I Must Continue Learning English

I went to my aunt’s home for dinner yesterday. After the dinner my aunt asked me to give some advice to my 17 years old cousin on his English learning. I was attracted by his textbooks because it is much more colorful than the ones I used in high school. First, I wanted to have an overview of the book. Strawberry, indispensable, complementary……, I do not think I saw them in my high school textbook! Nowadays, high school students required to learn much more than before. I have to continue learning English to avoid being kicked out by the “youngsters”.

A story of cell phone

I read a story last night. And I want to share it with all of you.

A girl always turns her cell phone off and puts it on the desk every night before going to bed.
The girl had a very close boyfriend. They often call or send messages to each other. One night, the boy called her. But her cell phone was turned off and she was asleep. The next day the boy asked the girl to leave her cell phone on at night, because if he couldn't contact her he would be worried. From that day, she never shut her cell phone. Unfortunately, there was a gap between them after some days, and then the boy left her.After a long time, the girl had a new love. But no matter how well they got along, the girl refused to get married. She still remembered that boy.

One night, the girl was ill. She dialed the new boy's cell phone. The boy was already asleep but his cell phone was still on. Later, the girl asked the boy: "Why don't you turn your cell phone off at night?" The boy answered: "I'm afraid that if you need anything at night and aren't able to find me, you will be worried." Finally the girl married the boy.　

I think no matter for whom you leave your phone on, we can let the person who need help find us anytime. This is why China Highlights' travel adviser promises the clients to leave their cell phone on for 24 hours. When the clients have anything, they can call their travel adviser. The travel adviser will be more than happy to help them.

My tough girlfriend

I would like to share this essay to all of the gentlemen at China Highlights.

 My tough girlfriend

If you kiss her, you are not a gentleman.

If you do not, you are not a man.

If you praise her, she thinks you are lying.

If you do not, you are good for noting.

If you agree to all her likes, she is abusing.

If you do not, you are not understanding.

If you make romance, you are an “experienced man”.

If you do not, you are half a man.

If you visit her too often, she thinks it is boring.

If you do not, she accuses you of double crossing.

If you are well dressed, she says you are a play boy.

If you do not, you are a dull boy.

If you are jealous, she says it is bad.

If you do not, she thinks you do not love her.

If you attempt a romance, she says you did not respect her.

If you do not, she thinks you do not like her.

If you are a minute late, she complains it is hard to wait.

If she is late, she says that’s a girl’s way.

Oh God! You created those creature called “Woman”.

So simple, yet so complex.

So weak, yet so powerful.

So confusing, yet so desirable.

"O LORD,tell me what to do. AMEN".

A Short Trip to Guilin Heishan Botanical Garden

During the Spring Festival, my friend and I paid a visit to Guilin Heishan Botanical Garden. It is one of the many free public parks in Guilin.

The main attractions there are the peace and quiet environment, large-scale green lands, and variety of rare plants. It boasts to have over 210,000 plants among 400 categories. It is worthy for you to spend a whole afternoon there with families or friends in sunshine days.

Guilin Botanical Garden is located in the southwest of Guilin city; about 10 minutes walk from the railway station, just at the back of the new Lianda Shopping Plaza. It was newly furnished and reopened to public since last year, and now become very popular among local residence, attracting quite a lot of local tourists everyday.

Here come some of the shots there:
at the front door of the Garden


The center grassland and typical Guilin hills in the distance


at the center of the Garden.


There are a lot of Big Banyan Trees here like this.

The heart of our flat.

Many of my overseas friends often ask me how I manage to cope with the different culture in China, the social requirements here and the challenges of everyday life in a totally alien language in general. I then tell them that it is not so difficult as long as there is place to go back to when the batteries are empty.
For me this place is my home library. This is the place where I and my wife spend most of our time in the evening. When I feel unhappy or angry, or I think of taking the next flight back to Germany, I go here and find peace. At the moment we have only 600 books of our combined collection here in Guilin: Half Chinese from my wife and half in European languages from me. We still have a few hundred copies in Europe and in my wifes hometown and hope to reunite them with their brothers and sisters soon.

"Where there is a will, there is a way."

Why do people often feel frustrated even though they are capable of doing some thing? There are, among others, two main reasons. First, these people do not have a correct estimate of themselves. Second, they overestimate the difficulties.
It is passible to build up faith in oneself by having the right attitude towards one's own abilities. We should never underesrimate our abilities but should believe in the proverb: "Where there is a will, there is a way." Confidence is the promise for fulfilling a task successfully.

Yvonne

New Year Movie

Seeing a New Year movie is so important that it won't be neglected. After one year's tire, people want to release themselves and reward their one-year hard working. At this time, watching films will be a wonderful choice.

What’s great is that the New Year movies are creating an opportunity for people to watch many different movies, such as "Mei Lanfang", "Ye Wen", "If you are the one", "Crazy racing car", "The red cliff 2", "Haijiao No.7" and so on.

Even in the serious economic crisis, the movie market in China is still flourishing.


The red cliff 2' film poster

If you are the one' film poster

Mei Lanfang’ film poster

Whatever, New Year Movies can be seen as another visual feast in Spring Festival except the Spring Festival Gala Evening. If you are interested in Chinese films and culture, you can try to watch one or several of them, whatever, it is a good channel for you to know more about China.

An Ancient Water Town in Dreamland

Everyone has their own dreamland, especially people living in Jiangnan (areas south of the Yangtze River), whose dreamland has apricot blossom, spring rain, bridges and water. Though there are many water towns in Jiangnan, I only take Tongli as my favorite, an ancient town in dreamland.

Tongli is a town in Wujiang County of China’s east Jiangsu province, located on the eastern shore of Taihu Lake (the third largest freshwater lake in China). Once named Futu, Tongli is a well preserved water township with a history of more than 1,000 years. It is very convenient to get in and around here, just 18 kilometers (11 miles) from Suzhou and 80 kilometers from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. It feels really intriguing that we suddenly get to such a tranquil, beautiful and ancient town from Shanghai, the biggest metropolis in China. Resting on the east bank of an ancient canal, on the Shore of Taihu Lake, Tongli is a famous ancient site of rivers and lakes. The town, built around five lakes, is in the shape of a rough circle. It is divided into seven islands by more than 10 rivers and combined into a whole by 49 ancient bridges.

The most famous attractions of Tongli can be summed up as “one garden, two halls, and ternate bridges”.

The “one garden” refers to Tuisi (Retreat and Meditation) Garden, one of the classic gardens in Jiangnan. It is the symbol of Tongli and was listed as one of the World Culture Heritage Sites in China 2000. It was built in 1886 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) by Ren Lansheng. He was discharged from office at that time. Then he came back to his hometown Tongli to build this garden and named it as Tuisi meaning retreat and meditation. Tuisi Garden is laid out horizontally instead of vertically. The western part is a residential area, including a sedan hall, a tea hall and the main hall in addition to the eastern scenic area, consisting of the exterior and interior gardens, stretching from west to east. In the north of the exterior garden are halls for meeting or entertaining guests. On the other side is a boat landing, serving as a rendezvous point for guests.

In the interior garden, the pavilions, terraces, winding causeways, corridors and rockeries all surround the pond, or lie close to the water, giving an illusion of floating on the water. Therefore the garden is also known as "Tieshui Yuan” (Garden Close to the Water).

The “two halls” are Gengle Hall and Chongben Hall. The ternate bridges are Peace and Tranquility (Taiping) Bridge, Luck (Jili) Bridge and Lasting Celebration (Changqing) Bridge. The Ternate Bridges cross three rivers at their confluence and form a natural ring road. They are propitious symbols in the eyes of the local residents and they walk over them for good luck during wedding or birthday parties. When in Rome, do as Romans do. We also walk over the ternate bridges and pray for a good future.

Funny Videos

I watched a series of funny videos in Tudou- one of the most popular video sites in China, called funny sleeping positions. They included a lot of funny poses of animals and persons. The following pictures are "the proof".



So cute!

Lovely, right?

When I watched these videos, the first idea came to me was "oh, so cute”, and then I was so curious about if the sleeping people feel comfortable or not about their special poses. However, the deepest impression to me is that people are different from the past, who know how to balance their work and life and have various and particular methods, such as watching videos and making videos.

At least for me, watching videos is a good and effective way to release myself. While I am watching the videos, I can laugh crazily and forget all the things temporarily, of course at home. In a word, whatever your way is, enjoy your free time and keep a good mood!

I like papaya

I like eating papayas. It’s good for my health. Lots of ladies also like the papayas. Because it can make them svelte and also can make them beautiful. People usually use it cooking the soup or eating it directly. Some medicine is made from the papayas.

The papaya is a tropical fruit. They grow in hot areas. Therefore, in China, Hainan Island is rich in papayas. Its tree looks like the coconut tree, but its fruit is green or yellow and the flesh is softer and sweeter than the coconut’s.
In last April, my father grew a papaya tree in our garden. After four months, the tree was about 1.4 meters tall and some flowers opened. Several days later, a small fruit appeared. We were all excited. My father took good care of the tree. But in winter, the weather was so cold and was not suit for the tree’s growing. Unfortunately, the fruit fell down. “I will try it again,” my father said though he’s sad. This year he pays more attention to the tree. We hope the tree can grow well.There's a saying:" no pain, no gain." I believe we can get some fruits in the future.

We want to buy a sofa

Our house has just finished decoration. It is time for us to buy all kinds of furnitures and home appliances. We have reached an agreement on what kind of home appliances and dinner table we should buy. But it is very hard for us to reach an agreement on which kind of sofa we should buy. My girlfriend like leather sofa as she thinks it is more comfortable to sit on. I like fabric sofa because it warm in winter, and it is very comfortable to sleep on. But my GF’s parents prefer Chinese style wooden sofa, they argue that it is more strong and durable. But both my GF and me don’t like wooden sofa, because it is very hard, not comfortable to sit on. It is also outdated.
According to the tips from internet, inexpensive sofa can break and will look out of shape within a year of constant use. After visiting all the furniture stores in Guilin, we decide to buy a Kuka leather sofa, for Kuka has the reputation as the leading brand of leather sofa. They have a promotion recently and we can get a good deal on one model.

Will tourists allowed to visit Tibet in year 2009?

We received an urgent notice from Tibet tourism bureau; we were told to cancel or postpone our customers travel plans to Tibet in March. We were told that "Tibet may be open in April". With great disappointment, we send emails to our confirmed clients as follows:

"We are very sad to have to inform you that we are unable to complete your travel arrangement to enable you to go Tibet (as part of your China Tour package) in March. We have just been informed that the Tibetan Government is concerned about possibility of unrest during this time and will not issue entry permits for tourist (those who have received the Tibet Permit will not allowed to enter Tibet either during said period). They want to be sure that travelers are safe while in Tibet and therefore because of this uncertainty this decision has been made. We apologize, but there is nothing that we can do to change this decision.

We will certainly do all we can to assist in modifying the tour arrangements to suit your needs and if you decide to cancel your tour we will arrange a full refund of any money paid to us, even if this results in a loss to China Highlights.

We are uncertain when entry permits will be available but we are more than happy to rebook you tour at a later date if this is suitable for you."

Tourism has been a big income for local Tibetans, but it was closed also in year 2008 for tourists. We don't know how long Tibet will be closed for tourists this year, David, one of China Highlights destination travel manager, had more inside stories.

"Feb 23 to March 2 is the New Year holiday for Tibetans. I checked with a few travel agencies there in Tibet to ask for their opinions, none of them knew how long Tibet will be closed for western tourists. Some travel agencies have not canceled their customers travel plans in May to Tibet. Grand Circle travel from the USA had trips to Tibet (OAT) every year, but it looks like that they are considering to modifying their destination."

"There are some positive news about Tibet travel,, it is said that the local municipal government has spend more money to develop travel project to enhance and to restore travel businesses in Tibet in year 2009 on Tibet Tourism Bureau web sites. First Highway between Lhasa airports to the city is in planning stage, direct flight between Lanzhou and Lhasa maybe opens this year too."

"However, it looks more serious from the news on the official web site of Lhasa Government; it says that 'it is the first priority to carry out the work of anti-secession.' 'At the anniversary time of March 14 events, we shall not be exclusive of people who has ulterior motive, will travel to destroy the peace of our country, we have to be well prepared'"

"It is a policy for hotels to have their customers to be registered with personal details in China, lately, three hotels received fine from Public Security Bureau for not having their clients to register".

We hope that we will be able to send our clients there soon to see the beautiful landscape and to meet the lovely people there.

My 2008 Annual Travel- On the Ship

At about 7:40pm, we started boarding ship.
Our beds were in the fourth class cabin, in the bottom of the ship. There are about ten big compartments, no door for each compartment and the biggest one can accommodate 24 people.

After setting up the luggage, I sat on Lussie's bed to watch each of our roommates. A farther and a daughter, they should go to Putuo Mountain for worship; a single middle-aged woman. From the conversation with her, I knew she is a mother who is returning home after seeing her daughter at a university in Shanghai. It seems that she was very proud of her daughter. An aged woman wearing glasses, who was above the proud mother, after getting on her bed, started reading. Compared with other people in the last class cabin, she was literate and dressed decently. She should be a devout Buddhist. The rest six are two couples and two singles. Among them, some should be residents of Putuo Island, some should be pilgrims. Though they were meanly dressed, sparely dieted, they seemed happy and passionate because they had pure but firm belief.

My 2008 Annual Travel- An Adventurous Experience

From Suzhou, we took a train returning Shanghai to catch the overnight ship to Putuo Mountain.
On account of the budget, we endeavored to take public transport instead of taxi. And according to the map, there was a subway to Wusongkou, and the port is not very far from subway station. So, even knew it would be a hard work, we still decided to find it just by walking.
Before we got the exit, a young man with heavy accent yelled to us: "Are you going to the port? Take my motorbike, 15 Yuan for you two". "Get out, get out, and don't importune guests at here." One of the staff of the subway station shouted. Before leaving home, both Lussie and I had been exhorted many times that do ignore any strangers who accosted us forwardly. So, we steered clear of the guy and asked directions with the subway staff. And then, we got out. But the guy followed us all the way and kept trying to persuade us to take his motorbike.
"10 Yuan, for 2 people and the entire luggage"
"Thank you but we don’t need it. We will take a taxi". To get rid of him, I replied him.
"Taxi? It is very expensive. If you meet a black-hearted driver, you will need to pay much more."
We keep walking, without reply.
"Come on! Why you can't open your heart and trust others? You are on a wrong direction"
Really we are wrong? I got caught in two minds and hesitated. It was almost 5:00pm. If can't catch the ship, we really don't know what we should do. Then, we stopped and turned round. At this moment, a middle -aged woman holding a pet dog walking toward us. "She must be a local resident." I thought. We asked way with her again. What she told us is same with what we got at the subway station but totally opposite with the outlander. It was not until then that the irksome man finally left.
"It was indeed a hard work. I almost trust him." I said to myself in heart.

Beware of cell phone defrauder

I heard telephone scandals before. Defrauders usually got a lost phone and started calling all people from the address book of the phone; they tried to tell them to wire some money to certain bank account by saying the phone owner is in urgent need of the money. Some people, especially family members will do immediately, but I received a cheating call yesterday, it is different this time. The call is from a guy who spoke mandarin with me in strong Cantons accent, below is our conversation:

 

He: hello, how are you lately?

Me: I am fine, thanks

He: It has being a long time since we met last time. I was in Liuzhou last week, I really wanted to go to Guilin to see you.

Me: Really? But….. I am sorry that I can't recognize your accent, who is it?

He: What? You don't know who I am? Guess

Me: I am sorry, I don't really know, I am on my way home, it is the end of the day, I am tired after a long day, can you please tell me your name?

He: Who are your friends in Guangzhou? Can't you remember?

Me: Hmm, I am pretty messy at the moment, but let me think… well, please tell me who are you? I am driving and not convenient to chat at the moment.

He: Who are your friends in Guangzhou?

Me: Hmm, Xiangweihua? Xiaodi?

He: Oh, man, how can you forget things quickly?

Me: Hey, I am sorry

He: Okay, I am Zhangweihua, how are you?

Me: But how come you sound so different now, and you are using a different number?

He: I wanted to visit you last week when I was in Liuzhou….

Me: 你吹牛！That could not be true; you are definitely not my friend Weihua.

He: switched off the phone.

 

I called my friend Xiangweihua right away, and he is perfect well, I could recognize his voice easily. So, my friend, be watchful when you received this kind of phone call, don't bother yourself searching for names. Also, we you are making phone calls, don't make others to guess, tell them who you are.

Frozen Soil is getting lesser and lesser on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau due to global warming

It is reported that the frozen soil which is also called tundra on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are disappearing. Frozen soil less than 10 meters will disappear in 7 years.

Frozen soil is good for plants to grow and good for keeping the land wet by providing humidity to the surface on earth, which is the best thing to prevent desertification. The report says that seasonal frozen soil has reduced to 2.8 meters from 3.2 meters in the last 30 years.

Many short root plants will die as a direct result of the reduction of the frozen soil. This will cause desertification, solifluction which will endanger the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, road and people's life on the plateau.

30% of land in China is desert and 37% of the land had problems of water and soil erosion, plus 0.1% of the rest of the "good land" is "desertized" every year. (the circle on the picture are the region of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau)

The two major rivers, the Yangtze River and Yellow River are originated from Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, with the desertification of origin of these two rivers, what do you think will happen to China? The flood, the drought, the three gorges dam, the life….. I can't imagine.

We are endangered by global warming. What can we do as a tiny human being? Maybe it is time for us to consume lesser one-off wooden chopsticks and to visit Tibet before the desert does.

Some Terrible Art in Western Countries

I found some people in western countries are very crazy. I can't find the reason why they do that by ravaging their bodies and faces. It seems that thy never care about their bodies, even their soul, it is a terribel thing. I don't think they belong to special arts.

These scenes are easily found in some western countries, like Brazil, US.A, France, and little in some Southeastern countries like Thailand, Vietnam. There are obvious differences between these countries, and they have the different purposes. Western countries for art? Southeastern countries for living? All right?
I doubt whether it is really worth to do. To earn living or art by destroying themselves. Maybe, we never think like them if we live in a small, rich and peaceful environment.

Tangerine lantern

The first time I learnt about know tangerine lantern was in a Chinese lesson when I was a pupil. The author, Bingxin, introduces steps of how to make it. Under the instruction, I tried several times after going home. Fortunately, I made it. When light up the candle in the lantern, I really enjoy the moment. Warm and soft light makes me happy.

Do you know how to make it? Would you like to learn those steps? Follow me please!

Step 1: peel the top of a tangerine roundly

Step 2: press the rest softly to loosen tangerine pulp from seedcase.

Step 3: pick up pulp carefully.

Step 4: make 3 holes on the fridge

Step 5: use wire drill through the holes

Step 6: use a chopsticks as a handle

Step 7: put a small candle inside and use a needle to keep it stably.

Step 8: light up the candle

Step 9: enjoy it….

It will be a surprise when you give lantern as a gift to someone. Give it a try!

By Rebecca

My Pet Store Trip

My dream is to have a Border Collie and treat it as my boy~, but every time I go to the pet store only for cat’s food > <… Anyway, I believe my dream will come true one day! (Big laugh ^ ^)

Last week, I went to the pet store as usual, and luckily, I saw a puppy’s mommy in the store with six boys & girls around. The housewas full of happiness, and all the puppies just could not open their eyes. They were crawling on the ground beside their mommy and look extremely lovely! What a family!

On my way back, I thought if I could adopt one of them, it would be the best thing in my life ~ (Just kidding, haha, but I really love dogs!)~~~~~

Spring is coming

Spring comes. In spring, the weather is always sunny and rainy. It's not cold and not hot. It becomes warmer and warmer. Spring is colorful, I think it's a wonderful season for taking photos. The flowers begin to open and the trees begin to turn green.
On my way home, there are lots of peach trees being planted. And the beautiful peach blossoms are on the trees. So the road is called Taohuajiang Road and the river near the road is also named Taohuajiang River. (Taohua means peach blossom.) I guess. The birds are singing in the sky. I think they are very happy. The animals will go out to find the food. Many people like to go out and enjoy the sunshine. The farmers are ready to grow the crops and vegetables. My mother plants some vegetables in our garden. And she cooks it every day for me. Yum!! It tastes delicious!
It is a saying that "a year’s plan starts with spring". I should make a schedule so that I can make progress in my work.

I won’t be a housewife

I have to say I am a lucky woman because I have not become a housewife so far, though I married for a couple of months. Everyday I work and have lunch with everybody in the office (a chef cooks lunch for our office every working day), and I order takeaways for dinner. When I get back home, I have the washing machine to handle the clothing. In the weekend, there is a cleaner will clear my house, and I only need to pay RMB10. What? How about the Baby? Oh my god! Forget it! It is a horrible big deal for me! I am a “baby” as well for the moment!

Women's wardrobe is aways lacking a piece of clothing.

I always feel that my wardrobe is lacking a piece of clothing.

I remember in my childhood I was envious of other kids who had new dresses all the time, and I looked forward to the Spring Festival's coming very much, because I would receive a lot of new dresses, skirts, etc.

When I grew up, I started to learn making up and coordinating dress.

Sometimes I read many fashionable dress magazines and watch TV, and then I found I could become more beautiful than I saw myself.

There are so many styles and elements: jeans, dresses, watches, purses, headdresses, etc.

Gradually, I found my dresses are less and less though I purchased every month.

Until now, I really hope our office can offer a uniform; therefore I do not need to worry about selecting the daily dress.

Eva

Poor mother with happy life

An old lady, who has two daughters, always shuts in her sad mood on her own.

Wanna know why?

One of her daughter married an umbrella maker, and another one married a farmer, it seems that this makes her getting into a dilemma as the weather changing. During the sunny days, the sensitive mother is getting very sad, she thought her son-in-law is not able to earn much money by selling the umbrella, and her daughter will live a poor life; during the rainy days, again, the mother is being sad all the same, because the other son-in-law will have little money for the good harvest needs enough sunlight, and accordingly, she was worry about her daughter could not have a happy life. You see, no one will be happy when he is so pessimistic.

Then what will you do if you were the poor mother？

The answer is just like stick out a mile, the mother should be delight with the one who married the umbrella maker during the rainy days and pray for another daughter; during the sunny days, be happy for the one married a famer, since then, she will not be sad any more.

What will you do when you surround an economic crisis which is we never met before?

Keeping negative and pessimistic, or consider it as an opportunity or turning point？Every one will suffer from this horrible crisis; and no one will be an exception. Crisis will sweep off the low quality enterprises and employees and makes the well-operate ones become much stronger. Do remember keeping the belief of confidential and optimistic, and of course, working hard. Attitude is everything.

Losar(Tibetan New Year Customs)

Losar or the Tibetan New Year is in full swing in Tibet or other regions with sizable Tibetan population. You may have already read these customes elsewhere, but which were of great interest to me as I read introduction to that event.

Traditionally, on the first day of the New Year, the housewife will get up very early, and, after cooking a pot of barley wine for the family, she will sit beside the window awaiting the sunrise. As the first ray of sunshine of the New Year touches the nearby earth, the housewife takes a bucket and heads for a nearby river, or well, to fetch the year's first bucket of water, which is seen as the most sacred, clearest water of the coming year. The family that fetches the first bucket of water from the river/the well is believed to be blessed with good luck for the coming year.

On the nearby farms, housewives cook an equal number of sheep heads as there are family members. The cooked sheep heads are then presented to the most elderly person in the family, who thereafter passes a sheep's head to each person present, using a small knife, where the hierarchical order in which the sheep heads are passed out is determined by the age of the family members - in another word, the older family members will receive a sheep head first; the youngest, last.

On the first day of the New Year, celebrations are usually restricted to the immediate family, with the second and third day being time to visit friends and relatives. The second and third day is also time for the tibetan to visit monasteries and make offerings.

Keep appetite for something

Several days ago, I read an article about keeping appetite for something. The author's analysis really help me! It helped me understand the reason for feeling bored in daily life. Keeping appetite is really a good way to keep our life fresh and interesting. When you are thirsty enough, you will find the water sweet. When you are hungry enough, you will eat any food with pleasure.

Nowadays, people's lives can be satisfied easily and quickly. Most of them can eat and drink whatever they like. Have you ever had the feeling that nothing special can attract you? The reason is that you may lack the appetite for your life and the external things.

So how to keep the appetite for our life? Here are my suggestions. First, don't fulfill your need in a short time or at the same time. When your demand was satisfied, you will lack the great interest in it. Several years ago, buying a computer is my greatest dream, but now I pay the least interest on it.

Second, don't pursuit the happiness and excitement of the future. It is a very common phenomenon that people spend tomorrow's money to realize today's dream. But I think it is not a good living style. Try to remember that the best thing is the one you want to own, but not the one you had.

Interview on Guilin sight-seeing bus from Guangxi TV Station

I took an interview from Guangxi TV Station yesterday. The topic is what’s your opinion about sight-seeing bus in Guilin?

Sometimes when I walk on the street and come across sight-seeing bus, I find that just very few people on it, although the bus condition is good. In my opinion the major reason is that about 85% tourists travel in Guilin with groups, so transportation already arranged. Or some travelers drive their own car or SUV, no need to use public one. So the target of sight-seeing bus is backpackers. But most of them do not know there are nice buses available through 3 parks in Guilin. Easy to see that lack of propaganda is another reason.

We finished the interview within several minutes. It is broadcasted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 6:50pm, Guangxi TV Station.


By Rebecca

Try to cultivate a good habit

Reading is my habit. When I was just a school boy, I liked reading very much. Reading makes me acquainted with different opinions and different thoughts. When I am getting a new book, I will read it all from the beginning to the end. A good book always makes me happy and content, because a good book is not only a good teacher but an intimate friend. It will make you engaged when you are lonely.

Reading plays an important role in my weekend activity. Every weekend morning, reading is the first activity after I wakes up.

Reading always makes me relaxed and pleased. Some books are useful when I am feeling upset and disappointed. When I am reading the words of the pages loudly, I forgot the unhappy experiences and try to stir myself.

There are many famous sentences about reading. Here are some of them.
“We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.”
“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” ---Confucius
“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” -- Dr. Seuss

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” -- Groucho Marx

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” -- Harry S. Truman
“Never judge a book by its movie.” - J.W. Eagan
“A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.” -- Jerry Seinfield

If you go through the tunnel south of Yao Shan

If you go through the tunnel south of Yao Shan (Yao Mountain), Guilin, as I did in November, you will probably see this distinctive pelican-shaped boulder on the hill to the right. I noticed it is viewable from the road when I went through the tunnel recently, as is the big cliff above it. It is a great place to explore with a pine forest below and boulders to climb. Guilin prefecture has given me many hours of fun off the beaten track. It's a climbers playground that is not swarming with climbers, except in some places around Yangshuo that is.

Premier League VS Serie A

European Champions League will restart on this Tuesday. Just like last season, three Italian clubs will play against three English clubs. Last time, the three English clubs swept their Italian opponents, and they are hoping to sing "Yesterday Once More".
Italian clubs are looking forward to revenge. I think the most promising one is Inter Milan, they just defeated AC Milan and they are in very good form now. Their opponent Manchester United is the holder of the league, but I don't think they will win.

Dose a Website’s Color Affect Customers’ Buying Behavior?

While discussing the color set for China Highlights' new website I came across a question. Does a  website's color affect customers' buying behavior?

It might be an interesting question. At present there are not any believable evidences to confirm this assumption. But we can easily see that there are many famous retail websites use the similar colors with the products that they sell in their websites. For example if a website sells chocolates they might use a brown color (http://www.dovechocolate.com/ ).

If this assumption is true we should use more blue/ green/ yellow for travel websites as they are similar with sea/ mountains/ beaches. As for a China travel website it might be more acceptable and wiser to add dark red (Chinese Red) besides the color used for common travel websites.

(by David Deng)

 

 

 

Home Again Though I Don’t Really Have a Home There

It was so happy that I can have the chance to go to Xishuangbanna for this Spring Festival after discussing with my mother. It was my hometown and would always be my hometown though I don't really have a home there.

I was born in a small town near Nanning the capital of Guangxi Region. Several moths later I was taken to Hunan Province where I have spent most of childhood. My parents told me we were Hunanese as our ancestors used to live there for decades.

When I was 13 some things happened with my father's business and I was finally brought to Xishuangbanna where my grandma lived there for half of her life. And I stayed with my grandma there.

Time passed by, this year was the 8^th year I have left Xishuangbanna and my grandma. When I saw my grandma welcomed me at the road waving her trembling hands my tears dropped down.

I've been to many places but I'm sure this is where my heart is. There's love and would always opens a door for me though I've never really have a home there.

I love Xishuangbanna, I love my grandma, I love my home…

(by David Deng)