My trip to China, part 3: I learn about 20th-century Chinese history

Over the past century, China has experienced some tumultuous history, and the city of Shanghai has been at the center of much of it. Yesterday, I went and visited some important sites in the history of Shanghai in order to learn more about modern Chinese history.

Before 1911, China was an empire ruled by an emperor in Beijing. The country was very weak. Its economy was terrible, most of the people got no education at all, and the country lost a lot of wars. Many people thought that the only way to make China strong again was to overthrow the empire. One such man was Sun Yat-sen.

My trip to China, part 2: I visit the gardens of Suzhou

A few days ago, I hopped on a very fast Chinese train and rode 25 minutes out of Shanghai to the city of Suzhou. Suzhou is a beautiful city that was built on a series of canals. In fact, it was the third city I have ever visited that is famous for its canals – can you name the other two? Here's a hint: both of those cities are in Europe.

Suzhou has long been a commercial center in China. In fact, it was the center of trade in east central China up until 1860. Before that time, Shanghai was just a sleepy little backwater farther down the river. After that, however, Shanghai grew rapidly in size and dwarfed nearby Suzhou.

Suzhou is most famous for its beautiful gardens. Back when China was an empire, some of the people who reached high positions in China's civil service built very nice houses for themselves. Since Suzhou gets quite hot during the summer, several of these people built elaborate gardens next to their houses so that they could relax in the shade of the cool trees. Loyal readers of this blog will remember that I visited one Chinese garden and one Japanese garden on my trip to Singapore. The gardens of Suzhou represent a very particular style of Chinese garden. One might even say that these gardens are some of the most famous in the entire world!

My trip to China, part 1: I visit the Bund in Shanghai

Hello from China! I have recently arrived in Shanghai, the most populous city in China. Shanghai is located on the east coast of China, near the mouth of China's longest river, the Yangtze. The city is a very important port, and it is also a financial hub for the entire world. With a population of more than 14 million people (and growing), Shanghai is a booming metropolis. It's quite an intimidating place for a little bear!

My trip to Warsaw

Greetings from Warsaw, Poland! I traveled here with my friend Kara, who also took me to Hong Kong and Kansas. Poland is a big country to the east of Germany, and Warsaw is its capital city. Warsaw is a beautiful city with many old buildings, and I enjoyed my trip there very much. Can you find Warsaw on a map? What other cities in Poland might I want to visit in the future?

My trip to Kansas

On my way back to Seattle from Hong Kong, I stopped for a few days in Kansas. I know I don't blog much about the United States, but I got some great photos at my friend's farm, so I wanted you to see them. The next time you eat a loaf of bread, you should stop for a minute and think about how that bread may have started out as wheat in a field in Kansas.

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 9: the Roman ruins at Volubilis

Here is another post from Bobbe's trip to Morocco.

Like all countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, Morocco was once part of the Roman Empire. As you may remember, I have previously visited impressive Roman ruins in Italy and Turkey (and Benny has blogged about a Roman amphitheater in Jordan). Today, I'm going to tell you about my trip to see the remains of Volubilis, which was once the most important city in Roman Morocco.

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 8: the Sahara Desert

Here is the eighth part of Bobbe's report on her trip to Morocco.

From Marrakech, I headed out on a long expedition into the Sahara Desert. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world. It stretches all the way from Morocco and Mauritania near the Atlantic Ocean to Egypt and Sudan on the east side of Africa. Along the way, it contains some of the driest, hottest, most barren, most inhospitable places in the entire world. But the desert is also a really beautiful place.

My trip to Hong Kong, part 3: Cheung Chau

Hello from Hong Kong, where my friend Kara took me on a boat ride to the island of Cheung Chau. Cheung Chau is in the southwestern part of Hong Kong, and you have to take a ferry to get to it. Cheung Chau is most famous for its annual Bun Festival, when people on the island make and eat a lot of really yummy buns. I loved visiting the Bun Festival on Cheung Chau!

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 7: Marrakech

This is the seventh post in Bobbe's series about her trip to Morocco.

Remember how, in my posts about Fez and Meknes, I wrote that those were two of Morocco's three great imperial capitals? I recently visited the third city in this group: Marrakech. Marrakech is quite a ways south of the part of Morocco where I usually live, so I had to take a long train ride to get there. Marrakech is actually the most popular destination for tourists to Morocco because it has such a lively town center with so much going on. I certainly had a great time there!

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 6: Bobbe hits the beach

Here is part 6 of Bobbe's report from Morocco:

Last weekend, I decided to relax by going to the beach. Morocco has a very long coastline, so it has lots of beaches. If you look at a map, you will see that it borders two different bodies of water: the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic coastline is longer, but both are very nice. Looking at a map, can you find the name of the strait that connects the Mediterranean and the Atlantic? That strait separates Morocco from Spain, but the bit of land on the Spanish side is actually owned by the United Kingdom. That bit of land has the same name as the strait. Can you find it?

My trip to Hong Kong, part 2: I visit the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple

As in Singapore, it is possible to find beautiful, relaxing places in Hong Kong where you can get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. One good way to do this is to go to a Buddhist temple. Lots of people in Hong Kong, as in other parts of East and Southeast Asia, are Buddhists. Buddhists follow the teachings of a man named the Buddha, who reached what is called "Enlightenment" in northern India more than 6,000 years ago. Buddhist temples often have lots of statues of the Buddha, generally in lots of different poses. The temple I visited, known as the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, has a particularly large number of statues. In fact, the name of the temple is a misnomer; there are at least 13,000 Buddha statues on display inside it. I lost count very quickly of how many I had seen, so I just went around taking pictures of as many as I could.

My trip to Hong Kong, part 1: I learn about the city

In the past month, I have been to three very small, very urban places on the continent of Asia: Singapore, Kuwait, and now Hong Kong. Unlike Singapore and Kuwait, however, Hong Kong is not an independent country. It is actually part of China. It is located partly on a peninsula and partly on several islands in southern China next to the South China Sea. Can you find Hong Kong on a map?

My trip to Kuwait, part 2: Kuwaiti society and culture

When I first got to Kuwait, I was expecting to see all the men wearing keffiyehs and agals like I showed you in my last post. I like to discover as much traditional local culture as possible when I travel. But what I found was that not as many men wear keffiyehs as I had anticipated. It turns out that only about half of Kuwait's population is actually from Kuwait. The other half is made up of migrants from all over the world who have come to live and work in Kuwait, especially in the oil industry. Often, these migrants are men who travel to Kuwait without their families and only intend to stay for a short period of time. In some other Persian Gulf countries (such as Bahrain), the number of foreign migrants greatly exceeds the local population. In Kuwait, the foreign population is about 50%. The greatest number of migrants come from poor countries in South Asia such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Their presence, along with Kuwait's traditional cultural and economic links to other parts of the world, make Kuwait a very diverse place.

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 5: eating Moroccan breakfast

Bobbe tells us about what she eats for breakfast in Morocco:

Living in Morocco has been wonderful so far. One of my favorite parts is getting to eat the Moroccan food. In my previous posts, I showed you my lunch of chicken with couscous and vegetables as well as another lunch I had of pastilla. But rather than just tell you about what I have eaten for lunch and dinner, I think you might be interested to know what I usually eat for breakfast. So here are some pictures of my Moroccan breakfast!

My trip to Kuwait, part 1: the Persian Gulf

In March, I had an opportunity to head to Kuwait. Kuwait is a very small country on the Persian Gulf. Those of you who are keeping track of all my adventures will know that Kuwait is the fourth Arab country I have blogged about (after Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon, plus Bobbe is in Morocco). It is also the seventh predominately Muslim country I have visited (after Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, and Malaysia).

One thing you need to know about Kuwait is that it is a very rich country. The Persian Gulf, as you might know, is a place where lots of oil can be found. All of the eight countries that border the Persian Gulf (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman) have very important oil industries. The Persian Gulf, however, is important for more than just oil. For hundreds of years, Kuwait's economy and culture have been based on the exchange of goods and ideas throughout the Persian Gulf and beyond into the Indian Ocean.

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 4: Meknes

Here is the fourth installment of Bobbe's narrative of her trip to Morocco.

As I said in one of my previous posts, Fez is one of three traditional Moroccan capital cities. Today, I'm going to tell you about Meknes, which is one of the others. Meknes was made the capital of Morocco by a ruler named Moulay Ismail, who reigned from 1672 until 1727. Moulay Ismail was very powerful, but he was also kind of cruel. His patronage transformed the city of Meknes; today, everywhere you go in Meknes, you hear all about Moulay Ismail.

My trip to Thailand

If you continue up the Malay Peninsula from Malaysia, the next country you get to is Thailand. Do you see where Thailand gets very narrow? The land connects the Malay Peninsula with the rest of Southeast Asia. It also separates the Gulf of Thailand from the Andaman Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean. A narrow piece of land that connects two larger landmasses is known as an "isthmus." Isthmus is very hard word to pronounce. This particular isthmus is known as the Isthmus of Kra.

Off the west side of the Isthmus of Kra is a little island known as Phuket. Phuket has beautiful beaches, so it has gotten very touristy. Fortunately, I was traveling with Nick, who spent an entire year living on a remote Thai island, so he was able to take me by ferry to a much more rural island nearby. What an adventure!

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 3: around the Fez medina

Bobbe continues telling us about her trip to Fez.

In my last post, I told you about Al-Karaouine University and its associated mosque, two buildings which are right at the heart of the old city in Fez. Today, I'm going to tell you about the other parts of the Fez medina that I enjoyed on my trip to Fez.

My trip to Malaysia

The last destination I told you about was Singapore, which I said was a very tiny country. Singapore sits on an island at the very southern tip of a peninsula known as the Malay Peninsula. Most of that peninsula is taken up by a country called Malaysia, which is the next country I'm going to tell you about. In addition to the land on the peninsula, Malaysia also contains two provinces on an island called Borneo, but I didn't go there. I just traveled up and down the main part of the Malay Peninsula. Before you keep reading, you should see if you can find the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and Borneo on a map.

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 2: Al-Karaouine University in Fez

Here is Bobbe's second post about Morocco.

Hello again from Morocco! I want to tell you about a fantastic trip I took to the city of Fez. Fez is one of three great imperial capitals of Morocco, along with Meknes and Marrakesh. The heart of Fez is a wonderful thousand-year-old walled old city (called a "medina" in Arabic). The city has lots of narrow walkways that twist and turn and wind about. If you don't know your way around, you can get lost really fast. I'll tell you more about the medina in my next post, but in this one I want to focus on the building at the heart of the city of Fez: Al-Karaouine University.

My trip to Singapore

Hello, everybody! I'm sorry not to have written anything for quite some time. I have been traveling a lot – I have been to five countries since I last posted anything – and now that I have a moment to catch my breath I'm writing to tell you about my trips. My first post will be about Singapore, followed every few days by posts about Malaysia, Thailand, Kuwait, and Hong Kong. Additionally, Bobbe has several new posts from Morocco that will alternate with mine. So check back frequently for more posts!

I was shown around Singapore by my friend Nick, who is a student at the National University of Singapore. Nick was a great host because he knows all about Singapore and took me to see lots of interesting places. Also, Nick will eat pretty much anything, so he took me to see the crocodile restaurant whose picture I posted earlier. When you go traveling, you always want to accompany the kind of person who will eat anything.

What I ate in Singapore

I have been busy traveling around Southeast Asia, and I have lots of pictures to show you and stories to tell you, but I haven't quite had a chance to type up my posts yet. In the meantime, I just wanted to answer the question that my friends in Mrs. Williams' class asked about what there is to eat in Singapore with a picture. Here is a picture of a restaurant that sells crocodile palm. Do you think it looks good to eat?

--Benny

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 1: Ifrane

Bobbe is spending this spring living at a university in Morocco. This is the first in a series of posts about what she has seen, done, and experienced there. As for me, I'm traveling in Southeast Asia at the moment. I will hope to have my first of several posts from there very soon. --Benny

Greetings from Morocco! I am now living in a town called Ifrane high in the Atlas Mountains. Ifrane is just a little town, but it is a very beautiful place. The high altitude means that it gets snow several times every winter. Lots of people come to Ifrane to go skiing in the nearby mountains. Some people even call it the "Switzerland of Morocco." Who could ask for a more pleasant place to make my home this spring?

Ifrane is home to a university called Al Akhawayn University. "Al Akhawayn" means "the two brothers." In this case, the two brothers in question are the former king of Morocco and the former king of Saudi Arabia. They weren't literally brothers, but they were close friends so they called each other brothers. In 1993, there was an oil spill off the coast of Morocco. The king of Saudi Arabia decided to give $50 million to the king of Morocco to clean up the oil. As soon as the king of Morocco received the money, the wind shifted and the oil all washed away from the coast. With $50 million in his pocket and no oil spill to deal with, the king of Morocco decided he needed a new project--so he founded a university.

Bobbe's Trip to New York City

Bobbe recently took a trip to New York City. Here is her post about her adventures there.

I recently visited New York City. Over eight million people live in New York, making it the most populous city in the United States. New York City is in the state of New York, so it can get confusing sometimes when people say “New York” to figure out if they mean the state or the city--but I will use it to mean the City. I visited Manhattan Island, which is actually only one of five “boroughs” in New York (Queens, The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island are the others). Manhattan is not very big, but a lot of people live there and even more work there. Manhattan is a little smaller than Bainbridge Island near Seattle, but only about 20,000 people live on Bainbridge Island and 1.5 million people live on Manhattan. For a comparison, the City of Seattle has a population of about 620,000 people--with a lot more room!

One of the first things I noticed about Manhattan is that there are so many high-rise buildings. Most of these buildings have offices and some have condominiums or apartments where people live, but some of the tall buildings have other functions. Since I like to visit other countries, one of my favorite sites in New York was the United Nations Building.

We meet in Istanbul, part 2: Istanbul's religious heritage

As I told you in my last post, Istanbul occupies a special position astride two continents. Throughout its history, it has been a place where people of different faiths have come together. Under the Byzantines, Istanbul (then known as Constantinople) was the center of Orthodox Christianity. Once the Ottoman Empire conquered Egypt and Syria, Istanbul became the center of Sunni Islam as well. As befits a city with such important religious heritage, Istanbul has lots of impressive religious buildings that you can visit as a tourist.

We meet in Istanbul, part 1: exploring the city

The last stop on Bobbe's Mediterranean adventure was Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. To celebrate the conclusion of her trip, I flew down to Istanbul to see her, and we explored the city together. As you know, this was not my first trip to Turkey -- I visited the beautiful beach city of Dalyan back in June. But it was my first trip to Istanbul, which is a magnificent city that I enjoyed visiting very much.

Istanbul is located on two continents. Europe is divided from Asia by a series of straits. A strait is a very narrow body of water that separates two landmasses. Can you find a map of Turkey? Imagine that you are going north from the Aegean Sea toward Istanbul (as Bobbe did on her ship). The first strait you come to is known as the Dardanelles. Later, you will reach an even narrower strait called the Bosporus. If you keep going through the Bosporus, what body of water will you enter? What countries can you visit if you continue on in your ship?

Istanbul was built on both sides of the Bosporus. All of the most famous tourist sites are on the European side of the strait, but many of the people in Istanbul live on the Asian side. Today, the two sides are connected by a bridge. In the old days, however, people had to take a ferry to get across to the other side. Can you imagine having to commute from one continent to another just to get to work in the morning?

Bobbe's trip to Ephesus

Bobbe continues telling us about her Mediterranean adventure:

After Santorini and Mykonos, my next stop was the Turkish port of Kuşadasi. As those of you who read Benny's post from the Turkish beach town of Dalyan will remember, Turkey is a country that is located partly in Asia and partly in Europe. Like Dalyan, Kuşadasi is located in the Asian part of Turkey. It is located on the Aegean Sea, which separates Greece from Turkey. Both Santorini and Mykonos are islands in the Aegean. Kuşadasi is famous mostly because it is the nearest port to the ancient city of Ephesus, which was a really important city for the ancient Greeks. Here is the story of my trip to Ephesus.

Bobbe's trip to Santorini

Bobbe tells us about her second Greek island adventure:

The second Greek island that I visited was Santorini (also known as Thira). Santorini is particularly famous because it is built on the remnants of a volcano. After a volcano erupts, it sometimes leaves a big valley where it has collapsed after the eruption. This kind of valley is called a "caldera." The houses on Santorini were built up and down the sides of the caldera, which are very steep.

Most of the houses on Santorini are whitewashed and topped with a blue roof. This white-and-blue color scheme makes Santorini particularly picturesque. As you might know, the Greek flag is made of white and blue stripes with a white cross. Back in the early 19th century, when Greece was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek people of Santorini were forbidden to fly the Greek flag. In order to get around this law, they simply painted their houses to match the flag.

Bobbe's trip to Mykonos

Bobbe continues her report from her Mediterranean adventure:

From Athens, I headed on a visit to two Greek islands. Greece has a over a thousand islands, some of which are very small. All of them are very beautiful. Can you find Greece's islands on a map of Europe? What is the largest Greek island? What is the name of the sea that lies north of most of the islands and separates Greece from Turkey?

The first Greek island that I visited was Mykonos. It is a beautiful island that is very popular with tourists. Here is a picture of me posing by the sea:

Bobbe's trip to Athens, part 2: the Olympic Stadium

Here is Bobbe's second post about her visit to Athens, Greece:

In Athens, I had the exciting opportunity to visit the stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.

Hopefully, you have read Benny's post about how he went to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London to watch a basketball game beween France and Russia. One of the interesting things that Benny noticed while watching the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics on television this summer was that the Greek team got to march into the stadium first, ahead of the teams from all of the other countries. The reason for this special status is that the Olympics started in Greece -- and the Greek people take the Olympics very, very seriously.

I am going to school tomorrow

I am back in the Seattle area once again! It has been barely over a year since I started traveling. In that time, I blogged about 14 countries on three continents. I went to the early-morning fish market in Tokyo, saw the Northern Lights in Finland, visited one of the world’s oldest golf courses in Scotland, ate figs in a garden in Amman, rode a bike along the Amstel River in Amsterdam, celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, and even saw a basketball game at the Summer Olympics in London!

Tomorrow, I will be going back to school to meet some new students and tell them about my adventures. These students are third graders at West Woodland Elementary School. I hope that they will be interested in my adventures and will enjoy hearing about the places I visit.

This year, I am planning to make lots of exciting trips all over the world. I'm getting ready right now for a trip to Singapore. After that, I will go wherever I have the opportunity to travel -- please check back to my blog periodically to find out about my adventures.

As always, I welcome questions and comments about all of my posts. If you would like to learn more about the places I have visited or to offer suggestions for things I might do or places I might visit, please ask a parent or teacher to help you go to my blog and leave a comment.

--Benny

Bobbe's trip to Athens, part 1: the Acropolis

Bobbe continues her report from her Mediterranean adventure:

My next stop on my Mediterranean adventure was Athens, the capital of Greece. Can you look on a map and figure out the route that I traveled to go by ship from Naples to Athens? What direction was I traveling? What bodies of water did I pass through?

Athens was one of my favorite stops on my trip. As many of you know, Greece was once home to a vibrant ancient civilization. The ancient Greeks started many traditions that are still important to us today, including drama, democracy, and geometry. The Greeks today are very proud of this ancient heritage.

Bobbe's trip through the Strait of Messina

Bobbe continues her report from her Mediterranean adventure:

I want to show you some photos that I took on my ship during my Mediterranean cruise. Once my ship left Naples, it sailed south through the Strait of Messina. Can you find the Strait of Messina on a map? I will help you find it. Italy is shaped like a boot, with the toe kicking an island. That island is Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The Strait of Messina is a very narrow passage between Sicily and the toe of the boot. It was early in the morning when I passed through the strait. The sun was shining and the water was beautiful.