Now many young people are traveling around the world on their own，not because they have no one to travel with，but because they prefer to go alone.

    Kristina Wegscheider from California first traveled alone when she was at college and believes that it is something everyone should do at least once in their life. ＂It opens up your mind to new things and pushes you out of your comfort zone.＂ Wegscheider has visited 46 countries covering all seven continents.

    In foreign countries，with no one to help you read a map，look after you if you get ill，or lend you money if your wallet is stolen，it is challenging. This is what drives young people to travel alone. It is seen as character building and a chance to prove that they can make it on their own.

    Chris Richardson decided to leave his sales job in Australia to go traveling last year. He set up a website，The Aussie Nomad，to document his adventures. He says he wished he had traveled alone earlier. ＂The people you meet，the places you visit，or the things you do，everything is up to you and it forces you to grow as a person，＂ said the 30-year-old man.

    Richardson describes traveling alone like ＂a shot in the arm＂，which ＂makes you a more confident person that is ready to deal with anything＂. He said，＂The feeling of having overcome something on my own is a major part of what drives me each day when I'm dealing with a difficult task. I walk around with my head up because I know deep down inside that nothing is impossible if you try.＂

    The great 19th century explorer John Muir once said，＂Only by going alone in silence can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness.＂

    I found the last outdoor table at my favourite cafe. Reading as I ate my breakfast slowly, I was enjoying the feeling of the cool wind and the warm sun when a table next to me opened up. A woman, who had been standing nearby, clearly waiting for a seat, stepped towards the table. But from the other direction, straight from the parking lot, came a man who got to the table first.

    The woman, with a smile on her face, explained that she'd been keeping her eye on that table for several minutes and had been on her way over. The man, also smiling but determined, told her she was out of luck.

    She stood off the side, clearly disappointed, and greeted her friend with the disappointing news. I sat at my table, taking in the scene, and suddenly I realized that I had an opportunity to be kind.

    I stood up and asked her to come to my table. Quietly, I told her I had seen what had happened, and I was happy to give her my table. I was only going to be there a few more minutes anyway, so I was happy for her and her friend to have the seat.

    "But where will you sit?" she asked. I was almost done eating, I said, and I would find a seat at the counter (柜台) inside. She thanked me and beamed with delight as she invited her friend to sit down.

    Thinking about it as I finished up, I realized that whether or not the woman had acceptable demand for the table was unimportant. The feeling of the situation -- the look of hurt on her face -- had struck me, and I had the ability to do something about it.I just hope that woman's morning at the cafe was great. I know mine was.

    Whether it's music, art, stage, screen, restaurant and bar deals, or the great outdoors – there's always something interesting going on in Hong Kong

    Tim Yip: Blue – Art, Costumes and Memory

    What: A well-known visual artist, costume designer, and art director for stage and film (particularly on his work for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which he won an Oscar), Tim Yip has been a proud promoter of Eastern aestheticism(唯美主义)for 30 years. For his first large-scale solo exhibition in Hong Kong, Yip explores the nature of human imagination and the depths of the subconscious mind. Organized by Mark Holborn, the exhibition is expected to be praised due to Yip's vision of “New Orientalism”.

    Where: HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong Design Institute, 3 King Ling Road, Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O

    When: Until March 31, 2019

    Alice's Adventure at Starlight Garden

    What: Introduced last year, this exhibition became a huge hit, with more than 6,000 photos and videos posted online every day. Created by 27 multimedia digital artists from Korea, the exhibition features a 30-foot rabbit hole for visitors to explore the fantasy world made famous in the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This Christmas, New Town Plaza delivers a brand-new interactive digital version of the literary work. In particular, check out the seventh floor, with its bright lighting, glittering mirrors and rose-shaped decorations.

    Where: New Town Plaza, 18 Sha Tin Centre Street, Sha Tin

    When: Until January 13, 2019

    We Travel in Our Minds

    What: This exhibition of sculpture aims to present ideas of theatricality, the fantastical, travel and exchange, with figures that take the forms of humans and animals. Made by artist Ethan Murrow, a professor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, these dream-like objects are inspired by puppetry (木偶戏), music, trade, navigation and beyond, with mixed effects of materiality, sound and imagination.

    Where: Duddell's, Level 3, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell Street, Central

When: Until March 10, 2019

It's always exciting to receive a letter in the mail. Even today, when the world is digitally connected, receiving an actual letter in your mailbox from a distant land is a great way for children to make new friends. 

The Peaceful Pen Pals Project is a beautiful initiative that combines global connection and self-expression. The project is part of the nonprofit Kids for Peace, founded by Jill McManigal and Danielle Gram in California, in 2006. Letter writing is most certainly hands-on and helps strengthen relationships throughout the world. 

The Peaceful Pen Pals Project is open to all children, ages 2 through 17. To date, there are 1500 children from 17 countries participating in the program. Each child is assigned a pen pal of a similar age. This establishes a point of connection right off the bat for the children and promotes a stronger bond. If the letter writers are in the same grade, they can chat about their schools, teachers, and what they are studying. They can also compare and contrast what different states or countries learn about and how the dynamics of the classroom are, whether socially or academically. 

Children may be more inclined to write about their issues if they feel like they are speaking to a peer in a similar situation. They also write about the local weather, who the letter writer lives with, and their favorite things to do at home. This will give the pen pal a good sense of the writer's home life, and they may relate to certain aspects, such as their parents, the number of siblings, or if they share a room. Although pen pals may live in different countries, they may find common ground according to this information. 

"Hearing first-hand stories from an international pen pal can encourage teens to take someone else's perspective and to think outside of themselves," writes Rebecca Fraser-Thill on Very Well Family. "It can also encourage interest in geography, politics, and history, and promote many key skills, including reciprocation, empathy and mutual concern. "

The rejuvenating effects of a restorative nocturnal repose are widely recognized; it can engender a state of enhanced well-being. Academics in the field posit that the excellence of one's slumber may indeed be instrumental in the prolongation of one's lifespan.

Male subjects who enjoy a state of somnolent tranquility could potentially extend their existence by a span of nearly five decades in comparison to those bereft of such repose. The female counterparts stand to gain an increment of two decades. Additionally, it has been observed that youthful individuals who adhere to salutary somniferous routines are less susceptible to a premature demise. However, the mere quantity of repose is insufficient to reap the potential healthful dividends; the caliber of one's slumber is equally pivotal.

The parameters of commendable slumber were delineated by a quintet of distinct criteria. These encompassed an optimal duration of seven to eight hours of repose per nocturnal cycle; experiencing difficulty in the initiation of sleep no more than twice per hebdomadal period; similar challenges in maintaining somnolence no more than twice weekly; abstaining from the consumption of any soporific pharmaceuticals; and awakening with a sensation of invigoration on no fewer than five days per septenary cycle.

The conclusions derived from the study intimate that approximately 8% of fatalities, irrespective of their etiology, could be imputed to inadequate somniferous patterns. Dr. Frank Qian, a resident physician specializing in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, America, remarked, "A distinct proportional response relationship was discerned. Consequently, an increase in the beneficial elements pertaining to the quality of sleep correlates with a progressive diminution in mortality from all causes."

The research collated data from a populace of 172,321 individuals with an average age of 50, of which 54% were female. These participants were engaged in the National Health Interview Survey, spanning the years 2013 to 2018, which sought to scrutinize the well-being of the American populace, inclusive of inquiries into their somniferous habits.

The subjects were tracked for a mean period of 4.3 years, during which 8,681 succumbed to death. Of these fatalities, 2,610 (30%) were attributable to cardiovascular afflictions, 2,052 (24%) to oncological disorders, and 4,019 (46%) to a miscellany of other causes. Among the male and female participants who reported adherence to all five indices of quality sleep (an optimal quintile score), the expectancy of life was augmented by 4.7 years for males and by 2.4% for females, in contradistinction to those who possessed none or a solitary factor.

Further scholarly endeavor is warranted to elucidate the raison d'être for the dichotomy in the enhancement of life expectancy, with males exhibiting twice the increment observed in females despite equivalent somniferous quality.

A caveat of the study lies in the reliance on self-reported somniferous habits, which were not subjected to objective quantification or verification.

Chinese President Xi Jinping once said. "Heroes come from the people." Every year, there are ordinary people spreading positive energy (正能量) and touching our hearts. Let's take a look at some of them.