Details make the difference – especially in the realm of sustainable, luxury off-the-beaten-path travel.

A client once commented, “We don’t mind roughing it during the day, but at night, please get me back to a nice lodge or hotel where I can take a warm shower, have a cup of hot tea, and catch up on some reading by the fire.”

WildChina heeds such requests and zeroes in on delivering the ultimate comfort. We know that travel in China can be demanding and unpredictable. From the big cities to the remotest of villages, WildChina ensures your journey in China is safe, reliable and comfortable.

Recently, on a private journey in Guilin, Guangxi province, our guides and service team proved once again that this commitment enables us to take potentially problematic situations and make them enjoyable and successful for all.

Recently, southern China has been hit by heavy rains, with Guangxi province being no exception. After arriving in Guilin with WildChina clients, the weather in the area took a considerable turn for the worse. As a result, the clients’ outdoor activities, such as going bamboo rafting and watching the Impression Liusanjie performance, would have to be canceled.

Thanks to extensive on- and off-site training, our guides are fully prepared to make alternate plans in the event of special circumstances, such as inclement weather. Wanting to give his clients a “WOW” moment, our guide Stewart thought quickly about unique indoor options. What better idea than to provide them with a tailored biking tour within the indoor grounds of Guilin’s Hotel of Modern Art (HOMA)?

Guilin’s Hotel of Modern Art: the perfect place for indoor exploration during inclement weather. (Copyright (c) Hotel of Modern Art)

The group, especially the children, loved this tour. A perfect choice for families, the hotel is avant garde and peaceful, and provides guests with a new perspective on contemporary art and environment in China. The exquisitely-decorated hotel, with its cutting-edge architecture and interesting story, was a perfect place to explore and play despite the inclement weather.

WildChina guide Stewart saved the day by thinking quickly and creatively about unique rainy day activities.

Of course, this was not the only option for rainy days: Stewart had prepared other options, such as a private landscape painting class and personalize Taichi lesson. Two to three options are always best when providing Plan B, so that clients don’t feel disappointed with an alternative that differs from the original plan.

Not only were the clients pleased with the change – they thought it made the trip perfect. Stewart’s on-the-spot assessment of the situation, flexibility, and logistical expertise made the unexpected itinerary switch smooth and exceptional for all involved. The clients loved their day in HOMA, and truly appreciated Stewart’s suggestion.

This is how we enable our clients to experience China differently. In the face of difficulty or hardship, our local staff and Beijing office adeptly react to changes, survey options, and quickly make decisions, all while making sure that clients are safe and satisfied.

During my recent trip to China, I was hosted by the authorities of one of China’s largest scenic parks, which I won’t identify by name as I believe this is representative of all of China. The dinner was over the top, with exquisite dishes, and camera was rolling, documenting our discussion on the scenic park’s pursuit of sustainable development. The leadership of the park has done a remarkable job building roads and hotels inside the park, and made certain parts of the area accessible to more than 2.5 million visitors a year. Somewhere along the way, they mentioned that managing a crowd of 30,000 visitors a day is a piece of cake, as this is something the park is used to on a daily basis. I honestly admire their capabilities in hosting so many visitors a day. In China, the population press is truly the one unique factor that makes sustainable tourism there more challenging than anywhere else on earth.

Over dinner with my hosts, I asked, “You’ve done a remarkable job meeting the needs of the mass market, but are you able to in anyway offer access to the unknown parts of the park to hikers or birders who may prefer a different way to appreciate your park? For example, most people drive by the Grand Canyon, making a stop at the viewing point, and move on. But, with a permit system, it is possible for hikers and white water rafters to explore the deep valley for days.”

He told me politely, “Maybe my understanding is not 100% right, but I believe the economic lever is the most powerful tool to market differentiation. We are upgrading the facilities on the mountain tops, so that the day visitors cannot afford to stay at the top, and only those high-end clients can stay at the mountain top.”

I held back my disagreement as I was one of the guests of honor, and I didn’t want to offend my hosts. I personally believe in a more universal access and feel really sorry that those young students who are more likely to embrace the joy of outdoor camping and hiking most probably won’t be able to afford staying at those mountain top hotels. Yet, there won’t be any other way for these young people to explore the wonders of that world cultural heritage park without the crowd.

I find there is a huge gap between the western standards of sustainable tourism standards and Chinese sustainable tourism practices. The Chinese parks being developed to cater to millions is a necessity because of the large population of China. Often, these parks are very well organized to provide such services on a massive scale. However, how to do so sustainably is a question for which I don’t have an answer.

As the gap between the rich and the poor in China is rapidly widening, I am also interested in making sure Chinese national cultural heritage is shared by all and accessible to all. How to do that is a question for which I want to find an answer.

So, it’s with many unanswered questions and much respect for what my peers have done in China and around the world that I join the TIES board, hoping to learn, to collaborate, and to make a tiny bit of difference.

Learn more about Mei’s role on the TIES Advisory Board.

At its recent biannual Board meeting, The Board of Directors of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) unanimously agreed to implement a new structure of TIES Board, with the new Advisory Board consisting of ecotourism experts and industry leaders, and the Governance Board, which focuses on administrative and managerial tasks related to the governance of the organization.

Within this new structure, the former Board of Directors voted in eleven new members to the Advisory Board: Deirdre Campbell (Owner, The Tartan Group), Richard Edwards (Director, Planeterra Foundation and Co-Chair, Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference), Shadia Garrison (Consultant, Writer, Project Manager), Palitha Gurusinghe (President, Sri Lanka Ecotourism Foundation), Ariane Janér (Co-Founder, EcoBrasil), Kimberly Lisagor (Journalist, Author), Rick MacLeod Farley (Principal Consultant, MacLeod Farley & Associates), Paul Radchenko (Tourism Development Planner, Government of Alberta, Canada), Albert Teo Chin Kion (Managing Director, Borneo Eco Tours), Annie Vanderwyk (Indigenous Business, Education & Research Partner, Youth Connections, and Principal Cultural Consultant, Wild Earth Expeditions), Mei Zhang (Founder, WildChina). Full list of current Advisory Board members and their bios can be found on the TIES Advisory Board page.

WildChina recently interviewed Ayako Ezaki, TIES’ Director of Communications, on Mei’s new board position, Advisory Board projects, and what the board hopes to accomplish in the future.

WildChina Travel: Why did TIES feel that Mei was a good choice for the Advisory Board?
Ayako Ezaki: One of the areas where TIES would like to become more actively engaged is ecotourism and sustainable tourism in the Asia Pacific region. We have a number of Association, Business, NGO as well as individual members based in the region, and over the years various initiatives have been taking place (for example, the Asia Pacific Ecotourism Network [APES]). With new Advisory Board members who are actively involved in ecotourism networks in the region, we feel that we will have increased opportunities in the coming years for membership, education and communication outreach, events and partnership building.

In addition, we are particularly pleased to work with Mei due to her strong business background and industry expertise. As Mei has been actively engaged in ecotourism, adventure travel and sustainable tourism arenas for a number of years. Many on TIES team, including Dr. Kelly Bricker, TIES chair, have had the opportunity to learn about her various achievements directly and indirectly.

WCT: What kind of work do you plan to do with the board?
AE: We are seeking to set up sub-committees within the Advisory Board that may address general and ongoing needs (e.g. public awareness, partnership) or work on specific tasks related to certain projects or assignments. One of the first tasks, therefore, is to identify key areas that will become sub-committee focus areas, such as Asia Pacific (regional activities and partnership initiatives to reach out to existing organizations in the Asia Pacific region, such as the Asia Pacific Ecotourism Society, and to collaborate with potential new members) and Voluntourism (exploring opportunities to disseminate information and resources about voluntourism and to encourage greater traveler and industry engagement).

We also hope to work with Advisory Board members to implement several new projects, focusing on key topics and issues such as: ecotourism and indigenous communities, sustainable community development, and ecotourism and wildlife conservation.

Many of TIES Advisory Board members have played roles on the program/speaker committee for the annual Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC), and we hope to work with new Advisory Board members who are able to volunteer their time for the upcoming ESTC.

WCT: What does the board hope to accomplish in the next few years?
AE: The main goals of TIES Advisory Board are to support TIES mission and strengthen TIES initiatives by better representing our members’ needs and more effectively addressing current and emerging issues within the tourism industry. With a diverse group of global experts, we believe that TIES Advisory Board will be able to assist in positive development of the organization in terms of educational resources, community projects, and grassroots networking.

With new initiatives such as carbon offset options for clients, WildChina proud to join TIES in creating the future of sustainable tourism in China and beyond. See what Mei has to say about tourism in China, her role on the TIES Advisory Board, and questions she wants to answer about sustainable travel.

Read the entire TIES press release on new TIES Advisory Board members.

I eagerly embraced the iPad 3G, hoping to shed the weight of my laptop when traveling to China. Sadly, my conclusion is that the iPad doesn’t quite replace my laptop, maybe because I haven’t done enough to unleash its power. Here’s what I’ve found:

iPad: useful in China? Mei Zhang shares her thoughts.

1. High roaming charges do not justify the 3G data roaming: I already travel with an iPhone, for which I was paying $50/month for 50MB of data roaming, and this was sufficient to address my basic email needs. So, I decided not to turn on data roaming for the iPad. Now, iPad comes unlocked, so there maybe a cheaper local solution. In China, you can buy a cheap 3G phone card for $30 and have it cut to fit into the iPad. There are professionals at stores like Guomei Electronics who can help cut the phone card for free.

2. Without data roaming, the wireless function is not as easy to use even in 5 star hotels: I tried a few, and surprisingly, the best place to use my iPad was at Songtsam Lodge in Shangri-La, Yunnan. From all 25 rooms of the lodge, you can get strong a wireless signal. One morning, after my jog at an altitude of 10,000 feet, I came back and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to make a Skype call to the US from my iPad!

I tried other hotels as well, with varying results:

I upgraded to try out the Songtsam Retreat, which is part of Accor Hotels. The rooms are beautifully done, but each room comes with only a cable for Ethernet connection. I quickly moved back downhill to Songtsam Lodge for the wireless.

Later on, I tested a series of Chinese five-star hotels in Baoshan and Tengchong. Guanfang Hotels are so luxuriously furnished that I couldn’t believe they were located in these remote unknown towns in Yunnan. However, they both came with Ethernet connection, and no wireless. (I am mystified that they don’t have a website either).

Hotel G in Beijing, a hip designer boutique hotel in the Sanlitun area, offers wireless in every room, but my iPad could not pick up the signal, and after 20 minutes I gave up.

Regent Hotel in Beijing is one of the hidden secrets of Beijing. It boasts a great location and the biggest gym within Beijing hotels, and yet still offers fairly affordable prices. There is wireless in the lobby as well as the executive lounge. But, again, I couldn’t make it work either on my iPhone or my iPad. There was one release of liability page the iPad keeps pulling up, but I couldn’t bypass it to access the free wireless internet. As I was about to give up, however, the hotel staff called in an IT specialist to help me. He input the IP address on my iPad, and voila, it worked!

3. Multimedia functions have not been tested: If anyone takes large files of photos and videos, test your iPad’s downloading capabilities at home first. I learned this the hard way. (To be fair, this is more a universal rather than China specific-issue.)

Overall, I’d say the best part of using an iPad in China is the “WOW” effect of using an iPad in public. Other than that, unless I figure out how to fit a local 3G SIM card in the iPad, I won’t travel with it again to China.

Follow WildChina and Mei on Twitter: @WildChina and @yunnangirl.

As China’s best luxury tour operator with a focus on customized, off-the-beaten-path tours to China, WildChina specializes in making family trips to China exciting, memorable, and hassle-free for both children and parents.

This morning at the WildChina Beijing office, we read Eva Vasquez’s excellent CNN article on luxury family travel with great interest, as this type of travel to China is increasingly common. Vasquez’s practical advice – from determining appropriate activities for your family and choosing how much to plan, to involving children in decision-making and more – helps traveling families decide how to make the most of our their experience.

Make a visit to Shaolin, Henan fun for the whole family: enjoy an afternoon kungfu demonstration together.

WildChina similarly subscribes to many of the ideas Vasquez writes of in her article. For example, for our Classic China Family Vacation: Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin & Shanghai, we make sure to choose hotels in these metropolitan cities with kid-friendly pools. Pint-sized travelers on our Cultural Family Vacation: Beijing, Henan, Xi’an, Yunnan & Shanghai can delight in hands-on activities to help them learn about traditional Chinese culture.

What are other important points to keep in mind for a luxury family trip specifically to China? Barbara Henderson, WildChina’s Director of Private Journeys, has a few key tips for successful luxury family travel in China:

1. Inquire about “wow” moments just for the kids. Rather than simply including your children on your family trip, ask for child-friendly activities to keep them entertained and engaged. Activities like kite-making, kungfu lessons and calligraphy will make China more accessible and interesting for them.

2. With young children, bring your own carseat and stroller. You can buy these in China, but they might not be up to the safety standards that you are used to. Keep your trip worry-free by bringing the products you trust.

3. Let guides know if your child is a picky eater. Some children are incredibly adventurous when it comes to Chinese (or other) food, whereas some prefer to eat macaroni and cheese exclusively. No one wants a hungry child and upset child if they refuse food at every meal, so be clear to arrange options and alternatives accordingly.

4. Educate your children on China’s culture and history. They’ll get the most out of their China trip if they have some concept of China beforehand. Read up on specific historic sites, monuments, and/or destinations you will visit, so that children can connect stories with the real thing once you arrive.

5. Want a special evening out? Arrange babysitters with your tour operator. See what your guides have to say about hired help for an evening where you are staying. Rather than just hiring someone to watch television, your tour operator might be able to find fun ways to engage your child while you enjoy a special performance or nice dinner out.

Want more tips for travel in China? Email us at info@wildchina.com, or send us a tweet @WildChina.

After Wednesday night’s festivities on the grasslands, I wasn’t sure that anything could top our bonfire / singing / storytelling experience. However, Thursday proved to be equally eye-opening, with more hands-on activities and more unique perspectives on local life.

We began the morning with a Naadam Festival demonstration by the local nomadic men, as the real games begin in mid-July. As I discussed in a previous blog post, Naadam, which literally means “games” in Mongolian, is a summertime event comprised of traditional Mongolian wrestling, archery, and horse racing.

To begin, a group of ten riders raced at lightning speed along the grasslands, displaying their incredible horsemanship skills. Later, we witnessed a Mongolian wrestling competition, in which the goal is to get an opponent’s body part (other than his feet) to touch the ground. Our guests delighted when they were handed the uniform to take part! Slowly but surely, a few pairs donned traditional garb to challenge one another to friendly matches in true Mongolian style.

Our hands-on day didn’t stop there. For lunch, we drove another 30 minutes to a smaller yurt community that was managed by a single family. There, in a larger yurt, we sat around tables learning how to make Mongolian dumplings. Helping our guests manipulate the dumpling dough to create the perfect shape was a fun challenge. While some found it to be an easier task than others, the process was enjoyed by all.

Crafting Mongolian dumplings in the sun.

The homemade lunch on which we dined from the local family was incredible. Before we even began eating, I felt so lucky that this family had invited the guides and drivers into their own dining room for this lunch. It was one thing to eat their freshly-prepared food, but another to consume it where they usually have their own meals.

As for the food itself, the freshest eggs and lamb graced our table, and made even the most standard of Chinese dishes – such as egg and tomato – that much more delicious. Potato noodles, lamb stew, lamb dumplings, bitter melon, and other local specialties graced our table that afternoon. This meal reaffirmed for me that Chinese home cooking is truly the best in China. Regional classics with a family touch, in my experience, has a taste that no restaurant can replicate.

On our second-to-last day in Inner Mongolia, as I sat with my fellow guides and drivers, I felt like a part of a Chinese family at an intimate home gathering.

Stay tuned for more of my stories from Inner Mongolia on the WildChina blog.

As night fell on the grasslands after our afternoon of yurt building, Shirley, my fellow local guides, our guides and I left our nomadic accommodations for nighttime revelry, Inner Mongolia-style.

The sun sets over the Xilamuren Grasslands before nighttime festivities begin.

In the communal area bordered by yurts, we gathered around a bonfire to watch traditional Mongolian dance and throat singing. In Mongolian tradition, throat singing, or “khoomii,” is characterized by replacing all musical instruments with vocals, so that the voice emulates the sound of such instruments. Ranging from very low notes to higher octaves, throat singing is incredibly relaxing (in my opinion). On the quiet grasslands, our small huddle of eager listeners around the singers was an intimate and unique way to listen to this seldom-heard style of music. (Beijingers, you may be familiar with throat singing after watching Beijing-based Mongolian folk band Hanggai Band perform either at Amilal or a music event around the city.)

Once the bonfire had died out and the singers retired for the night, we retreated to a large, communal yurt for an hour of storytelling. Seated on the floor, our guests listened to grand tales of Genghis Khan, the great Mongol leader, and his adventures and conquests. While Genghis Khan has his fair share of misdoings, his tales also promote universally-applicable morality and life lessons. They were greatly enjoyed by our guests.

Stories told, we gathered our belongings and returned to our respective yurts. Shirley and I discussed the following days’ plans with our local Inner Mongolian guides and chatted for a bit. Our Inner Mongolian guides were easygoing and interesting to talk to – after enjoying their company for the past few days and learning more about their lives in this northern province, I didn’t want to go to sleep! But, after half an hour, Shirley and I left their yurt, ready to prepare ourselves with numerous blankets for a cold night in the grasslands. Thursday, we knew, would be warmer.

Stay tuned for more of my stories from Inner Mongolia on the WildChina blog.

In my last post on Inner Mongolia, I discussed Shirley’s and my arrival to Inner Mongolia’s grasslands. After arriving, we took our guests to build yurts – traditional nomadic housing with a circular wooden frame and burlap/felt covering.

Yurt building, I learned last Wednesday, is easier than one might think. After all, a yurt had to be quickly constructed and disassembled according to nomads’ cattle, horses, and lambs. Mongolians had to be prepared to move at the drop of a hat if sustenance for their animals, their main source of food, was no longer available.

At around 4 pm that afternoon, Shirley and I divided our guests into three teams to build yurt frames. The first step required teams to stretch out a few latticed wooden siding, which was curved to make the circular shape of the yurt. Once these wooden frames were stretched out, a few nomads instructed our guests on how to tie these sections together. By looping thin rope from the top to the bottom of the sections, the guests ensured that the yurt frame would be sturdy. (This is important for keeping warm during the night, when temperatures drop significantly and wind chill on the grasslands increases.) After finishing this, the guests tied the door frame to the last two untied sections of the frame, completing the circular shape and entrance of the yurt.

Components of a Mongolian yurt.

A row of completed yurts in our community on the Xilamuren Grasslands.

The next section of the yurt required a lot of coordination and teamwork between the nomads and our guests. Going through the door frame, a nomad stood on a short ladder and held up a circular wooden yurt top, known as a “crown”, which would hold the support roof poles in its slots. As he held the crown, our guests took red and yellow poles, secured them in the top’s slots, and then secured them to the latticed frame.

We finished the entire frame in about 30 minutes. While nomads could easily put these up in about 10, our first try at constructing nomadic housing wasn’t bad.

Yurt building successfully finished, we retired to our nomadic housing for some rest before the night’s festivities.

Stay tuned for more of my stories from Inner Mongolia on the WildChina blog.

WildChina’s Beijing office will be closed on Monday, June 14 for China’s national Dragon Boat Festival holiday. The US office will be open as usual.

What is Dragon Boat Festival? Known in Chinese as “端午节” (Duanwu jie), the occurs to race dragon boats – a traditional teak wood boat – as well as drink traditional wine and and eat “粽子” (zongzi) rice dumplings. Many Chinese on the Mainland, as well as in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, engage in day-long boat races to commemorate the occasion.

(courtesy BBC / AP)

For inquiries and assistance, please call our toll-free number, 1-888-902-8808, or email info@wildchina.com.

Happy Dragon Boat Festival to our friends and fellow travelers in China, as well as to those celebrating abroad!

Welcome to my third installment of On the Road in Inner Mongolia, in which I give you a glimpse at life on Inner Mongolia’s Xilamuren Grasslands. After an action-packed day in Baotou and the Kubuqi Desert, Shirley and I traveled with our group to experience nomad culture in the grasslands.

Spending time in Baotou the day before had opened my eyes about industry and modernization in Inner Mongolia. Although I am well aware, from living in Beijing, that China’s development in recent years has been remarkably rapid, it is another thing to see it in action in other parts of the country on a day-to-day basis. Baotou was essentially a large construction site, as many second- and third-tier Chinese cities currently are. I could see its the growing pains as it tries to catch up with Beijing, Shanghai, and other Chinese supercities. Almost every block featured a construction project in progress.

Xilamuren was a eye-opening departure from the urban industrial feel of Baotou. Driving to the grasslands, I could clearly track the transition from urban hub to nomadic territory. Construction sites gradually melted out of the landscape; city centers distilled into smaller roadside strip malls; and eventually, all that was left along the road was grass and sky. As one might expect, the air was much clearer as we neared the grasslands. The gray, sunless haze that so often characterizes Chinese metropolitan centers was absent, with large clouds and soft sunlight in its place.

As we neared our destination for the day – a yurt community in which we would stay the night – pockets of nomadic communities began to pop up on the flat, green landscape. Some big, some small, these communities were all characterized by white and blue yurts – small dome-shaped structures that are typical of nomadic tribes in the area. After taking a few dirt roads to a more remote part of these grasslands, we finally reached our yurt community. Mongolian flags waved in the breeze over a wood-framed entrance.

Mongolian nomads greet us at the entrance of their yurt community.

Nomads prepare the traditional alcohol ceremony.

Walking into the community, we were greeted by nomads dressed in traditional Mongolian costume (similar to that of the Mongolian dancers we had met the day before). Two lines of singing nomads ushered us in one by one. For the adults in the group, they offered a small cup of local Mongolian alcohol. Before drinking it, one had to first dip his or her ring finger into the alcohol three times: once, to flick it to the sky; another, to flick it to the ground; and finally, to touch the forehead. After this, the guest could finally drink the alcohol.

Once we had all been formally greeted, we set out to an empty space of land where we learned to construct yurts.

Stay tuned for more of my stories from Inner Mongolia on the WildChina blog.