Travel

Best to take a half-empty suitcase if you visit Shanghai. The shopping is vast and varied, from to the very best brands in the world to fake knock-offs you can bargain hard for.

When even our kids can't ride a bike without a helmet, the wind-in-hair sensation is a feeling they'll never know. For grown-ups it's just a memory.

It's easy to think of reasons why China might not be on your places-to-see list. It's so big and so foreign, huh? All those vast cities, language you don't understand, food you might not warm to?

When you're a tourist it's hard to get in amongst the lives of people in other countries. You see them hurrying about on their daily round but there are few glimpses of their quieter times.

Countries are often identified in strangers' minds by what's in tourist shops. In New Zealand it's the tiki, the fern the koru and the colour green. For China we think of panda bears, pagodas, ornate fans and everything decked in red and gold.

Mark and I are so excited to be once again setting off on an Avalon Waterways cruise in Europe tomorrow, so wanted to share a few thoughts as to why we enjoy travelling with Avalon Waterways so much.

Today it is Friday. Muslims believe that Allah told them that Friday is the day to glorify. The Jews consider Saturday as their special holy day and the Christians celebrate Sunday.

This will be my last report from Dubai, before I flit off to have other adventures in different countries. Because the majority, or over 80 percent of the Dubai population of 4.5 million is a large international block of foreigners, I felt you could be in

They came, silently swinging their powerful bodies through the trees, their faces vigilant, velvet dark eyes wary. We froze. My breakfast companions had arrived!

I had the most scary experience I have ever had in my whole driving life! I decided to go and find a shopping centre here in Dubai, that has approx. 4.5 million people and 80% are ex-pats of well over 100 nationalities!