When traveling abroad, I always marvel at the many creative interpretations of the English language.

Though the effort to translate local specialties for tourists is no doubt a smart marketing move, the results might sometimes have the opposite effect…

1. Chocoholics Beware!

Room Service Menu at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China.

2. A Modest Selection

Restaurant in Saigon, Vietnam.

3. Made with Love and Effort…

Chinese flea market in Atlanta, Georgia.

4. Teach Your Poultry a Lesson!

Chinese menu.

5. Cannibalism on the Side?

Chinese menu

6. Vanilla Lovers: a Sacred Desert

Chinese menu

7. What’s My Dad Been up to?!

Menu found in Zhejiang, China

8. A Meal for the Militantly Healthy

Menu found in Shenzhen, China.

9. The Post-Breakup Dish

10. On a Second Thought, I’ll Choose the Merlot..

Got more hilarious translation blunders? Post up your comments below, we want a laugh!

Coming soon… street signs to put a smile on your face. Don’t miss out! Sign up for FREE updates via RSS or email below.

Photos by Engrish.com

Top 10 Cities for Partying @Nomadic Matt

What to do if You Miss Your Flight @Elliott

The Complete Guide to Hitchhiking Scott Gilbertson @Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding

Eat, Pray, Love in Morocco Beebe Bahrami @Matator Trips

Family Road Trip Around Europe @Soul Travelers

Want to hit the road this summer??

Check out our road trip planner for loads of cool road trip ideas.

With a population of 1.3 billion people, one of the world’s fastest growing economies and landscapes ranging from subtropical forests to deserts and mountains, who wouldn’t want to visit China?

It’s right up there on my travel to do list, but I’ll be honest, the thought of stepping off the plane into one of the hugest countries in the world does scare me a little.

If in doubt speak to people in the know, right? So… check out these top tips from the people who travel for a living  and explore China like a pro!

1. Avoid “Tourist” Rates

“If you’re comfortable staying at hotels where few of the staff speak English, you can avoid paying high “foreigner’s prices” by booking your hotels through elong.net or Ctrip.com – sites targeted at domestic Chinese travelers.

Edward Hasbrouck, The Practical Nomad.

2. Escape the Crowds

“Very few people speak English so a good phrase book is essential. Use the point at phrases method or bring a picture book, but as long as the Chinese is there you’re all set.

Planning on visting Guilin? … Head to Yangshuo instead.  Much less touristy and much more beautiful. You’ll get all the Benefits of Guilin with more natural wonders and great hiking.

Take a local bus to a nearby town for a more authentic and less expensive experience. Most towns have a few hotels and it’s easy to find a beautiful place for less.

Take an overnight train – go for the soft sleeper if your budget allows. They’re comfortable and clean and will save you the cost of a hotel. Another bonus is that you get to see the countryside.”

Reuven Levitt, Tripbase CEO

3. Beware of What You Blog

“The Grand Hyatt Beijing is perfect, no doubt about it! Fresh flowers skillfully laid out in my room and a meal never to be forgotten. The pool is laid out like an island resort, just amazing.

Go for lunch in an average Chinese restaurant. A simple meal there can be as fresh and satisfying as a luxury dinner!

Beware of subversive blogging from Shanghai: censure is common practice!”

Kent St John, Go Nomad

4. Be Respectful if Arrested

“If you find yourself about to climb a holy mountain, and the ticket office offers extra insurance, you might want to take it.

If walking in the street and you hear “chwaaaak”, don’t change your pace, or you might get a big fat yellow lurgee on your shoe.

If you’re really hot, push your shirt up your chest, like everyone else.

Speak in honorable and deeply respectful prose, especially if you get arrested, or are toasting government officials.

Drink the rice wine.”

Robin Esrock, Modern Gonzo

The World’s Most Dangerous Hike – Amazing!

5. Expect the Unexpected

”Coming from the western world, I’ve always found visiting China like going to another planet. Expect the unexpected and don’t take things personally!

Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Nonconformity

6. Get the Magic Card

“Ask your hotel’s concierge for a card of common destinations in the city. Get the concierge to write the corresponding Chinese characters. Indispensable for directing taxis!”

Paul Cayanes, Pau Travels Blog

”Taxis are abundant and inexpensive in China’s major cities, but most cab drivers do not speak English. Most hotels have business cards with their address written in English and Chinese and a space on the back where the Chinese name of a destination can be filled in.”

Wendy, Escape from New York

7. Go Further than Fried Rice

“Be adventurous with the food. There are so many great regional variations across China that travelers can miss out on the best food if they just stick to the dishes they recognize from their local Chinese take-out!”

Tim Hughes, The Boot

Planning a trip to China? Got more useful China travel tips? Post up your comments below, we want to hear from you!

Coming soon… the cheapest vacation destinations in the world. Don’t miss out! Sign up for free updates via email or RSS below.

Photo credits: Yangshuo by B_cool, Summer Palace, Beijing by d’n'c, Lanterns by Mike

Vietnam, China, Italy, Brazil… I’d love to set off on a long trip ticking off all these countries along the way but….. I never seem to have the cash!

Nora Dunn is a Professional Hobo, having sold off and packed up her life in Canada to travel the world full-time.

She’s adamant that you don’t need to be rich to travel the world!

Nora recently shared her traveling secrets with the online world. Check out her top budget travel tips below:

1) Get smart with flight bookings
Save up to 80% on airfare by looking where the standard search engines don’t – check out sites like  Which Budget.

2) Trade work for a room
WWOOFing (Willing Work on Organic Farms) is a popular way of trading work for accommodation, but there are lots more ways of trading a room for work.

3) Get free accommodation
Using hospitality exchanges, you can stay in somebody’s home for free, and arguably get much more out of your trip by staying with the locals.

4) Work whilst traveling
If you’re traveling long-term, you’ll need to consider various work options to keep the travel dollars flowing.

5) Get to grips with volunteering
Volunteer trips can end up costing more than you might have thought. Use reputable sources to get the most out of volunteering.

6) Become part of a community
Integrate yourself into new and foreign communities for all sorts of opportunities that are bound to save you cash.

7) Avoid THE biggest spending trap
Can you guess what the biggest waste of money is when traveling? Souvenirs! Don’t fall into the trap!

Be food wise
Where you eat, how you eat, when you eat… Food can be a big expense when traveling but following a few practical tips can make all the difference.

9) Roll with the punches
Travel will always present you with opportunities, provided your eyes are open to see them. Be flexible and you’ll surely benefit financially in the long run.

10) Rethink travel expenses
Budget for your trip before you leave. Check out Tripbase’s Travel Costs Calculator for estimates on daily traveling costs across the world.

11) Travel slowly
The less you move, the less you spend, and the more you’ll get out of each destination. It’s a win-win situation!

For more info, have a read of the full article: “Travel Full-time for Less than $14,000 a Year.”

And for even more money-saving tips, check out the new book: “10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget.”

Found these tips useful? Got more ideas for saving cash on the road?? Post up your comments, we want to hear from you!

Loads more expert traveling tips to come. Don’t miss out! Sign up for free updates via RSS or email below.

Photo: Nora volunteering.

Traveling through time, what a mind-boggling concept! Surely this is just the stuff of science fiction??

Perhaps not! Here are 5 reasons why time travel might just be possible!

1. Professor Ronald Mallett, from the University of Connecticut is building a real-life time machine! He intends to manipulate past, present and future by twisting space and time into a loop.

2. Time travel has not been proven to be possible but it’s also not been proven to be impossible.

3. If matter could be moved faster than light then, according to special relativity, there would be some inertial frame of reference in which the object was moving backwards in time.

4. Physicists at the University of Koblenz claim to have transmitted photons faster than the speed of light, using a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling.

5. If a cylinder is infinitely long and spins fast enough about its long axis, then a spaceship flying around the cylinder could travel backwards or forwards in time.

Will time travel will ever be possible? When would you travel to?? Post up your comments below, we want to hear from you!

Coming up…. virtual travel. Don’t miss out! Sign up for FREE blog updates via RSS or email below.

More on Professor Mallett’s time travel research.

Photo – Star Trek by As you said.

I often wonder if certain countries are simply happier than others. Yes, is the answer to this question!

Check out this list of the Top 10 Happiest Countries in the World, based on a recent study.*

And if you fancy setting off on a quest for true happiness, our tip is to head for northern Europe…

Who is the Happiest of Them All?

1.    Denmark
2.    Finland
3.    Netherlands
4.    Sweden
5.    Ireland
6.    Canada
7.    Switzerland
8.    New Zealand
9.    Norway
10.  Belgium

Been to any of these countries? Was everyone on happy pills? Got more recommendations for happy countries??

Post up your comments below, we want to hear from you!

Coming up…. the World’s Most Miserable Countries. Don’t miss out! SIGN UP for free blog updates via RSS or email to the right of this page.

Photo: Happy people in Denmark by Flottenheimer

*List taken from happiness research conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

These widgets aren’t just cute, they’re really useful and completely FREE.

You get a cool widget for your site and we get to spread the word about Tripbase.

Choose from three great widgets enabling users to: calculate daily travel costs and weather conditions and receive a stunning travel picture every day.

Check out the screen-shots below and get the widget codes here.

Why should you use our widgets? Here are four good reasons:

· They add value by providing users with a handy travel tool

· They attract visitors

· They enrich your website content

· They’re easy to add and 100% FREE

Simply embed the code provided in the link above and your Tripbase travel widgets are good to go!

These are Tripbase’s first travel widgets so if you have ideas for others, please let us know. We’re always happy to receive feedback from our users.

Want our widgets on your site? Get the the codes here.

Happy Travels!

*Most Bizarre Swine Flu Fact
President Mubarak of Egypt has ordered the slaughter of 400,000 pigs despite there being no suspected cases of Swine Flu in the country.

Do you have travel plans for any of these countries? Will you be canceling your trip? Post up your comments below – we want to hear from you!

For updates on all our travel stories and tips, SIGN UP to the Tripbase Travel Blog via RSS or email.

[Swine Flu statistics according to the World Health Organization as of 6th May 2009.]

Frankly, the thought of traveling into space terrifies me.

But I totally get why many people would readily give their right arm for the chance to explore the endless mass of nothingness that is space.

The crazy thing is that what was once the stuff of science fiction is actually here!

We could all be vacationing in space a lot sooner than you might think. Here are five reasons why:

1. “Space Tourism” is not new. Dennis Tito was the world’s first space tourist, traveling with Space Adventures way back in 2001. Not exactly a budget break, costing him the tidy sum of $20 million.

2. Virgin Galactic already have 250 aspiring “cosmonauts” signed up for suborbital flights aboard the VG SpaceShipTwo. Tickets are priced at $200,000 but are eventually expected to fall to $20,000.

Branson also plans on hurtling space adventurers through the Aurora Borealis (Northen Lights) in Sweden. Phenomenal!

3. Several companies, including Hilton International, have expressed an interest in “space hotels”. The Space Island Group aims to have 20,000 people on their “space island” by 2020.

4. Demand is high, with over 70% of respondents in a web survey affirming that they’re keen on the idea of vacationing in space.

5. Even the Oxford Dictionary is considering adding the word “touronaut” as a new term to describe private space adventurers.

Economic Obstacles

Virgin Galactic aims to have completed their SpaceShipTwo test flight program by the end of this year. But will Branson’s inter-galactic plans be thwarted by a small matter of the global recession?

Amanda Kendle makes this point in her Kathika article: “Is Space Tourism Taking a Rest?”

The Only Question is When

Personally, I think there will always be people willing to pay the premium for space exploration even in the bleakest economic crisis.

To sum up, I’m going to quote Charles Simonyi, the fifth “touronaut” to travel to space in 2007.

When asked, “Do you foresee a day when space tourism is not just the province of billionaires – when it will be as affordable as plane travel?”

“Yes,” he replied “the only question is when…”

An Indian Disneyland

Hampi is quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth. Even the most cynical and experienced traveler will admit as much. No camera can capture even a fraction of Hampi’s jaw-dropping beauty. Words are even less sufficient. My initial impression was that I’d been transposited into a CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) movie or a surrealist pseudo-Dali landscape done by a Thai street artist. Hampi is an Indian Disneyland – the rice fields are so startlingly green and the sky so stupidly blue and the stones so manically yellow…

Welcome to the Jurassic

If you don’t die of heat or exhaustion after walking up the 650 steps to reach the Monkey Temple you’ll be privy to the most magnificent sight of your life. When I reached the top and looked out at as the sun was setting over a mental panorama of tall green rice grass, palm trees and hundreds of human-monkeys, I turned to my “stair-mates” and, to quote Sam Neil, said “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Jurassic!” And I really did expect a Stegosaurus to stretch its neck over the treetops hundreds of feet below me.

The Value of Death

Meanwhile, back at the guesthouse the silent Kiwi guy, Andrew, is telling us a story that happened to him two days ago. He was walking along in Gokarna and stumbled upon a dead body on the beach. He told the owner of his guesthouse whose first question was “westerner or Indian?” When Andrew answered that it was the latter the owner shrugged his shoulders and continued about his work.

The same thing happened in two more guesthouses so Andrew decided to climb the steep cliff path to find some police. They too asked the question. When he answered that the body was indeed Indian they told the by-now-incredulous Kiwi that they are the tourist police, they do not deal with locals and, if he likes, there is a police station in the village where he can report his finding.

End of story. Death is so much a part of life here that it’s difficult for westerners to grasp. Manju, the Indian amongst us explained it thus: “In India, we do not fear death like the West. For us it is as known as birth and survival, and since those are the things we can control, we put our energy into that instead of worrying about death.”

Lego of the Gods

I have decided to explore the region and there is no better way than by motorbike. When you turn you have to be careful not to crash into a flock of goats led by a boy as tall as your knee. And even though technically they drive on the left, there isn’t really enforcement of such trivial laws. The traffic police are absent around here and survival on the roads is left up to Karma.

So I rode the bike up to the lake and stopped where the rocks are precariously balanced over the edge. It seems as if Shiva and Ganesh were building lego together and thought it’d be fun to place a few rocks over the lake to see if people would jump. And the people jumped. Some more crazy than others. I witnessed three Indians do the suicide jump from 20 meters above water level where you’re lucky if you don’t smash your body into the rocks that lurk beneath the surface. The little jump at seven metres (some say eight, some six) was scary enough. After you’ve flung yourself over the edge your life does indeed briefly pass in front of your eyes.

The Festival of Holi

I am ill. Running to the loo.

It is Holi – the Hindu festival celebrating the beginning of spring where everyone throws coloured water and powder at each other. We want to get across the river to celebrate but the police have banned the boat because of ‘incidents’ between drunk Indians and tourists. So the only option is to swim.

We make it over as the festival is in full swing: primeval dancing, drum playing and chucking colours on everything and everyone. Its loads of fun. Women are not really allowed to take part and we get told off a few times. I carry Sunita, a local eight year old girl I have grown attached to, on my shoulders.

Since I have been in India I now understand what it must be like to be famous and hunted by the Paparazzi. Indians are constantly snapping pictures on their camera phones. I have made a new rule: every time someone catches me unawares I make them teach me something in their local tongue. Here in Karnataka they speak Kannada. I now can say about 10 basic sentences. The locals love it when I speak to them in their language.

Dining by Moonlight

Raj, who sells water by the lake, hosts a Thali moonlight dinner for us on the rocks. We discuss the virtues of being a cow in India and how all the other cows in the rest of the world must be green with envy – especially Argentinean ones.

The full moon lights up the lake and embalms the Hampi boulders in an ethereal glow. I muse again for the millionth time about Hampi’s splendor. I think that Homer must have had Hampi in mind when he conjured Calypso’s island in the Odyssey. The Indian at my guesthouse told me that Hampi has a magnetic energy. You want to leave but you can’t. I believe him.

How would you describe Hampi? What do you make of Andrew’s dead body encounter? Post up your comments below, we want to hear from you!

Deborah Danan.

Photos by Deborah.