My trip to Paris was so memorable. First of all, the hotel was fantastic. It overlooked the Seine, the famous river I 【小题1】 (read) about in so many poems. We listened to the laughter of the children and watched the river run by 【小题2】 (slow) below. Next, Montmartre was a wonderful place for painters. The air was filled with the sounds of happy people and the smell of paint. 【小题3】 I enjoyed most were the cafes. There I had a cup of coffee and watched people on the street. Everyone had a sense of style.

Icebreaker to the North Pole is a new book 【小题1】 the well-known Chinese writer Bi Shumin. It describes her special trip to the North Pole last year.

Longing to go to the North Pole, she always heard about it when she was young. Bi, now in her 60s, has at last realized the dream to see it for 【小题2】 (she).

“This dream was hidden in my heart by myself in the past. It gradually became dusty, but it never disappeared.【小题3】 I dreamed has finally come true.” Up to now, Bi 【小题4】 (travel) to 73 countries worldwide. Besides the North Pole, she made a trip to Easter Island, which is around 3,700 kilometres off the western coast of Chile. In the same year, she went to the South Pole. And she intends 【小题5】 (go) to other places in the near future.

As a writer 【小题6】 (show) a great interest in travel, Bi thinks traveling 【小题7】 (be) a part of our life. She also believes it is 【小题8】 only way to see different cultures and histories.

“If the view is the same every day, we will easily become 【小题9】 (bore). But if we go to a strange place, we will soon enter a condition of experiencing and thinking about different cultures. Travelling gives me much 【小题10】 (free).”

I have recently returned from an extended 26-day trip to China. I made two【小题1】(early) trips to China in 2012. On my previous visits my travel【小题2】(limit) to the three major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing. This time I, together with my family, was able【小题3】(visit) some of the more remote cities and holiday destinations【小题4】(miss) on the previous trips and revisit Beijing and Shanghai to observe the great changes there in just four short years.

The many contradictions and【小题5】(struggle) within China today are very impressive. No one can ignore the rich culture dating back to ancient times changing into the modern age at a speed and scale【小题6】has never been witnessed.【小题7】happens in China, the third largest country in the world with 20 percent of the world’s population, will【小题8】(definite) shape the immediate and distant futures of【小题9】(we) all.

On this blog I will be posting a travel journal【小题10】photographs and drawings. Marked on the map are the cities and villages I visited while in China.