People of all ages enjoy relaxing Grand Canyon rafting tours down the powerful Colorado River. You won’t even run into any white-water rapids because these are smooth-water float trips. Seeing the canyon from its floor appeals to many people, but not everybody’s up to the rigors of white-water rafting or difficult hikes. Float tours allow travelers to see the canyon from the unique perspective at the bottom, but they’re not physically demanding.

Smooth-water rafting tours offer several advantages that white-water rafting does not. For one thing, senior citizens, children aged four and up, and everyone in between will enjoy a calm ride down the river without any physical limitations or demands. You don’t need to be in great physical condition to enjoy one of these smooth-water float tours. They also allow visitors to focus on the sights instead of worrying about tricky and sometimes dangerous rapids.

Many people arrive at their rafting tour’s launch point by bus: after boarding a shuttle from the canyon’s South Rim and nearby hotels, these tour participants take a three-hour scenic bus ride over to Page, Arizona. Along the way the bus passes through the Navajo Indian Reservation.

The rafting portion of the tour starts at the base of Glen Canyon Dam and travels about 15 miles down the mighty Colorado. Stops along the way include lunch on a beach and a walk led by expert guides to see ancient Native American drawings on the canyon wall. On their way back to the South Rim, tour participants see the Painted Desert, Lee’s Ferry and Horseshoe Bend. The bus also stops at Cameron Trading Post - a place that’s perfect for souvenir-hunters.

Other float tour participants arrive at their launching point by airplane: after boarding a shuttle from the canyon’s South Rim and nearby hotels, these tour participants fly to Page, Arizona. The spectacular aerial views as the plane soars over the canyon’s eastern rim are unforgettable.

Once they arrive in Page, passengers take a 4×4 Jeep ride to Antelope Canyon, where they’ll see windblown and eroded sandstone formations that visibly demonstrate the power of wind and water. At the conclusion of that part of the tour, participants begin the Grand Canyon water rafting portion, floating down the Colorado River for about 15 miles. Stops for lunch and viewing ancient Native American rock drawings are made along the way.

Make sure you bring a hat and sunscreen for your Grand Canyon water rafting tour. And wear a life preserver, even if you’re a good swimmer - it’s better to be safe than sorry! If you want to swim in the Colorado during the lunch break, wear your swimsuit under your regular clothing. The price of float tours includes lunch and drinks, but you can bring your own if you want - just make sure it in a waterproof container.

Some people wait a lifetime to see this glorious National Park, while others never get the opportunity. And some see the canyon but never go beyond the rim. They never get a close-up view of the canyon’s scenic wonders. Fortunately, people of all ages can enjoy Grand Canyon water rafting trips. The views from the canyon bottom are spectacular and unforgettable.

1-Day Grand Canyon rafting is fun for all ages. Go here for a list of the best float tours at discount prices.

The Chinese capital of Beijing may be racing toward the future at breakneck speed but sneak behind one of the city’s sleek, glittering office blocks and you shall find a slice of old Beijing that is frozen in time. Welcome to the hutong; tree-lined alleyways that are the true soul of this amazing city. In the hutongs one can have a real glimpse of street life in Beijing that hasn’t changed much in centuries.

While the rest of the city frenzies about in westernized business suits, with a Starbucks coffee in one hand and a smartphone in the other, old men sit on wooden crates at the entrance to their centuries-old hutong, drinking tea, playing cards and chatting away with friends and neighbors who have likely been companions since their childhoods in the very same hutong.
On the day of my introduction to the concept of the hutong, I opted for a Starbucks latte on a busy city street. Rather than drinking it at the sleek counter of the coffee shop, I opted instead to walk around the corner, down the narrow alley of a hutong and find myself a wooden crate on which to perch. It seemed far preferable to me to sit there, sip my coffee and learn about this delightful ordinary life in the timeless hutong. As I walked along the narrow thoroughfares I could hear a vendor bellow in a deep voice that resonated down every nook and cranny ‘Jee-dan, jee-dan, jee-dan’ (’eggs, eggs, eggs’) Not far away another chimed ‘Da-mee… da-mee… da-mee…’ (’rice… rice… rice…’). Yet another trader called out methodically as he pulled along a cart carrying huge bags of different types of grain. The charming old hutongs of Beijing make the ordinary seem delightful and the routine seem marvelous. And so it goes, the activities of a typical morning in a Beijing hutong.

Old, walled courtyard homes are the building blocks of this glorious maze of lovely narrow lanes. The more impressive abodes are fronted by thick red doors outside of which perch either a pair of lions or a pair of drum stones. Vastly more residences though, have been converted over the years into a ramshackle collection of tiny, one-story homes, accessed only by the narrowest of winding pathways. Living conditions here are very basic - a one-room family-house with a small kitchen-conversion and often a single shared toilet on the alley for numerous residences. However, it’s this unusual mix of ancient aristocratic architecture and salt-of-the-earth local dwellers that gives the hutong alleys their special character.
Life in the hutongs has been this way for centuries. The hutongs go back almost 800 years and are in fact a Mongol invention. After Genghis Khan’s unruly hordes reduced Beijing to rubble, the capital was redesigned with these narrow alleyways crisscrossing the city. By the Qing Dynasty there were 2000 hutong, and by the 1950s that total had tripled.

The best way to experience hutong life is to simply wander around the alleys, either on foot or by bicycle. Start with some of the lovely alleys around the Drum Tower, those branching off from the newly-gentrified bar-street alley called Nanluogu Xiang. Another good choice would be those found directly southwest of Tiananmen Square in an area known as Dashilan. For something more a bit more grand try the imperial hutong courtyards, in the area immediately northeast of Jingshan Park, just north of the Forbidden City.

To be sure, the hutongs are the essence of Beijing. Go experience it with an absorbing wander around and with an open mind to explore. Just let yourself get lost. Tuck your hotel address safely away in your pocket and marvel in your exploration!

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The Mumbai Dhobi Ghat is a well known open air laundromat in Mumbai, India. The washers, locally known as dhobis, work in the open to wash the clothes from Mumbai’s hotels and hospitals. There are rows of open-air concrete wash pens, each fitted with its own flogging stone. Called the world’s largest outdoor laundry, Dhobi Ghat is a very popular attraction among foreign tourists.

The phrase “dhobi ghat” is used all over India to refer to any place where many washers are present. India’s largest, and indeed most fascinating dhobi ghat is located next to the Mahalaxmi rail station on the Saat Rasta roundabout in the heart of Mumbai, the magnificent city once known as Bombay. This dhobi ghat is as fascinating a place as one will ever encounter. It is a huge human-powered mass laundry, where over one thousand washermen, called “dhobis” in Hindi, wash clothes in large concrete wash pens and dry them under an open sky. As more Mumbai families are gaining increasing affluence nowdays, many people can now afford their own washing machines so many of the “dhobis” in this “ghat” are not involved in doing the laundry of Mumbai homes and families. In fact, they are mostly engaged in washing clothes for large, lower-market commercial organizations like restaurants, hospitals or hotels or guest-houses located in the vicinity.

The “dhobi ghat” a true open-air manually-operated laundry, is a surviving relic of Mumbai’s past. Generally the position of a “dhobi” is a hereditary profession, with most of the washermen’s families working here for the last three generations, their technique changing precious little over that time frame. The soiled clothes are first soaked in boiling water with Caustic Soda and then “flogged” on a slab to get physically rid them of dirt and stains. It is tedious and strenuous work. The dhobis work dawn until dusk in temperatures that exceed 90 degrees farenheit even in winter. The extreme humidy from the nearby Arabian sea certainly doesn’t make their occupation any easier.

After drying the laundry in the open, clothes are ironed with age old charcoal presses with heavy wooden handles. It’s a great photo opportunity if nothing else, you can get a view from the bridge next to the Mahalaxmi station. Most of the local people find it intriguing that an activity as ordinary as washing arouses such curiosity in the tourists. Still, for a western tourist, a trip to see this enormous Mumbai dhobi ghat is an absolute can’t miss experience. If you see nothing else in Mumbai, ensure that you see this.

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Despite all the prognosticators saying that this year would be a bad year to purchase property in Australia, the contrary is quite true. The year 2012 and the next few years are the ideal times to purchase property in Australia. There are a few factors that need to be observed before plunking down your hard earned cash and these are the following:

Reason One: Falling values of Australian property. It is expected that the Australian property values would fall further in the first half of 2012, especially for high end properties. In other areas though, such as Sydney’s suburban market, prices have somehow become stabilized and it is expected that many other areas would follow suit.

Reason Two: Supply and Demand. The market is governed by the supply of homes and the ability to pay for those homes. Because of the continued growth of the Australian economy, there is some confidence in the customer’s ability to pay for the homes, which again fuels the demand for more homes and increased supply results.

There are other factors that may affect the overall economic landscape, which may indirectly affect the current market forces in the housing industry in the country. While these may be outside the Australian borders, their ripple effects may influence the development of economic policy within the country, thus affecting the market in many ways. These factors are as follows:

1) Europe’s Debt Problems. The European debt crisis, especially regarding the Greece bailout issues and Italy’s economic issues would be one major shadow in the future of Australia. When the European market slows down, it would affect the overall economic outlook of Australia.

2) Asian Slowdown. While China remains to be the top trading partner of Australia, any change in their economic policies would necessarily affects Australia not only in the near term but also for the long term future. Another major issue would be the competition for the mining industries and market between the two countries.

3) Reserve Bank of Australia. As the worldwide rates of interest remains low, to spur growth and economic activity, the RBA has followed suit to prop up the Australian economy. Their recent decisions to drop interest rates twice already in 2012.

4) Inflation. As economies grow and improve, one major issue that affects the individual and the economy as a whole is the rate of inflation. Inflation is the value lost on money earned. This is especially hurtful for those stable income earners that lose value for their money earned.

Bobby Castro is the online editor at the Australia Forum, where he has published a number of articles about housing in Australia and many other topics.

Despite the many current issues involved in the European Union, the conglomeration of different countries and cultures is one monumental task that has been considered as success. Now, there is a common currency, common immigration policy as well as common legislative body that governs the European Union.

This is the model that is sought to be followed for Latin American countries especially now that it has become the major catalyst for economic activity as well as becoming the major event stage for global events such as the World Cup, the Olympics and other festivities. Unfortunately, the common goals and aspirations for a unionized Latin America remains a far fetched goal.

There have been a number of summits and meetings that have as objectives regional economic and political integration. There are still major issues as there are countries within the Latin American region that do not have diplomatic ties as well as having bitter histories and without trade relations with one another. Examples would be Colombia and Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia as well as Peru and Bolivia. The issues between the severance of these ties include unsanctioned military incursions, territorial conflicts and even diplomatic protests. Other issues include environmental and even political in nature.

These small conflicts between countries in Latin America have resulted in an arms race between these countries. It has been reported that military spending in the region has increased by 91 percent in the past four years. In 2011 alone, the total military spending in the region amounted to $47.2 billion, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.

There is also mutual distrust between the countries are also scarring the possibility of economic cooperation between them. One such incident involved Peru and Chile, where the former is exporting natural gas to Mexico while latter is importing natural gas from Indonesia. The two countries can fill the needs of one another but a current conflict on borders has prevented any trade between the two, as the case is before the International Court of Justice in the Hague in the Netherlands.

Like the European Union, the problem of currencies is another major issue. In Latin America alone, five small countries have their distinct currencies and trade regulations. This is one major drawback for trade between these countries. Another major industry that is severely hampered is the regional tourism industry, as many countries do not have common agreements with one another as to allow tourists to travel across borders with one another.

Bobby Castro is the online editor at Gringos, where he has published a number of articles about life in South America and many other topics.