Travel

Teacher Day Time Branch TA Class

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to use English to talk about travelling
Resources needed:
• Photocopies of the “Introductions to ...” if you wish to do that exercise
• Photocopies of the discussion questions

Stage: Warm-up Aim: Students will warm up by discussing the topic of travel.
Page:
Time: 5 mins Method:
• Elicit information about travelling from ss
• Ask qs about who has travelled, where they have travelled, who wants to
travel, where ss want to travel, the reasons for travel – holiday, business,
family, health/medical treatment, sport [playing/watching]
Comments

Stage: Intro Aim: Students will share their own travel experiences.
Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• Group work
• Give ss a set of discussion qs [attached separately]
• In small groups ss are to find out the answers to the qs from their group and
one student from each group is to present findings to the class
Comments

Stage: Practice Aim: Students will talk about the tourism industry in China.
Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• T - sssss
• T to elicit information about who in the class has travelled within China
• Ask qs about where, when, why ss go where they go
• Ask who has travelled to study, who has travelled to work
• Elicit information about what the class thinks is the best place to visit in China
and why
Comments

Stage: Aim: Students will discuss tourism in China by creating a 3-week tour of the
Practice/Production country designed specifically for foreigners.
Page: Method:
Time: 10-15 mins • Group work
• Hypothetical task – in groups, ss are to pretend they work for the government
in the Tourism Department.
• Their task is to design a tour that will appeal to foreigners and will showcase
China's most famous and beautiful cities, landmarks and attractions
• Ss should include historical and modern attractions, major cities , natural
sights, transport between destinations and reasons why they included those
destinations
Comments
Stage: Practice Aim: Students will discuss world-wide traveling.
Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• Ask ss qs about where they have travelled around the world, what methods of
travel people use, the fastest/slowest ways to travel, backpacking, business
travel
• T maybe share some travel experiences if ss lack worldwide travel experiences
• Ask qs about who has friends/family overseas, whether they went for school,
work, love, etc.
• Quick survey of class to find out what proportion of ss have travelled o/s and
where most have been if they have been o/s
Comments

Stage: Production Aim: Students will talk about three destinations that they would most like to
Page: which they would most like to travel.
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• Pair work
• In pairs ss are to decide on the three destinations anywhere in the world that
they would like to visit and explain why – natural beauty, history, man made
beauty, famous people, etc.
• Pairs spend 5 mins discussing the destinations and reasons for their choice then
they are to present their destinations and reasons to the class
• Optional – if time permits: Teacher writes each pairs destinations on the board
as they are said
• When every pair has finished, t takes a vote to find out what 3 destinations are
the most popular
Comments

Stage: Practice Aim: Students will talk about traveling the world.
Page:
Time: 10-15 mins Method:
• Group work – ss are to design a 3 month world tour – they can go to any or
every continent, as with the tour of China they must plan the sights to see and
transport between destinations.
• Ss need to present their tour to the class and most group members must speak
Comments

Stage: Production Aim: Students will talk about the things necessary for traveling.
Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• Elicit information from ss about things they may need to organise before
travelling, things they may need to take etc.
• E.g. tickets, accomodation, money, luggage, someone to take care of
house/pets/bills, time off work, travel insurance, camera, phone, etc.
Comments
Stage: Practice Aim: Students will practice argumentative language through attempting to
Page: persuade their classmates that their holiday is the best.
Time: 10-15 mins Method:
• Initially individual work, then group work
• Ss are going on a holiday to every country in the world, they can only take 10
items, they must choosedecide what to take and why
• Once ss have got their list of 10, they are to work with everyone else on their
table/in their group to decide the 10 best things to take.
• Ss must try and convince others why they should take the items they have
chosen over the other ss items.
• When complete, ss must present to the class what 10 items their group would
take and why
• Optional – if time permits: T to write up all groups items on board and have a
class discussion on which items would be best to take
Comments

Stage: Aim: Students will practice reading and summary skills.

Practice/Production
Page: Method:
Time: 5-10 mins • Group work
• Give ss one of the Introuctions to ... attached at the back.
• Using the handout and ss own knowledge ss are to find 5 interesting facts
about the country, 5 things/places to see in this country and say where in the
world this country is, what its weather is like, what language the people speak
and what the people are called – e.g. Australian, English, American, Chinese,
etc
Comments

Stage: Practice Aim: Students will discuss the differences between China and other countries.
Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• Group work
• Follow on from previous activity, ss are to discuss the differences between
China and the country that their group looked at.
• Ss look at weather, language, production, government type, population, food,
culture etc and come up with 10 differences
• Group members present findings to class
Comments

Stage: Practice Aim: Students will talk about modes of travel and its impact on the environment.
Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• T asks ss who has riden a train, plane, car, bike, bus, boat etc.
• T asks ss if anyone knows which form of travel causes the most pollution
• Elicit information from ss about what environmental impacts they think each
mode of transport has – eg. exhaust fumes, rail lines cutting through
forests/farms etc, roads cutting through, rain runoff and erosion
• Guide discussion towards environmentally friendly modes of transport –
bicycle, walking, car pooling, bus instead of car, etc.
Comments
Stage: Production Aim: Students will talk about a country they want to live in.
Page:
Time: 10-15 mins Method:
• Single, pair or triple work depending on class size
• Hypothetical – China no longer exists, ss have to move to one country in the
world. Give ss a few minutes to think and discuss with others around them.
• They have to say where they want to go and why
• Each ss/pair/triple to tell the class where and why
Comments

Stage: Production Aim: Students will talk about places to which they would not like to travel.
Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• Elicit information from ss about countries/places they think are scary or
wouldn't go for some reason – war, disease, crime, natural disasters, etc.
• Discuss reasons people may cancel a holiday they have planned
Comments

Stage: Production Aim: Students will take a Europe/USA trivia quiz.

Page:
Time: 5-10 mins Method:
• Group work
• Trivia game – each group works in a team
• T asks qs [attached] about either Europe or USA
• Ss answer in groups to find out which group knows the most about Europe or
the USA
• T doesn't need to give out copies of the answer sheet – ss can write answers on
a piece of paper and when going through answers groups switch so each group
marks another groups answers.
Comments
 Travel Discussion Questions

• Have you ever been abroad?

• Where have you been?
• Are you planning on going anywhere for your next vacation?
• If so, where? Do you prefer summer vacations or winter vacations?
• Do you prefer to travel alone or in a group? Why?
• Describe your best trip.
• Describe your worst trip.
• Have you ever been on an airplane?
• How many times?
• What airlines have you flown with?
• Have you ever been to a foreign country?
• How many countries have you been to? How many provinces in China?
• How many times have you traveled abroad?
• What are some things that you always take with you on a trip?
• What's the most beautiful place you've ever been to?
• When was the last time your traveled?
• When you are on a long journey, what do you do to occupy your time?
• Where are you going to go the next time you travel?
• When are you going to go?
• Who are you going to go with?
• How long are you going to go for?
• What are you going to do there?
• Where did you go on your last vacation?
• Would you like to take a cruise? Where to? With who?
• Would you rather visit another country or travel within your own country?
• Would you rather go to a place where there are a lot of people or to a place where there are few
people?
• What are popular tourist destinations in your country?
• Have you been to any of them?
• Which would you recommend if you could only recommend one? Why?
• Do you prefer active or relaxing holidays? Why?
• When you were a child did your family take a vacation every year?
Introduction to the USA

Perhaps no other country has left as great an impression on the contemporary world as the United
States – a big achievement for such a (relatively) young nation. Lauded as a beacon of freedom, where
over the centuries millions of immigrants have come to better their lives, and reviled as an
international bully, perhaps never more so than in recent years, it's a place you have to explore in
order to understand and appreciate.

The images of the country that named itself after a continent are embedded in the mind of every traveler:
endless highways cutting through shimmering deserts; forests of skyscrapers towering over urban jungles;
acres of beaches dotted with surfboards and suntanned skin; high mountain peaks and green river valleys;
magnificent feats of engineering, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Hoover Dam. The country's emblems are
so familiar that they constitute as much a part of the world's culture as its own – Lady Liberty, the Grand
Canyon, the Empire State Building, the US Capitol, the "Hollywood" sign . . . the list goes on.
The combination of a shoot-from-the-hip mentality with laissez-faire capitalism and religious fervor can
make the USA maddening at times, even to its own residents. But what's most surprising, perhaps, is how
such an initially daunting land can prove so enticing – its vibrant mix of peoples, striking landscapes and
city skylines, and rich musical, cinematic, and culinary heritage seduce almost every visitor in the end.

One of the principal joys of getting to know the country is the repeated, delicious shock of the familiar

And for all of its pride and bluster, the USA can be a land of quiet nuances: snow falling on a country lane in
Vermont, cherry trees blooming under Washington memorials, crocodiles swimming through the bayou.
You could easily plan a trip that focuses on the out-of-the-way hamlets, remote wilderness, eerie ghost
towns, and forgotten byways that are every bit as "American" as its showpiece icons and monuments.
Putting aside the sheer size of the place, deciding exactly what version of America you want to see may be
the hardest decision of all.

Fact file
• The US government is divided into three branches: the executive, headed by the
president; the legislative, which comprises the Senate and the House of Representatives;
and the judicial, with the Supreme Court as its highest office.
• Despite New York's status as the cultural and economic center of the US, the federal
capital is in Washington DC, which doesn't even rank among the top twenty cities in
terms of population (though officially, it is a district, not a city).
• The population of the US (some 300 million) owns 200 million cars and trucks (roughly
1 vehicle for every 1.4 people), with more than 5.7 million miles of paved highway on
which to drive them.
• With an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, the US is the third-largest country in the
world (ranking behind Russia and Canada).
• The US is the only country that contains all six major climate zones: tropical humid,
dry, mild mid-latitude, severe mid-latitude, polar, and highland.
• With its Aleutian Islands crossing the Greenwich Meridian, Alaska is technically home
to both the easternmost and westernmost points in the US. Alaska also has the highest
point in the US, Mount McKinley (20,320ft), and is the largest state by area (Rhode
Island is the smallest).
Introduction to France

The sheer physical diversity of France would be hard to exhaust in a lifetime of visits. Landscapes
range from the fretted coasts of Brittany and the limestone hills of Provence to the canyons of the
Pyrenees and the half-moon bays of Corsica, and from the lushly wooded valleys of the Dordogne and
the gentle meadows of the Loire valley to the glaciated peaks of the Alps. Each region looks and feels
different, has its own style of architecture, its own characteristic food and often its own dialect.
Though the French word pays is the term for a whole country, people frequently refer to their own
region as mon pays – my country – and this strong sense of regional identity has persisted despite
centuries of centralizing governments, from Louis XIV to de Gaulle.

Industrialization came relatively late to France, and for all the millions of French people that live in cities,
the idea persists that theirs is a rural country. The importance of the land reverberates throughout French
culture, manifesting itself in areas as diverse as regional pride in local cuisine and the state's fierce defence
of Europe's agricultural subsidies. Perhaps the most striking feature of the French countryside is the sense
of space. There are huge tracts of woodland and undeveloped land without a house in sight, and, away from
the main urban centres, hundreds of towns and villages have changed only slowly and organically over the
years, their old houses and streets intact, as much a part of the natural landscape as the rivers, hills and fields.
For more than a thousand years the country has been in the vanguard of European development, and the
accumulation of wealth and experience is evident everywhere in the astonishing variety of things to see,
from the Dordogne's prehistoric cave-paintings and the Roman monuments of the south, to the Gothic
cathedrals of the north, the châteaux of the Loire, and the cutting-edge architecture of the grands projets in
Paris.

The importance of these traditions is felt deeply by the French state, which fights to preserve and develop its
national culture perhaps harder than any other country in the world, and private companies, who also strive
to maintain French traditions in arenas as diverse as haute couture, pottery and, of course, food. The fruits of
these efforts are evident in the subsidized arts, notably the film industry, and in the lavishly endowed and
innovative museums and galleries.

There are all kinds of pegs on which to hang a holiday in France: a city, a region, a river, a mountain range,
gastronomy, cathedrals, châteaux. All that open space means there's endless scope for outdoor activities –
from walking, canoeing and cycling to skiing and sailing – but if you need more urban stimuli – clubs, shops,
fashion, movies, music – then the great cities provide them in abundance.

Fact file
• With a land area of 547,000 square kilometres, France is the second largest country in
Europe; its population of around 60 million is less only than its European neighbours,
Germany and the UK.
• Now in its Fifth Republic, France has a long secular republican tradition dating back
to the Revolution of 1789. Yet the majority of the population is Roman Catholic –
notionally, at least – and there's a substantial Muslim minority of around 5–10 percent.
• The Government consists of a directly elected president and a two-house parliament.
As a nuclear power and G8-member, and with a permanent seat on the United Nations
Security Council, France retains a strong international profile.
• Annual GDP per capita is around US$30,000, making France one of the world's richer
countries, but unemployment is a persistent problem, at around 9 percent. Taxes are high,
at around 45 percent of GDP, but so is social spending, at almost 30 percent.
• France remains by far the most popular tourist destination in the world, with some 75
million visitors each year.
Introduction to England

Like an ageing cabaret star shuffling onto the stage, England really needs no introduction. When even
the world’s most remote communities are on first-name terms with its footballers, princes and prime
ministers, it’s clear that everyone knows something about this crowded nation, perched on Europe’s
western fringe. As a visitor, you can pick your favourite slice of “Englishness” and indulge yourself in
a country with a notorious taste for nostalgia. The tales of King Arthur; the works of Shakespeare;
the exploits of Drake; the intellect of Johnson; the invention of Brunel; the leadership of Churchill;
the cult of Diana – all are endlessly recycled in England, providing a cultural backdrop to an
unparalleled range of historic buildings, monuments and landscapes.

Of course, this isn’t anything like the whole story of Eng-land. For every tourist who wants to stand outside
the gates of Buckingham Palace or visit Stratford-upon-Avon, there’s another who makes a beeline for the
latest show at Tate Modern or the cityscape of downtown Manchester. Contemporary England is a deeply
conservative place which at the same time has a richly multi-ethnic culture. Famously, fish and chips gave
way some years ago to chicken tikka masala as the country’s favourite dish, and while the nation tends to
distrust all things European, the English increasingly embrace a continental lifestyle. Enjoy a fried English
breakfast or a Devonshire cream tea by all means, but notice the locals at the next-door café-bar tucking into
a croissant and a cappuccino.

Ask an English person to define their country in terms of what’s worth seeing and you’re most likely to have
your attention drawn to England’s golden rural past. The classic images are found in every brochure – the
village green, the duckpond, the country lane and the farmyard. And it’s true that it’s impossible to overstate
the bucolic attractions of various English regions, from Cornwall to the Lake District, or the delights they
provide – from walkers’ trails and prehistoric stone circles to traditional pubs and obscure festivals. But
despite celebrating their rural heritage, the modern-day English have an ambivalent attitude towards “the
countryside”. Farming today forms only a tiny proportion of the national income and there’s a real
dislocation between the population of the burgeoning towns and suburbs and the small rural communities
badly hit by successive crises in English agriculture.

• As part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“the UK”), England is a
parliamentary democracy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Its traditional industries –
fishing, farming, mining, engineering, shipbuilding – are all in decline and business today is
dominated by banking and finance, the media and technology, steel production, oil and gas, and
tourism.
• Bordered by Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, England is the largest country in Great
Britain, occupying an area of 50,085 sq miles (129,720 sq km). The terrain is diverse, from plains to
peaks, cliffs to beaches, though the superlatives are all modest on a world scale – the largest lake,
Windermere, is 10 miles (16km) long, the highest mountain, Scafell, just 3205ft (978m) above sea
level.
• The population of approximately 50 million is dense for a country of its size, but settlement is
concentrated in the southeast conurbations around London, and in the large industrial cities of the
Midlands and the North.
• This is one of the world’s most multi-ethnic countries, made up largely of people of Anglo-Saxon,
Scots, Welsh and Irish descent, but with sizeable communities from the Caribbean, Africa, the Indian
subcontinent, China, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.

The national game

Football, footie, call it what you will (no English fan ever says “soccer”) – the English
invented it and subsequently appropriated it as an expression of (often misguided)
national pride. The country has the oldest league and cup competitions in the world, the
best-known club on the planet in Manchester United and players who are more famous
 than pop stars (or, like the incomparable David Beckham, are married to pop stars). For
outsiders, though, the nuances of supporting a team can be difficult to unravel. The city
of Manchester, like Liverpool and Sheffield, has two teams; London has thirteen (none of
them called London). Supporters of geographically adjacent teams (Newcastle and
Sunderland, say, or Southampton and Portsmouth) despise the other; while everyone
despises Chelsea with its ruthless purchase of success. And once you’ve got to the bottom
of this, you still might never get to see a live game as tickets for the famous teams can
sell out a year in advance, even at very high prices. You could watch football on TV
(between August and May), but for the real experience you have to visit the
unfashionable provincial clubs inhabiting the lower divisions. Macclesfield Town against
Rochdale on a wet Tuesday night in February – that’s a proper football match.
Everything else is just entertainment.

So perhaps the heart of England is found in its towns and cities instead? The shift towards urban living and
working has been steady since the Industrial Revolution, and industry – and the Empire it inspired – has
provided a framework for much of what you’ll see as you travel around. Virtually every English town bears
a mark of former wealth and power, whether it be a magnificent Gothic cathedral financed from a monarch’s
treasury, a parish church funded by the tycoons of the medieval wool trade, or a triumphalist civic building
raised on the back of the slave and sugar trade. In the south of England you’ll find old dockyards from
which the navy patrolled the oceans, while in the north there are mills that employed entire town populations.
England’s museums and galleries – several of them ranking among the world’s finest – are full of treasures
trawled from its imperial conquests. And in their grandiose stuccoed terraces and wide esplanades, the old
seaside resorts bear testimony to the heyday of English holiday towns, at one time as fashionable as any
European spa.

Understanding the English

As a glance at the tabloid newspapers will confirm, England is a nation of overweight,
alcopop-swilling, sex- and celebrity-obsessed TV addicts. But it’s also a country of
animal-loving, tea-drinking, charity donors thriving on irony and Radio 4. It’s a country
where accent and vocabulary can stamp a person’s identity like a brand, where a tiny
land-owning aristocracy, who in some cases trace their roots to the Norman Conquest of
the eleventh century, still own most of the land. But it’s also a genuine haven for
refugees, and a country of immigrants from more than 100 ethnic backgrounds. It’s a
nation where commuters suffer overpriced, under-funded public transport services, and
where the hearts of many towns – and increasingly their outskirts – consist of identikit
retail zones. Yet it’s also a country where individuality and creativity flourish, fuelling a
thriving pop culture and producing one of the most dynamic fashion, music and arts
scenes to be found anywhere.
Ask any English person to comment on all of this and – assuming you’re not trying to
communicate with a stranger in a public place, which in London at least can be seen as
tantamount to physical assault – you’ll get an entertaining range of views. Try to make
sense of these, and the resulting picture might suggest something akin to a national
identity crisis – the people themselves can’t agree on who or what they are.

In short, England isn’t just one place, but a perpetual collision of culture, class and race – the product of
multiple identities adapting and somehow fitting together. Its political philosophies and institutions have
influenced the most diverse western societies; its idiosyncrasies and prejudices have left their mark across
the English-speaking world, and its inventions and creative momentum, from the Industrial Revolution to
the Turner Prize, continue to inspire. But the only certainty for visitors is that however long you spend in
England and however much you see, it still won’t be enough to understand the place.
Introduction to Australia

Australia is massive, and sparsely peopled: in size, it rivals the USA, yet its population is just twenty
million. It is an ancient land, and often looks it: in places, it's the most eroded, denuded and driest of
continents, with much of central and western Australia – the bulk of the country – overwhelmingly
arid and flat. In contrast, its cities, most of which were founded as recently as the mid-nineteenth
century, express a youthful energy.

The most memorable scenery is in the Outback, the vast desert in the interior of the country west of the
Great Dividing Range. Here, vivid blue skies, cinnamon-red earth, deserted gorges and other striking
geological features – as well as bizarre wildlife – comprise a unique ecology, one that has played host to the
oldest surviving human culture for up to 70,000 years (just 10,000 years after Homo sapiens is thought to
have emerged from Africa).

This harsh interior has forced modern Australia to become a coastal country. Most of the population lives
within 20km of the ocean, occupying a suburban, southeastern arc extending from southern Queensland to
Adelaide. These urban Australians celebrate the typical New World values of material self-improvement
through hard work and hard play, with an easy-going vitality that visitors, especially Europeans, often find
refreshingly hedonistic. A sunny climate also contributes to this exuberance, with an outdoor life in which a
thriving beach culture and the congenial backyard "barbie" are central.

While visitors might eventually find this Home and Away lifestyle rather prosaic, there are opportunities –
particularly in the Northern Territory – to gain some experience of Australia's indigenous peoples and their
culture, through visiting ancient art sites, taking tours and, less easily, making personal contact. Many
Aboriginal people – especially in central Australia – have managed to maintain a traditional lifestyle (albeit
with modern accoutrements), speaking their own languages and living according to their law. Conversely,
most Aboriginal people you'll come across in country towns and cities are victims of what is scathingly
referred to as "welfare colonialism" – a disempowering consequence of dole cheques and other subsidies
combined with little chance of meaningful employment, often resulting in a destructive cycle of poverty, ill
health and substance abuse. There's still a long way to go before black and white people in Australia can
exist on genuinely equal terms.

Fact file
• With an area of eight million square kilo-metres, Australia is the sixth largest country
in the world.
• The population stands at just twenty million, of whom some 85 percent live in urban
areas, mainly along the coast. About 92 percent of the population are of European origin,
2 percent Aboriginal, and around 6 percent Asian and Middle Eastern.
• Much of Australia is arid and flat. One third is desert and another third steppe or semi-
desert. Only six percent of the country rises above 600m in elevation, and its tallest
peak, Mount Kosciuszko, is just 2228m high.
• Australia's main exports are fossil fuels, minerals, metals, cotton, wool, wine and beef,
and its most important trading partners are Japan, China and the US.
• Australia is a federal parliamentary state (formally a constitutional monarchy) with
two legislative houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The chief of state is
the British Monarch, represented by the Governor-General, while the head of government
is the Prime Minister.
Beijing and around

The brash modernity of BEIJING (the name means "Northern Capital") comes as a surprise to many
visitors. Traversed by motorways (it's the proud owner of more than a hundred flyovers) and spiked with
high-rises, this vivid metropolis is China at its most dynamic. For a thousand years, the drama of China's
imperial history was played out here, with the emperor sitting enthroned at the centre of the Chinese
universe, and though today the city is a very different one, it remains spiritually and politically the heart of
the country. Between the swathes of concrete and glass, you'll find some of the lushest temples, and
certainly the grandest remnants of the imperial age. Unexpectedly, some of the country's most pleasant
scenic spots lie within the scope of a day-trip, and, just to the north of the city, one of the world's most
famous sights, the long and lonely Great Wall, winds between hilltops.

First impressions of Beijing are of an almost inhuman vastness, conveyed by the sprawl of apartment
buildings, in which most of the city's population of fifteen million are housed, and the eight-lane motorways
that slice it up. It's a notion that's reinforced on closer acquaintance, from the magnificent Forbidden City,
with its stunning wealth of treasures, the concrete desert of Tian'anmen Square and the gargantuan
buildings of the modern executive around it, to the rank after rank of office complexes that line its mammoth
roads. Outside the centre, the scale becomes more manageable, with parks, narrow alleyways and ancient
sites such as the Yonghe Gong, the Observatory and, most magnificent of all, the Temple of Heaven,
offering respite from the city's oppressive orderliness and rampant reconstruction. In the suburbs beyond, the
two summer palaces and the Western Hills have been favoured retreats since imperial times.

Beijing is an invaders' city, the capital of oppressive foreign dynasties – the Manchu and the Mongols – and
of a dynasty with a foreign ideology – the Communists. As such, it has assimilated a lot of outside influence,
and today has an international flavour reflecting its position as the capital of a major commercial power. As
the front line of China's grapple with modernity, it is being ripped up and rebuilt at a furious pace – attested
by the cranes that skewer the skyline and the white character chai ("demolish") painted on old buildings.
Students in the latest fashions while away their time in Internet cafés, hip-hop has overtaken the clubs,
businessmen are never without their laptops, and schoolkids carry mobile phones in their lunchboxes. Rising
incomes have led not just to a brash consumer-capitalist society Westerners will feel very familiar with, but
also to a revival of older Chinese culture – witness the re-emergence of the teahouse as a genteel meeting
place and the interest in imperial cuisine. In the evening, you'll see large groups of the older generation
performing the yangkou (loyalty dance), Chairman Mao's favourite dance universally learned a few decades
ago, and in the hutongs, the city's twisted grey stone alleyways, men sit with their pet birds and pipes as they
always have done.

Beijing is a city that almost everyone enjoys. For new arrivals, it provides a gentle introduction to the
country, and for travellers who've been roughing it round rural China, the creature comforts on offer are a
delight. But it's essentially a private city, whose surface is difficult to penetrate; sometimes, it seems to have
the superficiality of a theme park. Certainly, there is something mundane about the way tourist groups are
efficiently shunted around, from hotel to sight and back to hotel, with little contact with everyday reality. To
get deeper into the city, wander what's left of the labyrinthine hutongs, "fine and numerous as the hairs of a
cow" (as one Chinese guidebook puts it), and check out the little antique markets, the residential shopping
districts, the smaller, quirkier sights, and the parks, some of the best in China, where you'll see Beijingers
performing tai ji and hear birdsong – just – over the hum of traffic. Take advantage, too, of the city's
burgeoning nightlife and see just how far the Chinese have gone down the road of what used to be called
spiritual pollution.

If the Party had any control over it, no doubt Beijing would have the best climate of any Chinese city; as it is,
it has one of the worst. The best time to visit is in autumn, between September and October, when it's dry
and clement. In winter, it gets very cold, down to minus 20°C, and the mean winds that whip off the
Mongolian plains feel like they're freezing your ears off. Summer (June– Aug) is muggy and hot, up to 30°C,
and the short spring (April & May) is dry but windy.
Getting to Beijing is no problem: as the centre of China's transport network you'll probably wind up here
sooner or later, whether you want to or not, and to avoid the capital seems wilfully perverse. On a purely
practical level, it's a good place to stock up on visas for the rest of Asia, and to arrange transport out of the
country – most romantically, on the Trans-Siberian or Trans-Mongolian trains. To take in its superb sights
requires a week, by which time you may well be ready to move on to China proper; Beijing is a fun place,
but make no mistake, it in no way typifies the rest of the nation.

Highlights
Forbidden City Imperial
magnificence on a grand scale and the centre of the Chinese
universe for six centuries.
Temple of Heaven This
classic Ming-dynasty building, a picture in stone of ancient Chinese
cosmogony, is a masterpiece of architecture and landscpae design.
798 Art District This
huge complex of galleries and studios provides the focus for a thriving
contemporary arts scene.
Nanluogu Xiang Artsy
alley of laid-back cafés, restaurants and bars, at the centre of a
charming neighbourhood.
Summer Palace Escape the city in this serene and elegant park, dotted with imperial
architecture.
HotpotA northern Chinese classic, a stew of sliced lamb, tofu, cabbage and anything else
you fancy boiled up at your table. Specialist restaurants abound, but Dong Lai Shun Fan
Zhuang is one of the best.
The style may be vaudeville, but the stunts, performed by some of the world's
Acrobatics
greatest acrobats, are breathtaking.
The Great Wall One
of the world's most extraordinary engineering achievements, the old
boundary between civilizations is China's must-see.
 Travel Trivia – How much do you know about Europe?

1 In which European country are both Flemish and French

spoken?
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Belgium

2 This city, famous for music, is the capital of Austria.

Venice
Vienna
Salzburg

3 What's the unit of currency in England called?

The crown
The shilling
The pound

4 Transylvania, the home of Dracula, is located in this country.

Hungary
Romania
The Czech Republic

5 The Tate Gallery and Trafalgar Square are both located in this
capital city.
London
Rome
Edinburgh

6 You can see Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa in this museum.

The Prado
The Louvre
The Vatican

7 What's the name of the unit of currency in Italy?

The lira
The peso
The franc

8 In which Northern European country can you find many

 volcanoes and hot springs?
Norway
Scotland
Iceland

9 In this small English town you can visit the house of William
Shakespeare.
Oxford
Brighton
Stratford-upon-Avon

10 Visitors to Rome can visit this ancient sports arena.

The Colosseum
The Acropolis
The Vatican
 Travel Trivia – How much do you know about the USA?

1 At this tourist attraction in Washington D.C. you can find

Lincoln's bedroom, the Green Room and the Red Room.
The White House
The Smithsonian Institute
The Museum of US History

2 Which of the following is NOT a borough of New York City?

Manhattan
Queens
Long Island

3 Which state legalized gambling in 1931?

California
New Jersey
Nevada

4 What's the smallest US state?

Hawaii
Rhode Island
Washington D.C.

5 At this famous monument located in South Dakota, you can

see the faces of four US presidents.
Mount Rushmore
Yellowstone
Mount McKinley

6 Carmel is a romantic, beach resort in _______.

Florida
Hawaii
California

7 What's the capital of California?

Los Angeles
Sacramento
San Francisco

8 Jazz music comes from this city.

New Orleans
 Atlanta
New York City

9 This is the longest river in the United States.

The Colorado
The Missouri
The Mississippi

10 What state is the Grand Canyon in?

Colorado
Arizona
Nevada