The beginning of all things

I was so excited, the day I left Montreal, excited like I never been before. I've seen a couple of new faces right when I sat down at the waiting area, not sure of who it was and if we would be together for the 'stage' (since the whole groupe was separated in 2, one for the North and the other one for the South) Down at the airport, with my sore ankle, I was wondering if my foot would make it, luckily it wasn't so bad and I knew that I had 15 hours of sitting down. I didn't know exactly was to expect, I was up for the challenge and I was waiting for the flight (the best part about travelling, or at least in my top 3). Not knowing what would exactly happen is thrilling and this put in another unknown context adds up to the excitation. Some bit a fear was mixed also, I guess I feared to be disappointed, to find time wouldn't pass quickly and such... and most of all, not to have any real vacation. At one point, just above Beijing, a few moments before landing, I just told myself, Que sera sera... and that's what happened. But just before that I flew from Montreal to Vancouver and then headed to the Chinese Capital. And those were many hours to fill in with anything I had my hand on, like always I had a notebook, my MP3 and some good books to read (and movies to watch) So the lift off is done and I'm up to settle myself for the ride, I sit next to the alley and the two girls next to me are also from Laval and d0ing the 'stage', really nice girls (which I will met again later on and whom I will 'follow' around the first week at Tianjin. A couple of smiles here and there and I shut myself up to enjoy the few moments that I could have by myself (or so I thought, actually I did get some alone time, to keep myself sane), movies, food and a few conversation filled up the time, until we reached Vancouver. Then, a needed break to get back on foot and to have 'real' food at Vancouver's airport. Weird place, if I didn't know better I would have thought I had actually made it to China, the waitings room were filled with Chinese and the direction boards had chinese characters on them... Just WOW. Once we ate and all, we headed back to another plane to finalize our travel to Beijing. Another set of food, movie and writings followed. And then after many, many hours of plane riding, I finally arrived at Beijing's airport! Ohhh tthe joy and the nervousness collided, but I was with familiar faces (some who turned out to be friends after), we all got through and made our way to get to our luggage... and that's when it really started... mc

6 more nights in Kui bei kè --Chengde--

Getting there

• Fast train from Beijing. 7:16 (4 hours) 60 Y Chengde-Beijing: 14:40
• Many buses: 4-5 hours 46Y

Where to Sleep (no hostel)

• Saibei Hotel: 12, Nanyingzi. Dorms at 20 Y. 190 Y (27$)

Where to eat

• Li Xiangsheng: To the right from Saibei Hotel. Noddles at 5Y
• Huoguo street: 30-40 Y (for 2) 'Fondue'

Things to see

• Imperial Parc: 90Y 5:30-18:30 Palace: 8h-17:45
• Lamaic Temples: Grouped ticket: 110Y. or 50, 50,40,30,20.

12 days till Montreal --Pekin--

Yep, 12 more days and I will be with my sisters and my brother having a drink (more like couple of beers) and I'll be crying... Yes I will...from the 11th until I reach the 21st. I give myself 10 days to get over it (HOPEFULLY, it won't last that long!) Beijing (Pekin) Where to eat: Donghuamen Night Market (in the street of the Cuiming Zhuang Hotel) Megabite 2 --food court-- 100 Y for 2 Eatea --Tea House-- (in the street of Confucius's Temple 40 Y per person till midnight Le Petit Gourmand www.lepetitgourmand.com.cn 10:00- 22:00 And many others... Where to buy Many places, usually 50% off the prices shown/told Others Masseuse In the streets (Dian menxi Dajie) 20 Y for 20-30minutes Kangda center (Sanlitun Nanli) 9:00-23:00 60 Y per hour Things to see Tian'anmen Cité interdite dpm.org.cn/english 8:30-17:00 60 Y + 40 Y audiophone -Usually 5 hours to visite- Beihai Park 6:00-21:00 10 Y Shishahai Towers 9:00- 16:30 20 Y Lamas's Temple 9:00-17:00 25 Y + 20 Y audiophone And so many other stuff

2 weeks from now

2 more weeks to wait and (if everything's going alright) I'll be driving to Montreal and partying with the family to celebrate my last day in occident! Starting from tomorrow, I'll be checking my travel guide book to familiarize with what there is to do in China -- I'll be posting province to province the things I want to see, do and visit -- I'll looking forward to this trip... the more I learn about China, the more I get that it won't cost me a fortune (compared to England that is) I'm thinking along the 2000$ line. --Not counting the airplanes tickets...around 1500, from Montreal) We've had some sort of changes with what our group will do and everything seems better! I'll be posting more from now on... Zaijian (goodbye)