Going to China with Travellers? Well, there are just 2 things you have to make sure you do, you have been warned….
Peking Duck has the reputation of being the most delicious food Beijing has to offer. Eating Peking Duck is seen to be one of the two things you are absolutely supposed to do whilst in Beijing. The other one is climbing the Great Wall
The place that offers the best Peking Duck is the Quan Ju De Restaurant, which has outlets at Qianmen, Hepingmen and Wangfujing. It was established 130 years ago..
At Quan Ju De, ducks are immersed in condiments unique to the restaurant and are roasted directly over flames stoked by fruit tree wood. The best roast duck is date-red, shining with oil, but with a crisp skin and tender meat. The chef cuts the meat into thin slices at table. Then the meat is served with Chinese onions and special sauce.
Another famous restaurant offering Peking duck is the Bian Yi Fan (Cheap Restaurant), which opened in 1855, nine years earlier than Quan Ju De. At Bian Yi Fang, roasting is done in an enclosed container fueled with crop stalks.
If you’d like to find out more about our projects in China, click HERE
We’ve just started working in Ecuador and wanted to share with you some photos from the spectacular Tungurahua volcano!
The volcano is located in central Ecuador, 140 Kilometres from our projects in Quito. It stands at a majestic 5,023 metres and is truly stunning. In the last 1,300 years Tungurahua has become active every 80-100 years. In 1999, after a long period of rest, the volcano started an eruptive process. The activity is not usually dangerous – the closest town (Banos) has been evacuated on a few occassions, but due to the fantastic work of scientists, it is usually possible to gauge the exact activity of the volcano!
Check out these beautiful pictures from the last activity, in June 2010:
If you’d like to find out more about our projects in Ecuador, click HERE
The travel memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert titled EAT PRAY LOVE is now a major-motion picture starring Julia Roberts! She takes a year long adventure around the world to find herself and regain balance after a divorce from her husband. She travels to Italy, India and Bali to see the world and experience life through other cultures. The cultures she travels within and the people she meets along the way will shape her life and give her a new direction in mind, body, and soul …
The best news?! You don’t have to be Julia Roberts or have just gone through a divorce in order to have a similar adventure! Take a look at our projects and plan your own escape from your reality to renew yourself and give you life a bit of adventure!
If you’d like to check out the trailer for EAT PRAY LOVE click HERE
Would you like to join our Walking with Lions Project in Zimabab
we??
We’ve had a cancellation which means there is a last-minute space available on this exciting project! The space is available from the 6th September for 4 weeks and is offered at a discounted rate of £2095.
This project is usually totally full over the summer months so we’re expecting this place to go very fast!!
If you’d like it please call us (+44 1903 502595), email us: info@travellersworldwide.com or fill in the booking form directly: http://www.travellersvolunteers.co.uk/bookingform.php
Don’t delay! It’s first come first served – the first booking form that we receive with a deposit of £190 will get the space!!!
This space has now been filled but check with our Zimbabwe Project Coordinator for availability!
In China on August 16th 2010 on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month the Chinese celebrate valentines day…
The Legend of Chinese Valentine’s Day
Legend has it that the seventh daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, a weaving maid, fell in love and married a cowherd. They were overindulgent in their love and neglected their farming and weaving duties, which angered the Jade Emperor. As punishment, he exiled them to opposite banks of the Silver River [Milky Way], and only allowed them to meet each other once a year on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month. This legend has been handed down for nearly two millennia. The Chinese people believe that the star, Vega, east of the Milky Way, is Zhi Nu, and that Altair, on the western side of the Milky Way, is Niu Lang waiting for his wife. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the only Chinese festival devoted to love in the lunar calendar. Chinese Valentine’s Day traditions abound and this special day is celebrated differently depending on the Chinese province.
- Some of the many traditions include Chinese girls preparing fruits, melons, and incense as offerings to Zhi Nu, the weaving maiden, praying to acquire high skills in needlecraft, as well as hoping to find satisfactory husbands.
- Girls place sewing needles on water. If the needle doesn’t sink, it’s a sign of the girl’s maturity and intelligence and she is ready and eligible to find a husband.
- People in some Chinese provinces believe that decorating the horns of oxen with flowers will save them from catastrophe. Another tradition is for women to wash their hair to make it look fresh and shining.
- This festival is also known as Qixi, or sometime the Magpie festival.
On Chinese Valentine’s Day, young lovers go to the temple of the Matchmaker and pray for their love and happiness, and their possible marriage in China. In the evening, people sit outside to observe the stars. On this night, Vega and Altair are closer together than at any other time of year. Chinese grannies say that if you stand under a grapevine, you can probably overhear what Zhi Nu and Niu Lang are saying to one another.
If you’d like to find out more about our projects in China, click HERE
If you haven’t heard about Ed Stafford’s amazing feat yet, you must have been living under a rock!
He’s the British Explorer that has broken records by becoming the first person to undertake the 4,000 mile trk along the Amazon River. He finished on Monday – it only took him 2 years!! He was joined on the trek by Peruvian forestry worker Gadiel ‘Cho’ Sanchez Rivera – Cho met Ed 4 months in to the adventure, he was only intending to stay guide Ed for 5 days, but ended up completing the expedition with him!
To read the full story of Ed’s journey, courtesy of CNN, please click on the picture below:
If you’d like to experience some of the adventure Ed had, check out our wonderful Amazon project in Peru. For more details click HERE.
It’s not too late to book onto an excellent value Travellers last minute tango course in Buenos Aires! All levels available for one to one tuition in this flamboyant capital. And if you can get out there for the end of August, you’ll be in for a BIG treat… the city is all about TANGO this month….
From its earliest days as an alehouse dance among the poor dock workers of Buenos Aires, the tango symbolized the raw, steaming, erotic tension between a man and woman, irrelevant of era, social class or religion. Deep down in Buenos Aires where the rhythms of tango take over the streets for a seven day fiesta of heart racing music and sensual dancing far into the night. With countless free displays from the world’s best tango dancers and the city’s greatest orchestras, the Argentinean Ministry of Culture organises this extravagant free party in the birth place of the tango musical phenomena.
13-31 August 2010 (annual festival) CALL US NOW! Tango classes and accommodation included!
http://www.travellersworldwide.com/01-argentina/01-argentina-tango.htm
Jack Johnson plays live in Perth! http://www.enjoyperth.com.au/events/jack-johnson-me-bank-stadium Watch him strum away with a cocktail in one hand and a surfboard under you
r other arm – just as nature intended! Are you going to Australia? Fancy checking out some live music or festivals during your placement in Perth? You’re in luck – there are loads of events going on – all year round! From Enter Shikari to Gorillaz, to excellent theatre, flower shows and music festivals – check out what’s on when you’re there: http://www.enjoyperth.com.au/events/featured and experience a gig to remember.
If you’d like to find out more about our projects in Australia, click HERE
Ken went to Brazil to volunteer at one of our centres for two weeks. He tells us about his experiences:
I had a super time in Rio. I loved working at Centreo Interativo de Desenvolimento….CIEP. Seeing the children’s smiling faces every day was refreshing. I really miss these c
hildren and wanted to take them all back to Canada with me!!!
One special experience I had was with one little girl who kept herself to herself. She did not speak or play with the other children. She had a bad rash and sores all over her and was scratching all the time. I bought some medication and she got better and better! I spent more time with her and she started talking. I encouraged her to interact with the other children and play games together. Soon she was just one of the group and fitted in with the rest.
I will never forget her and she made the experience special for me. I really would recommend anyone to take time ot be a volunteer with Travellers.
If you’d like to find out more about our projects in Brazil, click HERE
Are you interested in dance and drama? Did you know we have dance and drama projects? Gina Bishop, a Dance Instructor from LA does! She’s off to South Africa to volunteer in a Street Kids centre. Whilst she’s volunteering there she’s also going to provide some fun and excitement for the kids in the form of contemporary dance classes!
Gina originally wrote to us expressing how she would like to assist with the children in Knysna “My dream is to Inspire, Enrich, Educate and Spread love through the ARTS. It has never been about quantity, it has always been about quality. I have no doubt that the Arts changes LIVES but my mission has always been to affect one LIFE at a time. I am aware that many of these children live in tragic circumstances, which makes the need for a mentor, role model, and teacher even more crucial. My life has never been simply about teaching dance. It has ALWAYS been about empowering kids to love themselves and inspiring them to love each other.
The Arts allows the voiceless children of the world the chance to be heard. I am determined to spread a non -violent approach to self -expression and prompt children to live a life of LOVE. In my adult life I have been an advocate for peaceful awareness and personal growth through self- understanding and development. It is through the encouragement of creative expression that children, who were never properly loved, get a chance to Feel. I am certain that if we start paying better attention to the lives of our youth, the world will reap the benefits in so many profound ways.
We’ve advertised the classes to the local communities and it’s caused quite a stir over in South Africa already and even the local press are eagerly anticipating her arrival! Check out the poster that was created:
Gina is very excited about her project with Travellers and has been fundraising for it for the last few months. Click here to check out her blog to see her fundraising progress. If you’d like to find out more about our projects in South Africa, click HERE and if you’d like to find out more about our dance and drama placements around the world, please click HERE
