Title – Boating Beijing
Date – July 2006
Location - Beijing - China
The tea boats are a great way to spend an afternoon cruising the city of Beijing, they keep you out of the intense heat in summer and you are looked after and served tea throughout while you watch the city go about its daily business. It’s a fascinating insight into a completely different way of life and a new angle to see the city from.
Beyond The Blue endeavours to look at the subjects it teaches from new angles, we don’t think the traditional way is the always the best. We will not just tell you that the size of China is 9.6 million square km, we will tell you that and that it’s 40 times the size of the UK. Which way of looking at this simple subject will you remember when you come to plan your trip?
Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops are directed at people going on their first big trip abroad. It is delivered by experienced instructors who know the best ways to get their message across, as they were once in your shoes and understand the worries you have when planning your first trip.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Beyond The Blue
Date – July 2006
Location - Beijing - China
Beyond The Blue stands out amongst it competitors in directing courses specifically for the planned destinations of those people attending and we stand out in the levels of customer service we expect to show our customers.
Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop will enable you to stand out amongst your peers as the most well prepared of travellers.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Little Ikea
Date – July 2006
Location - Beijing - China
Exploring the back streets can lead to exciting discoveries. This man was selling his hand made miniature furniture down a side street and was truly a local character worth chatting to while enjoying a break from the extreme heat of the city.
Going down a side street can be an exciting trip of discovery, but use caution and know your location and the threats that you may find there. If you have made you assessment of the risk and decided to explore, then the personal safety physical intervention techniques we train you in, during our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop, may give you the edge if you suddenly find yourself out of your depth.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Busking
Date – July 2006
Location - Beijing - China
Staying awake is the way not to miss an opportunity; in the case of this man in Beijing the chance to make a few RMB from passing tourists faded when he fell asleep, but not before he took a good hold of his collecting tin.
When you are visiting parts of the world you are unfamiliar in, you must try and stay awake sometimes physically, always mentally. Beyond The Blue, through the extensive experience we have of travelling the world, know all the tricks to reduce the risk to you and your possessions when the time comes for you to finally nod off. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop makes you aware of the dangers you may face on your travels and how to reduce the risks, by being mentally aware.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Rickshaws
Date – July 2006
Location - Beijing - China
Rickshaws have long been the transport of choice in many cities and towns throughout Asia and to this day millions of rickshaws make tens of millions of trips throughout the region every day. In some of the more popular tourist centres they ply their trade directly for tourists, but mostly rickshaw driver see tourists as a bonus and a source of extra revenue as they can demand a higher fare from you then the locals. But despite this they can be the most efficient mode of transport and the cheapest when you have to get round in the madness of local traffic.
It’s useful, if you don’t want to get a complete sightseeing tour of the city, to have some knowledge of how to get to your destination, so you can give some direction to the runner or driver. The other way to get to your destination via the quickest route is to negotiate the cost before you set off.
Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop looks at the Transport Options, not only in getting to your destination, but in getting from one location to the next and within the countries themselves. Beyond The Blue does not recommend particular carriers or companies during its courses, but does discuss the experiences of the instructors.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
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Title – Blue Mosque
Date – June 2006
Location - Istanbul – Turkey
Istanbul is the gateway to Asia or if you are coming from Asia… it’s the gateway to Europe. In either direction this is assumed to be where Europe ends and the mighty continent of Asia begins. This line defined by the banks of the Bosporus, which cuts through the heart of this city of vibrancy, energy and sometimes just a little confusion about where it actually fits into the world.
The locals in Istanbul have long lived on this divide and refer to the two sections of their city as the ‘European side’ and the ‘Asian side’, but Istanbul is neither, Istanbul is simply and quintessentially Istanbul.
A city which for centuries has dealt with the diversity within; a city that believes in itself; a city that reinvents itself repeatedly throughout history; it is a destination that should not be missed. The mosques tower over the river; this temple designed by Mehmed Aga stands opposite the famous Hagia Sophia. Mehmed’s objective was to build a mosque with a bigger dome then the Hagia Sophia, which itself supports one of the biggest domes ever built. He failed in surpassing the magnificence of Hagia Sophia and in reality had no chance in competing with the history of this older structure. But in itself the Blue Mosque is a magnificent structure and sitting next to its more famous neighbour; they dominate this part of the cities skyline and play a significant role in a city whose turbulent past is only matched by its own sense of hope for the future.
Beyond The Blue runs Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops designed to help those people travelling anywhere in the world prepare for their forthcoming experiences so that they can travel to both urban and rural areas anywhere in the world, with confidence and the skills to do so in safety.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
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Title – Seahorse
Date – May 2006
Location - Malapascua Island - Philippines
This bright yellow Tigertail seahorse (Hippocampus comes) is just one member of the seahorse family and can be found amongst the most beautiful reefs in the Philippines. But as much as Seahorses are a peculiarity to us and fascinate us by their truly bizarre evolution, they have also fascinated other cultures which have seen the peculiarity slightly differently.
Sea horses used to be readily available as tourist trinkets, in a very similar way to the still hugely damaging sea shell industry. You could (and in some destinations still can) buy them dried and ready to go. Fortunately tourists have in the most part woken up to not only how unattractive an object a dried seahorse is, but also how endangered they were becoming; as a result less and less people are perpetuating this trade.
However the seahorse like many endangered animals faces an even greater threat; Chinese traditional medicine. Although due to it’s size Chinese medicine takes most of the blame for annual harvests of sea horses, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea also practice versions of this traditional medicine. Jamu medicine in Indonesia and folk medicine in the Philippines also use these delicate and shy little animals to treat a range of conditions, including respiratory disorders such as asthma, impotence and other sexual dysfunctions, and general lethargy and pain.
Although statistics are difficult to verify, as much of the trade is illegal and unregistered, it is believed that somewhere in the region of 70 metric tonnes of sea horses were harvested in 2001 alone. That is the equivalent of roughly 25,000,000 sea horses harvested in that one year. Population estimates indicate that sea horse numbers declined by some 50% in the 1990’s and in specific location like the Philippines that figure is estimated to be in the region of 70%.
At Beyond The Blue we believe in informing candidates through our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop not only how to travel is safety, but also to travel responsibly. We understand that people often want to visit areas of the world where these ethical or environmentally responsible principles are not always met by local populations, but that does not prevent travellers from not adding to these problems; we examine ways of ensuring that the impact we have, when travelling, is a positive one.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
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