Happy champing: English churches welcome campers
Silent night, holy night takes on a whole new meaning for visitors paying for an unorthodox overnight stay in a mediaeval English church.
Automated buses dodge peacocks, tourists and plants in Singapore test
Roaming peacocks, meandering tourists and curbside bushes were all causing headaches this week for operators of one of the first autonomous bus shuttle services to hit public roads in Singapore.
Drag shows and hipster parties: Jerusalem has an exciting underground nightlife
Jerusalem, ancient sacred city and heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, takes on a wholly different tone around midnight.
The perfect city?
The Austrian capital is for the second year in a row basking in the title of the world's most liveable city, as measured by the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual ranking of the world's urban centers.
Lionsgate Entertainment brings Asia's first high-tech amusement park to Guangdong Province
As the familiar score from the vampire romance movie Twilight floated through the air, I seemed to see main characters Bella and Edward dancing in front of me on the small stage decorated with lights and green plants. On one side of the stage, I could see a replica of Bella's old orange-colored pickup truck in a corner, a reminder of the time Edward saved Bella from a car accident at the beginning of the movie.
Tourism hotspot Barcelona alarmed by crime surge
A surge in muggings and burglaries in Barcelona, mainly targeting tourists, has sparked alarm in Spain's second-largest city, leading local residents to form their own crime-fighting patrols.
Warning signs
"It's nature's magical design," says a tourist guide, waxing poetic as he comments on the impressive red cliffs plunging into a turquoise sea at the Scandola nature reserve on France's Corsica island.
Miami: beach parties, gators on golf courses... and new tech hub?
Miami is famous for beach parties, gators that wander onto golf courses and iguanas that tumble out of palm trees.
Ethnic minority tribe keeps its traditions despite globalization
Mountainous and undeveloped, Guizhou is one of China's poorest provinces. Demographically, however, it is rich in diversity. At the foot of Moon Mountain in the endlessly dense forests of Congjiang county is a small hidden mountain village where the last hunter tribe of the Miao people live. The village's inhabitants are not only the last people in China still legally able to carry real firearms, but they also have other characteristics: They worship trees as bearers of the soul, live in their wooden houses, practice centuries-old customs and have their own unique beliefs.
A fascinating trip to Harbin, Heilongjiang Province
When people talk about Harbin, the capital city of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the first thing that comes to most people's minds is its marvelous ice sculpture festival held every winter.
Road trip through Qinghai and Northern Sichuan
Bored with city life, my friends and I decided to go on a road trip in late June.
Road trip through Qinghai and Northern Sichuan
Bored with city life, my friends and I decided to go on a road trip in late June.
The many ways of crossing the English Channel
By plane, hot-air balloon, gondola or jet-powered wing: The English Channel has been crossed in many inventive ways, even if Frenchman Franky Zapata failed in his bid with a "flyboard" on July 25.
Sicily lures visitors with 'ethical tourism' free of mafia taint
At the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Sicily has lured hordes of visitors in its 2,500-year history. Today, it is enticing ethical tourists who do not want to line the pockets of organized criminals.
For Cubans, enjoying a day at the beach is no easy task
Cuba's constitution guarantees its people access to its beaches, but many locals are unable to enjoy the island's pristine white sands and crystal clear blue waters.
The people of Yuanyang as backbone of Yunnan's environment
Yunnan, China's sixth largest province, is arguably one of the country's most diverse regions: The climate varies from the humid heat of the tropical rainforest in the south to the eternal snow of the Himalayan foothills in the north at altitudes from 70 to 7,000 meters above sea level. Between the peaks and glaciers are three deeply cut canyons. From there, powerful rivers roll southwards, being responsible for the early rise of culture in Asia and providing the needed water for agriculture.
Frontier holiday
The idea of a 6,000-kilometer road trip through northwestern China came up spontaneously during a hot pot boozing session in Beijing. One friend said that the best mutton was in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, another retorted that the best mutton was in Qinghai Province. At the moment it seemed there was only one way to find out. As soon as the semester was over, seven like-minded foreigners, mostly university lecturers and English teachers, set out in two SUVs to cross deserts and traverse mountain ranges.
Exploring the natural scenery of Wulong, Southwest China's Chongqing
When I was a child, I had to memorize a poem written by Li Bai, one of China's famous poets, for homework. One of the lines of the poem goes: Its torrent dashes down three thousand feet from high; As if the silver river fell from azure sky.