Badaling, Mutianyu, and Simatai are the most popular spots to being a Great Wall of China tour. The closest to Beijing, where most travelers are approaching from is Badaling, about 40 miles northwest of the capital. Here is certainly the most popular spot for tour guides and those giving the Great Wall a cursory glance.

Here you will find a glut of souvenir shops, cheesy restaurants and any number of other tourist traps, but for those who want to keep their transportation simple and convenient, this is the best place to learn the history of the Great Wall of China – the Great Wall Museum is also here.

Mutianyu is not much better. Over 50 miles from Beijing, you will find a similar tourist-driven atmosphere at Mutianyu, though the wall is far more complex than in Badaling, as you will find a number of fascinating guard towers and some of the best views along any section of the wall.

Experienced travelers know that near the small town of Gubeikou, the remains at Simatai are one of the best places to get an unfettered and more authentic look at the Great Wall of China. Watchtowers line the walls, haphazardly winging their way across the landscape.

The only problem with Simatai is that it is a much more rigorous hike to view the Wall – the terrain ranges from sharp inclines to steep dropoffs almost without warning, so it is certainly not for the beginning hiker. But those that make the trip to Simatai are sure to be rewarded with the best views in all of China..

http://www.destination360.com/asia/china/great-wall-of-china.php

Today I’ll give you a brief insight into the first one: Buddhism.

The real Buddha is Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Awakened One, who lived around the 2nd century BCE.

Buddhists believe that life doesn’t end with the death of a human being. Depending on how you lived your life, you get either good or bad karma. Judged by the karma, your dynamic energy (= not the soul) comes back to earth in a different form.

1. Naraka beings live in hell
2. Animals lower form of life
3. Preta: inbetween form of existence, e.g. ghosts
4. Human beings: one of the realms of rebirth in which attaining Nirvana is possible.
5. Devas gods, deities, spirits or angels

Various sources put the number of Buddhists in the world between 230 million and 500 million.

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21 Must-Know Facts about Israel

1. Proverb One: 滴(dī)水(shǔi)之(zhī)恩(ēn)当(dāng)以(yǐ)涌(yǒng)泉(quán)相(xiāng)报(bào)
   Literally: A drop of water shall be returned with a burst of spring.
   • A. You may have humble beginnings, but hard work always brings abundance
     B. Even if it was just a little help from others, you should return the favor with all you can when others are in need.
     C. Those that sow the seeds will harvest the benefits.
2. Proverb two: 一(yī)人(rén)吃(chī)饱(bǎo)，全(quán)家(jiā)不(bù)饥(jī)
   Literally: A single member of a family eats; the whole family will not be hungry.
   • A. If one person in the family is happy, the whole family is happy.
     B. The whole family consists of only one person, usually referring to the one not yet married
     C. If one family member gains, he will always share this with his whole family.
3. Proverb three: 冰(bīng)冻(dòng)三(sān)尺(chǐ)，非(fēi)一(yī)日(rì)之(zhī)寒(hán)(ice+freeze+three+units(~feet),not+one+day’s(7th and 8th)+chill)
   Literally: Three feet of ice not result from one day of freezing weather.

   A. A predicament is not formed without a period of events creating it.
   B. Rome was not built in a day.
   C. Praiseworthy results are built step by step.

Think your Chinese understanding is up to scratch? Read the comments to see the answers…

Who said it was just for geeks? Picture by Scrabble Gal

Ha! There it is! The proof that not every young person is a slave of their PSP or Xbox: the third World Youth Scrabble Championship is staged to be held in Penang, Malaysia from Dec 9th to Dec 12th. And it is predicted to be a huge success.

Never heard of Scrabble before? I can’t imagine. With more than 100 million boards sold, Scrabble is one of the most popular board games around. And if that doesn’t say anything to you, the game was referred to in CSI, Friends, Seinfield, Saturday Night Live, The Wedding Planner and the lists goes on and on.

The word game requires a rich vocabulary, quick mathematics and strategic insight. All skills that organizer Karen Richards hopes to instill in the young competitors at the WYSC.

May the best player win… eh, prevail? Conquer? Be triumphant?

Until now.

Seeing is said to be believing. But the frilled shark looks so much like its extinct relatives, it has been dubbed a living fossil. The biggest of its kind is only about 2 meter long, but the 25 rows of 300 teeth combined with its unusual gills make the shark a chilling sight nonetheless.

No worries, there’s small chance you’ll meet one of these on a surfing trip. They are mostly found in the waters of Japan, but at a depth of 600 – 1000 meters (2000 – 3000 feet).

You can see a video here.

There is another style of bento. It’s called kyaraben and means the food is decorated to look like people, animals or other items. And Anna The Red’s Bento factory takes kyaraben to a whole new level!

Also according to Anna, Japanese mums will get up early in the morning just to prepare bento’s for their kids and husbands. Imagine having one of these every day!

When you see her bento’s, Anna hopes that her creations will make you go “ooh, neat”. (which worked with me!) She has more examples and shows you step-by-step how create such bento’s yourself on her Flickr page. Enjoy!

Ahh…. Anyone else got hungry??

Traditional Japanese bento

The last one involved a drink which I had hope to be a myth: fresh snake blood. Apparently there are some countries where snakes are slithering around in a box, waiting for their turn to be beheaded. Their blood and heart are caught in a small glass and served to the customer. It is believed to be a natural aphrodisiac, the Viagra of old times.

“It’s a bit gooey,” he explains while I listen in shock. “The texture is thicker than normal liquid. You have to drink it up in once and when you swallow the heart, you can feel it beating in your throat…”

I’m disgusted, but the guys around me are not. They want to try it as well. Unfortunately for them, this kind of practices is becoming illegal in more and more countries. And even if it isn’t, “you have to know where to find it,” my friend says. I’m relieved. But until tourists start seeing the animal cruelty in this practice, it will be long from over…

People were pushing, screaming, shouting and climbing over one another. Even if you would have had no intention to go in, the crowd was so dense it would have airlifted you in there. Scrap the ‘flood’. This is more like a tsunami.

The job fair offered approximately 20,000 jobs. There were over 150,000 students attending…

All booths have massive lines before them

The Bacardi Breezer had the ultimate ‘cool’ image thanks to excellent marketing by Bacardi.

But supermarkets never checked any buyer’s age nor did they ask for identification. And the worry was that (too) young teenagers would be drinking too much.

The same thing is now happening in Malaysia, where a drink called samsu is being marketed with brand cartoon character names like Avatar and Ben 10 or equally youth attracting names such as Young Gun and Father Christmas.

The difference is: this drink can contain up to 51% alcohol… Yikes!

The Star newspaper headed: “Father Christmas turning teens into samsu addicts“, mentioning that the Malaysian governmental bodies is trying to regulate (read: ban) the drinks and/or shops that sell it. It will be interesting to see if they are more successful than their European counterparts.

Therefore this second little quiz on Chinese proverbs is a better way to increase your cultural understanding than your Chinese skills. But either way: it’s just for fun!

1. Proverb one: kōng)穴(xué)来(lái)风(fēng)未(wèi)必(bì)无(wú)因(yīn)
Literally: If the wind comes from an empty cave, it’s not without a reason.
A. Most seemingly strange rumours have an origin in fact.
B. When it looks to good to be true, it usually is.
C. Hidden motives will eventually be uncovered.

2. Proverb two: 老(lǎo)骥(jì)伏(fú)枥(lì), 志(zhì)在(zài)千(qiān)里(lǐ)
Literally: The old horse in the stable still yearns to run 1000 li ¹.
A. A reference to the communist days when everybody worked hard.
B. Stop dreaming of the impossible and face reality.
C. Don’t underestimate experienced people, they still may have great ambitions and potential.

3. Proverb three: 人(rén)要(yào)脸(liǎn), 树(shù)要(yào)皮(pí)
Literally: a person needs a face; a tree needs bark.
A. A person needs a clean reputation to survive.
B. Don’t complain about being ugly or envy someone else’s beauty. You are who you are.
C. You should always smile, your face is the first thing people see when they look at you.

The answers will be posted in the comments soon. For more quizzes on Chinese proverbs, try Little Chinese proverbs quiz – Part I.