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Plenty of travelers are also big fans of eating, and especially of trying the local cuisine - which makes Jen Lin-Liu’s new book Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China sound very interesting. Since Lin-Liu has gone on to found the Black Sesame Cooking School in Beijing, she seems the right person to write about food and China. Read the full story

Rabaul Caldera, Papua New Guinea

The Rabaul Caldera on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea erupted in 1937, 1944, and 1994. In the 1994 eruption, the two craters of Tavurvur and Vulcan erupted simultaneously, covering the nearby town of Rabaul in ash and causing the evacuation of about 90,000 people. The volcanic activity has continued at a low level to the present day. The recent eruptions were small events compared to the great eruption that took place in the 6th century, when the caldera was formed by the collapse of the volcano. The low-level activity of Rabaul Caldera could be a prelude to a giant eruption.
photo credit: tarotastic Read the full story

For most of us the Beijing Olympics are now just one of those fading memories of too many hours spent staring at the television, but Chinese officials are hoping that predictions of a boom in tourism following the Olympic Games turn out to be true. Tourism is a growing industry in China and hopes that it will become a major income source are high.

Before the Olympic Games, we heard stories about hotels being under-booked, security issues being worrying for tourists and problems with visas to get into China - especially for anyone trying to combine a business trip with an Olympic outing. There were also predictions of smog problems and pro-Tibet protestors causing disruptions but in the end, it has to be said that the Games ran remarkably smoothly. And from the Chinese point of view, one of their goals of increasing tourism for the longer term looks like it has been achieved.

After the Olympics Come the Tourists

Although a lot of travel operators and hoteliers overestimated the numbers of tourists who would come to China during the Olympic Games, all the research seems to say that those who invested in improving their services or upgrading their facilities will benefit from now on. They say that the number of tourists coming to China is likely to increase by five per cent for the next three years - the prediction is that because of the exposure China got from the Beijing Olympics, in 2009 a record number of 146 million tourists will come to take a look around China.

Paralympics Keeps Spotlight on China

And of course, the whole Olympic fever thing isn’t quite over yet. Tomorrow the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will take place in Beijing and while the media coverage from this will not be anywhere near as extensive as for the Olympics, it will still serve to keep Beijing and China in the minds of potential tourists.

New Advertising Campaign Final Key in Chinese Tourism Push

As if both these large sports events weren’t enough, Chinese officials have been smart enough to add a major marketing campaign to the mix with the aim of further increasing tourism in China. The advertising campaign in the United States in conjunction with Time Warner and in Britain on the BBC are expected to help boost the numbers of Western tourists - desirable because apparently they spend more than other tourists.

 photo credit: Jake Ji

Travelers who teach English as a second language to get around are a dime a dozen, and more of them are producing books about their experiences: but Gillian Kendall’s Mr Ding’s Chicken Feet is a bit more than “just another English teacher’s trip”.

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In the tradition of WhereAmIWearing.com, New Zealand writer Joe Bennett bought a pack of five pieces of underwear from his local mega-market and then wondered where they really came from. Thus began a journey into China and beyond to find out Where Underpants Come From, subtitled From Checkout to Cotton Field - Travels Through the New China. Read the full story

It’s always good to know something about the etiquette and customs of the country you’re going to travel to - and Mark McCrum’s newest book Going Dutch in Beijing: How to Behave Properly When Far Away From Home is an entertaining way to get informed. Read the full story