New options for foreign kids

The Ministry of Education has approved 86 international schools across the country, including 20 in Beijing and 18 in Shanghai, to be opened to foreigners by January. Private schools have also opened to foreigners, with tuition and boarding fees about 50,000 yuan ($6,500) a year, slightly lower than international schools.

Global village

BEIJING

Sunseeker leaves a global trail of goodwill

After he left the bone-chilling cold of northern Canada, Greg MacIsaac spent four years as a schoolteacher in tropical Tanzania where he warmed up long enough to entertain a new job at a Beijing school. His dislike for the cold and his fondness for teaching motivated him to explore the outside world, he says.

School daze

When American Mareno Rathell began investigating the best way to educate his three sons he was surprised by the "outrageous prices, lack of choice and the system that is in place but does not work". The English teacher from Milwaukee wanted to send his children to an international school, but the option was beyond his reach. Some schools charge more than $20,000 per child per year.

Life Travel

Getting there

Direct flights between Beijing and Kashgar do not yet exist so a stop in Urumqi - a few hours at the airport or overnight - is necessary. Return flights to Urumqi are around 1,600 yuan ($210). Return flights between Urumqi and Kashgar can be as low as 1,000 yuan ($131) although a 24-hour train ride one-way gives a sense of the vastness of the region and costs 400 yuan ($52) for a soft sleeper.

Bordering on Bazaar

The knife was sharp. He had proved that by seizing my right arm, turning it veins up and dragging the blade across my skin. At the sight of a three-centimeter square bald patch on my arm, I agreed to only 10 yuan ($1.3) less than his initial asking price.

Three-day course to underwater paradise

BELLHEIM, Germany: Only millionaires can afford a trip into space. The world beneath the waves, nearly as exotic, is a far cheaper destination. While perhaps not as romantic as a half century ago - the heyday of French ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau and Hans Hass, the Austrian marine biologist - advanced scuba diving technology has made going there a lot easier.

Chinese tourism to Japan jumps by a quarter

TOKYO: Travelers to Japan from China rose by nearly a quarter last year, boosting the total number of visitors and the economy, the government said Tuesday. A total of 810,000 Chinese visited Japan in 2006, a growth of 24.6 percent from the previous year, according to a report by the transport ministry.

Life Health

Soaking up the healing powers of the sea

HAMBURG: Every year countless vacationers take a beach holiday as a way to relax, feel the surf on their feet, the warmth of the sun on their skin and the wind in their hair.

IN BRIEF (Page 19)