I tilted my head back, eyes looking at the contours of the impressive bridge. A cold wind slipped beneath my warm coat, and I instantly longed back in the car. The sun made a futile attempt to warm the snow-covered stone walls encircling us. A sense of unease crept in. Nearby, a sign, where in bold red on white read: "Caution, Dangerous!"

The stereotype of Iran being dangerous shattered into pieces in my mind the moment I landed at Imam Khomeini Airport. At passport control, passengers kindly offered to let one another go ahead in line, repeatedly apologizing and exchanging warm smiles. These gestures often blossomed into friendly conversations filled with gratitude, expressed more elaborately than in many other cultures. Later, while studying Persian, I discovered the concept of taarof — an art of elaborate politeness and a deeply ingrained social etiquette. This tradition of treating guests with exceptional kindness, even prioritizing them over one’s own family, has been rooted in Iranian culture since the days of ancient Persia.

Tehran, a city with a history spanning a thousand years, nestles at the foot of the Alborz mountain range, leaning against the towering Mount Tochal. In the north, where snow-capped peaks dominate the skyline, you can ski; while to the south, the desert awaits. Building a connection with the city may take time, but after six months of living here, I found myself eager to share my favourite spots with fellow foreigners.

We’re heading to Tehran, and my mind is filled with various thoughts. Yet, one question keeps echoing: when will these barren fields, scattered with plastic bags, finally come to an end?

My husband’s parents were already waiting for me in the yard. In time, I would come to love them as my own, but at that moment, meeting his mother stirred only mild excitement and an unsettling feeling of not being liked. Despite my best efforts to quickly master a beginner’s Persian audio course before the trip, I couldn’t manage to utter even a few words.

I sat at the table, smiling politely, while everyone else chatted animatedly. In front of me was a plate, accompanied by a fork and a spoon. A spoon instead of a knife? The thought flitted through my mind. Resolving to use only the fork, I unwittingly drew even more attention to myself. The food, for its part, refused to reveal any of its flavours and seemed to halt halfway down to my stomach. The day stretched on endlessly, and I silently wondered if it would ever come to an end.

This story began in 1846 when the world’s first oil well was drilled at the Bibi-Heybat field near Baku. Oil was everywhere in this place: it poured from the earth in pitch-black curls, quickly coating the bare feet — and sometimes even the entire body of workers, whose bronzed skin was a result of constant exposure to the sun. These workers, often wearing straw hats, were surrounded by the so-called “black gold.” It almost sounds like one of the magical wishes from the Genie in Aladdin’s lamp, doesn’t it? Yet, for the oil workers of Baku, this “black gold” was not a blessing, but a dangerous challenge.

The word that comes from the heart penetrates the heart.

Nizami Ganjavi

 I was cooking in the kitchen, and reminding myself that cooking with love makes the food tastier and the process more enjoyable. However, my inner voice kept protesting, trying to convince me otherwise - that I was stuck in the routine of everyday life and missing out on the most interesting moments. My thoughts were interrupted by a phone call from my husband. His friends from Tehran had decided to leave the capital and move to the island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf. 'They're inviting us to visit,' he said at the end. 'Sounds great! Finally!' I exclaimed.

The Radomysl Castle Museum is located 86 km from Kyiv and is part of Via Regia route - is the name of the oldest and longest land route between the East and Europe, which stretched from Kyiv to the Atlantic coast. Already in the 13th century, a stable route with a length of 4,500 kilometers was formed, which passed through eight European countries: Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

When we were just planning to visit Belarus, everyone asked in surprise: “What to do there?” After all, many believe that Belarus is closer to Europe only geographically, and Minsk is still the Soviet Union. Oh yes, the roads are good, everything is clean, but in general it’s boring and everything is very authoritarian. But all these arguments only fueled the interest to see what was really going on there? Destroying the existing stereotypes of some countries is the main reason why I started writing this blog. We definitely decided to go and see, and when we returned, we didn’t regret what we saw and experienced one bit.

Hot tea is the best way to warm you up in winter. In China, people drink black tea in winter and green tea in summer. Believe it or not, all tea is made from the same plant. It is an evergreen shrub that can grow into a small tree. The subspecies Camellia sinensis originates from Southeast China. Plants can live up to 100 years or more, and the leaves are harvested year-round. Another subspecies called Camellia sinensis assamica comes from India. All the tea consumed in the world comes from these two plants.

Bakhtiari have roamed the lands of Persia for thousands of years and are an integral part of its history. They trace their lineage directly from Cyrus the Great. There is another version that they are descendants of the Iranian epic hero Fereydun.

Chinese women knows the secret of health and happiness does not lie in radical diets and extreme workouts that prove impossible to stick to. The key is to implement small daily measures that are simple, pleasurable, and fit effortlessly into everyday life. Think about how daily teeth-brushing has become a habit for most of us. Do this and you’ll set yourself up for good mood, even on the dark days.

First, let’s acknowledge that there is no truly green holiday, only shades of grey. At home or away, each one of us is a net drain on the planet’s finite resources. But small changes can make a big difference, and travellers today are more willing to scale back their consumption. We might opt for environmentally friendly travel in future, such as taking buses and trains to cut down on airplane carbon emissions. Companies have been quick to exploit this trend, to the point of utter market confusion. A Google search for “green travel” now yields more than one million results. Consumers are wisely suspicious. 

Thanks to their colors, these mountains attract many visitors and nature photographers. Moreover, very contrasting color stripes glow most intensely after rain.

It was not at all easy for nature to create such art - it took 24 million years of painstaking work to collect mineral deposits, like pouring sand of different colors into a jar. Subsequently, these heavy layers were compressed into rock, and then a small and incredibly slow wave from the collision of the Iranian and Eurasian tectonic plates crushed the landscape into these wonderful waves to complete the effect (at the same time also giving birth to the Alborz Mountains).

Обмеження простору й часу заважають нам з упевненістю зрозуміти природу духів, які приходять до нас. Зрештою, ми можемо лише здогадуватися про їхню природу та мету, хоча я вважаю, що найкраще базувати наші припущення на природних доказах.

Hot tea is the best way to warm you up in winter. In China, people drink black tea in winter and green tea in summer. Believe it or not, all tea is made from the same plant. It is an evergreen shrub that can grow into a small tree. The subspecies Camellia sinensis originates from Southeast China. Plants can live up to 100 years or more, and the leaves are harvested year-round. Another subspecies called Camellia sinensis assamica comes from India. All the tea consumed in the world comes from these two plants.

The spirit of the tea ceremony is the core of tea culture, in other words, it is harmony, peace, happiness and truthfulness. The most important thing, of course, is happiness. Tea has a health-improving effect, and regular tea drinking can strengthen the body. Physical health is a prerequisite for "satisfaction and nourishment", and only through self-indulgence can the sublime sphere of life be obtained and the quality of life improved. In general, by getting to know the spirit of the tea ceremony, we can better inherit and popularize tea culture.

In the beginning, tea in China was a luxury item consumed mainly by nobles and royalty. The elite started drinking tea to invigorate the body and clear the mind. Tea was brewed with other plants to make tea soup, which was considered a combination of medicine, food, and drink. The consumption of the soup did not become popular among the masses because of its bitter taste. Records also show that ritual worship during the Zhou dynasty included tea ceremonies conducted by officials. Tea was considered an exotic plant from southern China, so it was offered as a tribute to the emperor and served to nobles.

Artisans have created hundreds of examples of tea art, such as poems, drawings, songs and even literature. One of the first to write about tea was Lu Yu.

Lu Yu was born in China. His parents are unknown, he was found at an early age near the walls of a Buddhist monastery. The abbot of the monastery gave him the name Lu Yu, which literally means "dry" and "feathers".

He lived and was educated in a monastery, but at the age of 11 he voluntarily joined a troupe of wandering actors. While traveling, Lu Yu saw how different layers of the population lived, observed traditions and various ways of preparing tea. During his 16 years of travel, he visited many cities and monasteries in the modern provinces of Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan and Sichuan. He learned the techniques of shadow theater, marionettes and traditional drama. He met famous people of his time, got patrons and lived in monasteries for a long time. All this time, he collected tea, tasted water, studied local tea customs and recorded his observations.

In 760, he settled alone in Huzhou county in the territory of modern Zhejiang province. Here, in 778, the "Tea Canon" was written, and in 795, a book with a description of the 20 most famous springs of China.

He encouraged commoners to drink tea by including a section on which teaware could be omitted if one could not afford it. Lu Yu is known as the "Tea Sage" and "Tea God". His classic book linked the consumption of tea to spiritual matters, art, Chinese lifestyle, morality and philosophy. Although the majority of the Chinese population did not read it, intellectuals, nobility, and spiritual leaders embraced it.

Confucian teachings indicated that the world should be governed, improved, and morally taught through classical learning. According to Liu, "Chinese intellectuals considered culture, or all literature and knowledge, to be the vehicle or instrument of human morality, serving to fulfill the civilizational function of Dao (the way the universe works)." Lu Yu's book helped turn the pleasant drink into an art woven into Chinese culture.

Chinese women knows the secret of health and happiness does not lie in radical diets and extreme workouts that prove impossible to stick to. The key is to implement small daily measures that are simple, pleasurable, and fit effortlessly into everyday life. Think about how daily teeth-brushing has become a habit for most of us. Do this and you’ll set yourself up for good mood, even on the dark days.

3. Healthy and Mindful Eating

A balanced and nutritious diet promotes healthy Qi flow. Focusing on colorful, seasonal and natural ingredients is essential to health and longevity. Fruit, vegetables, legumes, grains, organic, pasture-raised meat and poultry and wild and sustainably caught fish are just some of the natural foods to base Chinese women diet around. Mindful eating is also key to appreciating food and where it comes from and for optimal digestion. 

4. Skincare with SPF

Women from China have traditionally valued pale skin, so they go to great lengths to protect their skin from the sun's damaging rays. In Asia, pale skin is associated with wealth, while tanned skin is associated with manual labor. The average Asian woman, and increasingly the men too, wear layers of SPF and UVB every time they leave their home.

5. Drink warm water, tea, or soup at mealtimes.

Chinese and many other East and Southeast Asian cultures agree that ingesting warm liquids balances your body’s physical and energetic temperature. Teas and soups are balance a meal and aid in digestion.

The Chinese are the first in the world to welcome spring. This holiday is called Chinese New Year and is celebrated for two weeks. Traditionally, it was a time to honor the gods and ancestors, as well as a time for feasting and visiting family members.

Regional customs and traditions in China vary widely but share the same theme: seeing out the old year and welcoming in the luck and prosperity of a new year. The main Chinese New Year activities include are putting up decorations, offering sacrifices to ancestors,

eating reunion dinner with family on New Year's Eve, giving red envelopes and other gifts, firecrackers and fireworks, and

watching lion and dragon dances.