The cave dwellers of the 21st century in China

The last decade the high-tech building industry increased in China in places like Beijing and Shangai. But just a few hundred miles away in de Shanxi province, over three million people still live in caves. People have been living in caves in Shanxi for around 5000 years. It is believed that at a certain moment a quarter of the population lived underground. These days around one-twelfth of Shanxi-ers live in caves.

Current cave-dwelling numbers may sound high, but in fact these communities are far from thriving. Most caves lie abandoned or are used to house the livestock of local farmers, a school and so on.

An example of a cave village is Lijiashan. You can find there whole communities of cave dwellers. This is a 550 year old cave village. In this village you can find hundreds of caves that scale nine different levels of a hillside. These terraced levels are linked by stone stairways that date back to the Ming Dynasty. Most homes still have paper windows rather than glass panes. There isn’t running water and a sewage system. Locals have to take their water of the nearby Yellow river. The owners of the caves sleep on large stone beds, known as ‘kang’. In the summer are they very cool. Underneath there are cavities so that fires can be lit inside them during the winter.

Most of the people who live in caves are old people. As soon as the children grow up they leave. Lack of home comforts is a reason for kids to leave cave houses. But also remoteness. Lijiashan is an eight-hour, triple-bus journey from Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi. The main reason why young people abandoned the cave villages is that living in caves is not very cool. Some families whom kinds left the house convert their home into a guesthouse with cave bedrooms where Chinese art students stay when they come to paint the unusual village landscape.

Cave homes are very kind to the environment. They are surrounded by thick earthen layers. That’s the reason why cave houses are very well insulated. They are protected against freezing winters and very hot summers. To built a cave house you need less building materials than a real house. And another positive thing is that a cave afford better protection from natural disasters such as earthquakes.

Glamping: Camping for glamorous people

When most people think of camping they get an unglamorous image of a tent that leaks, mud, and a spot or two of rain. It doesn't have to be this way. There's a new form of glamorous camping taking Britain by storm which is known as Glamping. Glamping is the combination of glamour and camping. Glamping is spending time in the great outdoors, enjoying a crispy campfire in the night under the stars, then waking up to a breathtaking sunrise in the middle of the nature. These are sleeping outdoors with as many luxury as possible without roughing it. That means access to running water, toilets, bathroom, king-side beds, massages, electricity, hot tubs and so on. Glamping is sleeping in tents, cabins or yurts but they offer the luxury from a five-star hotel.

You can divide glamping in three groups.

The first group is ‘Glamping for beginners’. The most basic glamping level is heavy on comfort and light on actual camping. This option is for those who want to get away from it all and stay in the heart of the campgrounds. A first example is the Furnace Creek Resort situated in the Death Valley from California. This resort offers two options: the basic hotel ‘ranch’ and the more upscale ‘inn’. Both situated at walking distance to hiking trails and the campgrounds. A second example is Big Pine Retreat in the Hocking Hills in Ohio (Columbus). At this place there are four wood cabins. A night in this cabin costs $165 to $225 for a one- to three- bedroom cabin with full kitchen, hot water, beds and a hot tub.

The second group is ‘Moderate glamping’. The first example here is Yosemite’s Curry Village in northern California. Here you sleep in tents with basic cots inside and bear cans for all you food outside. Bathrooms and showers are communal. A second example are the canvas tents at Chestnut Grove in North Carolina. These tents are provided with wood floors, hand-crafted furniture and many more at a nightly rate of $50 per person. You can find there a hot tub, hiking tours and enjoy a massage, but there are also vineyard tours and there is the possibility to do on rafting, fishing and canoeing. Another option is staying in a yurt. This is a tent covered with filt that was used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. There are yurts all around America.

And the last group is ‘High-end glamping’. An example is the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort. They offer 11 tents with rugs, propane wood stoves, antique furniture, hot water and modern composting toilets. For true luxury, you have to go to Blackfoot Valley in eastern Montana. The Paws Up Resort has luxurious tents, with king-size beds, master bedrooms and electricity. Prices start at $820 per couple per night, meals included.

As you can see there a lot of possibilities to do on glamping. It’s up to you to make a choice and have the greatest time of your life.

Hong Kong: The birthplace of modern dragons

Modern dragonboat racing is practiced in more than 60 countries. But it is best experienced in Hong Kong where you can still feel the passion that once drove this city to share its culture with the world.

Dragonboats are long slim boats with a dragon’s head protruding from the bow and a dragon’s tail affixed to the stern. They are powered by 2 rows of paddlers, with a helmsman in the back and a drummer in the front or middle. Traditionally they are made of wood, but the fibre-glass vessels are becoming common. They exist in 3 sizes.

Traditionally, dragonboating is a male activity. Women were forbidden to touch a dragon, especially when they were pregnant or menstruating, because a dragon is the symbol of male vigour. But now also women can do this sport.

Dragonboat racing started more than 2000 years ago in China as a ceremony for worshipping gods of the sea. It is associated with the Tuen Ng Festival which is celebrated in late spring. Dragonboating was meant to dispel the ‘fog and filthy air’ and to keep the gods happy. But that’s the researcher’s version. When you ask any Chinese about the origin of the dragonboat they will mention Qu Yuan. This was a loyal statesman who drowned himself in the river. People were worried that fish would consume their here so they unleashed their boats and threw rice dumplings into the water to distract them. Since then races have been held every year to honour the day of Qu’s passing.

In 1976 it all changed. Hong Kong held the world’s first international dragonboat races. In the first year boaters from Japan competed with nine local fishermen’s teams. In the next 2 years representatives from Malaysia and Singapore joined the event. Soon competitions were being organized in these countries and in Australia and Canada. In 1980, three dragonboats from Hong Kong made their debut on the River Thames. Today dragonboat is a very popular sport in Hong Kong. The city has the greatest number of teams (400). They are all non-pais and voluntary.

The most spectacular events during the racing season in Hong Kong are the Fishermen’s races. Especially the Tin Hau regatta is very popular.

In the Big House… Just visiting

Prisons have always been fascinating. They’ve been the subject of songs, films and TV series.

The Eastern State Penitentiary was built in 1829 and closed in 1971. It’s a massive, crumbling building with ivy-covered walls. This was for nearly a century and a half the place nobody wanted to go, an now, people are paying to get in. From the mid-1980s many tourists passed through the forbidding gates of Eastern State. With audio tour guides at their ears, they go through cellblocks; gaze at the mess halls, hospital and prison chapel; climb into a guard tower; and pace in the exercise yard. Eastern State is just one of three dozen prisons and jails drawing millions of visitors each year around the country. Prisons proudly display cells once inhabited by famous criminals. Some show gallows or an electric chair. In one of the blocks, the original cells are display. Each with a heavy oak door and a small round window in the ceiling. Eastern State also followed an 1820s reformist theory about correction. Which said that solitude was the path to rehabilitation. All prisoners were kept in solitary to reflect on their crimes. To maintain the quiet, guards even put socks over their shoes to muffle their footsteps. But some commentators thought that the lack of human contact would drive prisoners insane. Eastern State was very influential, and 300 prisons were built on its model.

There is even a proposal to open a museum at Sing Sing in Ossining (New York). But it hasn’t been opened so far because of the cost and the doubts in some quarters about the wisdom of opening it.

In some prisons, people are actually paying to stay over. Like for example in Boston. The 1851 Charles Street Prison on Beacon Hill has changed into a hotel called ‘The Liberty’. You can find in this hotel vestiges of jail cells in the lobby and bars on several of the windows. Also in Amsterdam, Istanbul and Oxford prisons changed into hotels.

In 1971 the National Park Service opened the Alcatraz prison that is situated on an island in San Francisco Bay. This prison was built in only 5 years, on the assumption that interest would stop. It became one of the biggest tourist attractions in Northern California and it even offers even touristic tours. This prison has been recently renovated and expanded and welcome over one million visitors a year.

Soon states and cities with their former prisons began to wonder if they could turn these buildings into moneymakers. And at the same time preservationist became advocates for saving prisons from being destroyed. A new trend was born and prisons are open to the curious, but you have to buy a ticket if you want to enter.

The last archipelago of Thailand and the Andaman coast

Tarutao Archipelago is situated in South Thailand across the Andaman Sea, and it’s the last Group of Thai islands. The main island of this archipelago is the headquarters of the Ko Tarutoa Marine National Park. The island has a surface of 1,490 square kilometers of jungles, beaches and ocean. This paradise was once a notorious prison holding high-profile political prisoners until 1948. At this moment there are more monkeys than people, but now there are government-run bungalows.

At Ko Lipe, Castaway offers swaying hammocks, resident masseurs, shady waterside pavilions and thatch-topped cabins. Divers can descend to pinnacles that attract mantas, whale sharks and so on.

Rangers of the national park preserved the islands in such impressive condition.

Now I’m going to talk about the different islands on the Andaman Coast.

First off all Andaman coast has the tallest karst formations, longest beaches, softest sands and the bluest water. Along the coast you can find a lot of scuba divers.

Phuket is the biggest Island. On his eastern flank lies Ao Phang Nga, with more than 40 limestone mountains. It has also made its appearance in the James Bond movie ‘The man with the golden gun’.

At Khao Sok National park there is a jungle and this park is part of the oldest rainforest in the world with snakes, monkeys and tigers.

At Khao Lak there are a lot of diving trips organized to explore Similan and Surin Archipelagos. The area around Khao Lak suffered the most by the 2004 tsunami wave.

Surin Islands National Park is situated in the north of Khao Lak. 5 islands make up this national park. At this park you will find healthy rainforests, white sand beaches in sheltered bays and rocky headlands. Due to the clear water there is a great marine life, and the visibility can go up to 35m.

Railay is well known for the fanatic rock climbers.

Phi Phi Don and Leh have a dramastic scenery. They make part of the Ko Phi Phi Marine National Park. At Leh there are soaring cliffs, crystalline waters and blooms of coral. In the islands interior are 2 lagoons.

Ko Lanta is very flat. It can be easily explored by motorbike. It is the largest of the 52 islands in an archipelago protected by the Ko Lanta Maritine National Park.

And the last fantastic place is Trang. It is situated close to the Malaysian border. It is a very quiet getaway and it’s Andaman’s best-kept secret.