my relatives and they took care of taking us out. We tried local specialties like free-range chicken, fresh fish balls, dumplings with fish-meat wrapper, wild caught shrimps, and even pigeon! We stayed in Guangzhou for 2 nights and then took the train to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was charming. It was great for walkers! For 2 days in a row, we walked 21,000 steps per day! (Daily target is 10,000 steps). We were proud to show our friends and relatives what we walked.
On the first day, we walked from Central to the escalators to mid-levels, visited the zoo (open to public, free admission!) on the way and then walked to the tram station to go up to Victoria Peak. After seeing the view of the city from high, we walked back from the tram station to Central and finally from Central to Causeway Bay. We stopped on the way for afternoon tea and visited Cisco office in Wan Chai. We met up with DH's cousins in Causeway Bay for dinner.
On the second day, we visited The Hong Kong Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui. It was free admission on Wednesday. We walked North on Nathan Road from there to Mongkok where we shopped and experienced the crowds in Hong Kong. We went as far as Gold Fish Market!
Thursday was a relaxing day, we took it easy and had a day trip to Shenzhen where we indulge ourselves with half a day at a SPA.
Friday was the last full day in Hong Kong. We occupied ourselves with last minute shopping and last minute meeting with friends and relatives.
Saturday morning, we head out early at 7:30am to catch bus E22A from Tseung Kwan O (near Po Lam MTR station) to the airport. It took us 1hr15mins and costed HK$24 per person. The ride and flight were uneventful. We met up with 4 tourmates who took the same flight home. The flight was nice, the flight attendants were courteous. I was tired and slept most of the flight. Never has a trans-Pacific flight seemed so short (about 12hrs)!
The trip was good. My main concern was DH getting a culture shock with the food. Not only he didn't complain and ate a lot, but he also didn't get sick! What a relief. Well, we visited big cities, it should be much safer than visiting say Xian or other remote areas.
In preparation for the Olympics, the Beijing National Stadium (or the Bird's Nest) was already there, we drove by and could have a look. It was either a very foggy or smoggy day, we couldn't see well. Streets in big cities were clean and I noticed significant reduction in number of people spitting (almost none!). I have to give them credit, every time I go back to China, I can see significant improvement: they evolve at very quick pace!
When we got to Guangzhou where the tour was dismissed, we finally got to eat food other than "tour-package-deal" meals. DH was very pleased. Guangzhou is known for good food. We met up with my relatives and they took care of taking us out. We tried local specialties like free-range chicken, fresh fish balls, dumplings with fish-meat wrapper, wild caught shrimps, and even pigeon! We stayed in Guangzhou for 2 nights and then took the train to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was charming. It was great for walkers! For 2 days in a row, we walked 21,000 steps per day! (Daily target is 10,000 steps). We were proud to show our friends and relatives what we walked.
On the first day, we walked from Central to the escalators to mid-levels, visited the zoo (open to public, free admission!) on the way and then walked to the tram station to go up to Victoria Peak. After seeing the view of the city from high, we walked back from the tram station to Central and finally from Central to Causeway Bay. We stopped on the way for afternoon tea and visited Cisco office in Wan Chai. We met up with DH's cousins in Causeway Bay for dinner.
On the second day, we visited The Hong Kong Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui. It was free admission on Wednesday. We walked North on Nathan Road from there to Mongkok where we shopped and experienced the crowds in Hong Kong. We went as far as Gold Fish Market!
Thursday was a relaxing day, we took it easy and had a day trip to Shenzhen where we indulge ourselves with half a day at a SPA.
Friday was the last full day in Hong Kong. We occupied ourselves with last minute shopping and last minute meeting with friends and relatives.
Saturday morning, we head out early at 7:30am to catch bus E22A from Tseung Kwan O (near Po Lam MTR station) to the airport. It took us 1hr15mins and costed HK$24 per person. The ride and flight were uneventful. We met up with 4 tourmates who took the same flight home. The flight was nice, the flight attendants were courteous. I was tired and slept most of the flight. Never has a trans-Pacific flight seemed so short (about 12hrs)!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
