Xu Tieren used to be an actor, but now travels to many places and then blogs about it. His articles are narrative, detail-focused, and with good photos. Xu does not usually offer social commentary, instead focusing on the travel details.

Xu Tieren visited South Africa as part of a bloggers tour organized by the South African Embassy in Beijing during February 2009.

Xu Tieren's South Africa blogs are primarily hosted on Sina.

Highlights:

1. A moving scene on the subway

Three railway guards (or railway police) came into our car, and when they walked past the blind basker, they took out money and put it in his money jar. Together with the generous donations of other passengers, the money jar quickly turned from empty to full.

2. The good-looking men and women on the streets of Africa (pictures)

Africa not only has beautiful natural scenery (driving along South Africa’s famous Garden Route, if you're lucky you might see running ostriches, inside Kruger National Park you might see lions hunting for prey), it is also a developed place. Its romantic little towns and museums with abundant treasures, and the passionate people of Africa, will leave a deep impression on you.

3. There are charity schools in Africa too

Malinda* was a taxi driver who I had met randomly whilst traveling in South Africa. He mentioned that there was a charity school in a poor area of the suburbs of Cape Town, funded by Christians from all over the world. I asked if he could take me to see it. Malinda replied that he had the following day off: taxis over there also switched drivers every 24 hours.

The next day his younger brother took the taxi, and he took me to see the charity school for free in his beat-up Benz…

Before the car even stopped a few naughty boys came running up. They saw me and started calling me Jackie Chan, and made some moves imitating Chinese kungfu. I noticed that the playground of this school was made of sand, but tidied up. When the children ran, dust was kicked up.

4. A penguin attack in Africa

Perhaps many people do not know that there are penguins in hot Africa. In Cape Town, in the south of South Africa, there's a small town called Simon’s Town, and there are many penguins there. People call it Penguin bay. But the penguins who live there live on land, and aren't the same as the penguins who live in the South Pole. Their bodies are slightly smaller.

Sitting on the rocks next to the sea looking at the penguins is very enjoyable. But the penguins might bite your feet if you're not careful.

*Translated from the Chinese, which was 马林达.