Backpacking Tour of China

Are you looking for an oriental adventure? Join our 9-day tour and explore China—a country famous for its delicious food, cute pandas and the longest wall in the world! Our China backpacking tour combines history and culture, exciting activities and popular sites.

Day 1—Hong Kong

•Start your adventure at the hotel

•Receive a full introduction from the tour leader

•Board a famous Chinese high-speed train to get to the mainland of China

Day 2 to 4—Chengdu

•Meet your new adventure leader

•Spend the afternoon learning some helpful Mandarin phrases at a free lesson

•Visit the lovable pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding as they eat their bamboo shoots for breakfast

•Board the night train to Xi’an

Day 5 to 6—Xi’an

•Visit the unmissable Terracotta Warriors

•Cycle around the ancient city’s walls on a bike

•Explore the Bell and Drum Towers

•Experience a Chinese night out

Day 7 to 8—Hangzhou

•Head to the famous West Lake, a UNESCO Heritage Site

Take a boat to one of the islands

•Hike up to Jiuyao Mountain to see the impressive sunset

•Visit China National Tea Museum

Day 9—Macao

•Visit the historic center and spend time at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel Travel across the sea on a high-speed ship back to Hong Kong, arriving at 20:30.

•Time to say goodbye at the hotel that you started at. Congratulations, you’ve completed your tour of China!

Living on the Florida Emerald Coast, people view a hurricane as a common thing. So it is not unusual for a family to have several full gas cans and bottled water stored in their houses all summer.

Though unwilling to evacuate from a hurricane, on September 15,my family was forced to leave our home for my grandfather's house several miles away. We spent the early part of that evening watching the hurricane draw closer on the Weather Channel. Around nine o'clock, a loud sound shook the house, turned over the roof and carried it off. Soon came an indoor rainstorm.

Realizing the damage, my grandfather began to be afraid. The storm had started, but he still ran out into the heavy rain and wind to see how much of the roof was left. We got him back inside. I had never seen him so scared. Mom finally asked him to lie down in his room.

The leak had progressed rapidly. It soon became a race against time to protect what was saved. Some people may think it necessary to save material things, but I hoped to save those items with emotional value, such as the photos. I still feared the storm, but I more feared the influence it brought.

The next morning, it started to clear up. Thankfully, my family weathered the storm, though the same could not be said for the house. Only the wooden beams remained, but inside many of his things were safe. My mom and I had worked tirelessly through the night.

It was late, but we were still unwilling to go to bed. We discussed the rebuilding of the house. Under the beautiful sky, we suggested looking after my grandfather more often in the future. After this disaster, I realized the truth that the hurricane itself was not so terrible if we loved each other.

Nowadays, taking no notice of protecting the environment leads to problems including global warming. While discussing with my daughter about going green, I remembered the daily practices in most households in India. What we did was actually helping our environment and also protecting our resources. We did all this naturally, without even realizing its importance.

We preferred reusing pens in the past. We used to have ball pens used again and again by changing the refills and we also used ink pens, which were refreshed now and then by filling ink in them when required. There was no such thing as a use-and-throw pen. We loved the process of cleaning the writing instruments. However, today, plastic pens that do not last long are ruling the stationery（文具）shops.

We recycled and reused newspapers without really thinking twice about it. Newspapers were kept carefully during those days because they were an important material used for packing and storing. Today plastic bags have become important, All these materials pollute our land and water and prevent all conservation(保护)efforts.

Public transport was a common thing in the old days and it was so much fun. Nowadays.no one seems to have the patience to take public transport and many consider it too silly for them. So people take their cars out every day and pollute the environment, thinking it makes the m look cool. Vehicular (车辆的) pollution in cities is the biggest contributor to environmental problems.

I am not against the usage of modern technologies. In fact, it has helped make our life casier. While we can use the same technology to go green instead of polluting the environment, we should also go back to a few old traditions that are ecofriendly.

Some 128 baby squids from Hawaii are in space for a study. The baby Hawaiian squids come from the University of Hawaii's Kewalo Marine Laboratory. They are about 7.6 centimeters long. There are plenty of these tiny animals in Hawaiian waters. The squids will come back to Earth in July. They rode on a SpaceX spacecraft along with thousands of kilos of supplies for the International Space Station on June 3.

Jamie Foster is conducting the study as a researcher at the University of Hawaii with the help of Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai, a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspapers reported that she studies how spaceflight affects the squids. The research, started in 1989, can help scientists learn about human health during long trips in space.

Squids have a relationship with natural bacteria that help them control their giving off light. Margaret said, “When astronauts are in low gravity, their bodies' relationship with bacteria changes. Bacteria are very important to the human body and health. The relationship of humans with bacteria is disturbed in low gravity, and Jamie has shown that it is true in squids," said Margaret. "And, because it's a simple system, she can get to the bottom of what happens."

“As astronauts spend more and more time in space, their immune systems don't function well,” Jamie said. "Their immune systems don't recognize bacteria easily. They sometimes get sick. Understanding what happens to the squids in space could help solve health problems that astronauts face."

She said, "The immune system does not work properly on long spaceflights. If humans want to spend time on the moon or Mars, we have to solve health problems to get them there safely.”