Today at WildChina, we received one of the greatest gifts that one can in the travel industry: a beautifully-written, heart-felt, and interesting account by a client of their recent Chinese Treasures journey with WildChina to Beijing, Xi’an, Yunnan province, and Shanghai.

Below is Chuck and Kathie’s story.

“You have to understand, Chuck, economically we are capitalists.  Socially we remain communists.  And, that’s not easy to reconcile.”

We look at our guide as we approach the front gate of our Tibetan hosts for the evening.  It is not the first time we’ve heard sentiments such as this.  During our nearly 10 days in China, multiple WildChina guides have done their best to show us life through indigenous eyes and provide us context to Chinese thinking.  We learned of generational divides – where Mom cannot understand why a 30-something guide prefers to be an entrepreneur rather than wish for the days when Chairman Mao “provided for us and we did not have to worry about anything.”  We heard of collateral fallout from 4-2-1 (4 grandparents, 2 parents and only one child), a result of the one child policy.  We silently chuckled as we listened to concerns about the “younger generation”, this from a 35 year-old, no less.  Being 60+  years ourselves, we wisely kept our mouths shut.

Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an

As we arrive for tonight’s dinner, our focus shifts to the family who will open their home and their hearts to us.  We stand at nearly 11,000 feet in Zhongdian in the Yunnan Provence, surveying the courtyard where in the winter animals are brought from the hills.  There is a small tractor and a barn on the ground floor that in the coldest months helps heat the rooms above.  Our host for the evening, a 14 year-old girl with timid eyes, escorts us to the second floor, where we enter a large room with beautiful lacquered wood corbels and intricate painted details.  A wood-burning cooking area with smoke escaping through the ceiling captures our attention while two bare light bulbs bracket low couches and a table where we will eat.   Standing in the corner is 84 year-old great-grandma.  Her eyes are anything but timid.

After our young host finished showing us additional rooms and a storage area for mounds of yak butter, great-grandma catches Chuck’s eye and she pats a space beside her on a low bench by the fire.  When we sit down she motions with gnarled hands as she speaks to us.  Our guide is in another part of the room.  But it is okay as we smile and great-grandma goes right on talking.

Dinner is accompanied by yak-butter tea and Baijiu [a Chinese rice-based alcohol].  We refuse nothing and enjoy it all.  Chuck shows our young hostess his camera, which immediately breaks down what’s left of her reserve, and she laughs when seeing pictures of friends taken today in the city.   The room has filled with mom, dad, sister and cousins.  Our guide tells them Kathie dances ballet, so a trade is arranged.  They will dance for us if Kathie hoofs her way through a few steps.

And then they dress us.  With rough-skinned hands the women wrap and cinch us while everyone laughs at how we look.  Following more pictures, the women, generations four, three and one (two is not there), perform a line dance that shines with tradition.  Kathie joins them and, along with the youngest, soon matches the footsteps while soft Tibetan words are sung by the elders.  Dad stands to the side with a warm smile as he watches his family with seeming amusement.  Chuck catches the 8 year-old sister, with huge wide-open eyes and lips set in a firm line, as she stares hard at him through the barrel of his camera lens.

On the way back to the hotel, our guide is moved to comment that something unusual happened here tonight.  We are not the first to be brought to this home, but before, our hosts did not dress the guests and great-grandma remained strictly in the background.   There is a message here: what you give can determine what you will receive.

WildChina presents opportunities.  They put you in position to experience something special but if you want it, you have to put a bit of yourself out there; you must be the one to build a platform that supports everybody to open themselves.

Consider this from the host’s perspective.  By sharing a bit of yourself, you become something more than a tourist there to be fed and watch the Native Show.  You interact with them “as people” and that raises the level of how meaningful this is for everyone.

Whether it is a Tibetan night of extending hands of friendship – or listening to a proud father in a Beijing hutong home tell you about his successful martial arts instructor son living in Houston – or two weeks’ worth of cultural immersion with warm and eager guides – if you want to maximize the value of what you paid just to get here, you must go beyond simply seeing what is around you.  You must jump in.  And, as you say goodbye you too can hear, “I’m very western.  We can hug.”

Chuck & Kathie Neuenschwander

Photo: Michael Mudd

Shanghai seems to be the hub of travel news this week! Here’s what’s piqued our interest today:

• High-speed Shanghai to Hong Kong train: In addition to the newly-unveiled Shanghai to Hangzhou bullet train (watch video footage from WSJ), the Fragrant Harbor will now have high-speed access to (arguably) China’s most glamorous city with the Shanghai to Hong Kong bullet train in development. We’re keeping our eye on how these lines will affect travel during peak holiday seasons and the popularity of lesser-known river towns and tea plantations outside of Hangzhou.

• From volunteer to visitor: As the 2010 Shanghai Expo comes to a close this month, those who kept the months-long event running finally got their chance to experience it as guests. Watch the video footage of volunteers switching roles.

• Expo breaks World Fair attendance record: In the last few days, the Expo broke the record for World Fair visitors. Congratulations, Shanghai!  (But given China’s population and the amount of marketing and advertising done for the event, we’re not too surprised.)

In the next few years, much of China’s rail network will be converted to high-speed rail, allowing travelers and goods to move around the country at unprecedented speeds. Today China took one more step toward its high-speed rail dreams.

China’s newest high-speed rail line, which connects Shanghai with Hangzhou, was unveiled today. Now in less than one hour, one can travel from bustling Shanghai to Hangzhou’s teashops and silk stores, not to mention beautiful West Lake.

Trains left this morning from Hongqiao in western Shanghai for Hangzhou, a substantial 126 miles (200 km) away. Within 45 minutes, the trains completed their journeys, which previously took twice as long.

Some high-speed rail lines, such as the ones connecting Guangzhou with Wuhan and Chengdu with Chongqing, are already in operation. But there are many more to come.

China is planning on having 42 high-speed rail lines totaling 10,000 miles (13,000 km) in use by 2012. One of the biggest lines to be completed in that time is the 824-mile (1,318 km) line that will link Beijing with Shanghai. The line will reduce the trip between the two cities from 10 hours to five hours

There are other even more ambitious projects underway, including a high-speed line between Shanghai and Kunming in southwestern China. The new rail link, scheduled for completion by 2015, will cut travel time from the current 37 hours to less than nine hours.

If you’re considering a WildChina journey including travel between Shanghai and Hangzhou, let us know if you would prefer the convenience of high-speed rail.

Speedy and scenic – and without the hassles of air travel – this is one of the coolest ways to get around China. Watch this space for new lines as they become operational.

Image: hangzhou.aliyeye.com

WildChina would like to congratulate our friends at the Linden Centre for receiving a 2010 Global Vision award from Travel + Leisure magazine!

Located in the small town of Xizhou in southwest China’s beautiful Yunnan province, the Linden Centre has been promoting a different kind of tourism that highlights the culture and traditions of the Bai people who inhabit Xizhou and neighboring Dali.

The Centre is a renovated traditional Bai courtyard home that has excellent views of the surrounding rice paddies, as well as the stunning Cangshan Mountains plus scenic and expansive Erhai Lake. Upon stepping into the Centre, it becomes clear why the Chinese government made it a protected heritage site.

Over the last year and a half, the Centre has introduced hundreds of guests to aspects of Bai and Chinese culture that they would have missed out on elsewhere – and they have been recognized for doing so. It has received rave reviews on TripAdvisor and was voted best boutique inn in China on the popular Chinese portal Sina.com.

The Linden Centre was a natural choice for inclusion in our recently launched network of boutique hotels, the WildChina Collection.

To learn more about the Linden Centre and its vision, check out our recent interview with its founder, Brian Linden.

Living in Beijing, I often feel that I am in a land of extremes. The sky above the city is Armageddon-gray one afternoon and shock blue the next.  A delicious meal can cost ten yuan or several hundred. And let’s not forget the traffic – what is normally a 15-minute taxi ride can become an hour-long crawl without warning.

Extremes also characterize tourism in China. There are spectacular sites all over this massive country, but you have to pick your spots if you want to catch each one just right – or you may end up feeling let down. I try to avoid those common symptoms of the recent tourism boom: overcrowding and overdevelopment.

These thoughts were on my mind after I recently went hiking at two unrestored sections of the Great Wall. The first, in the popular Jiankou section north of Beijing, juts out of the mountains proudly, its famous white stones gleaming as they twist around the rugged landscape. The second section, further east in Douyu Valley, has a more humble character, and in certain parts it almost disappears into the foliage.

Beyond the Great Wall are the hikes of a lifetime

Both sites were stunning and made for a day well spent outside the city. On the Jiankou path, however, it was hard not to notice the garbage littering the trail, the music blaring out of the cell phones of other hikers, and the man selling fake bottled water as he attempted to charge hikers for the use of his ladder.

By contrast, the section of the Wall in Douyu Valley was absolutely pristine. No litter and no noise. In fact, my group did not encounter another soul once we left the road. As our minibus made its way back to the city after a long hike, with a purple and orange sunset unfolding outside the window, I knew which of the two sections I’d be coming back to.

Douyu Valley is located in Miyun County, 115 kilometers northeast of Beijing. Contact WildChina to plan your own customized hike away from the crowds – at the Great Wall and beyond.

Eco-friendly travel gadgets are becoming more and more popular among avid travelers. Knowing that traveling affects the environment, many people are looking to minimize their impact. One way to do this without sacrificing any preferences or luxuries is eco-friendly travel gear.

Alternative energy use items are particularly useful in China as there are not cafés around every corner for you to charge your electronics in and when there are outlets they are not compatible with Western plugs. In addition, because water quality is very low, people are forced to buy a large amount of bottled water.

When I first arrived in Beijing, my hotel did not have a plug adapter and neither did I so if my computer or cell phone ran out of electricity, I had to find a Western café and pay for drinks I didn’t actually want in order to charge my electronics. Plus, lugging around my chargers with me all day weighed down my already heavy backpack. An all-purpose charger, especially one that I didn’t need to go to a store to use, would have been much more convenient.

Wary of the water in rural Guizhou? A travel-sized Steripen will come in handy when your last water bottle has run out. (Photo: Steripen.com)

Today there is a growing number of eco-friendly travel products ranging from practical to outrageous in both function and price. There are cell phones made from recycled water bottles, biodegradable external hard drives, solar-powered media players, speakers make from recycled cardboard, shake flashlights, wind-up radios, luggage made from recycled materials, and much more. However, many of these items carry a hefty price tag, and although a biodegradable laptop sounds great, paying $2000 for it does not.

Through a bit of research, I have found some of the most useful items for eco-friendly traveling in China:

1. USB or solar-powered electronic charger: $60. This can charge almost any electronic item so you don’t have to bring a whole slew of other chargers or buy a plug adapter which is otherwise necessary when traveling to China.
2. Water-powered digital alarm clock: $16. This would be great if you are camping or traveling to a remote village such as Yubeng, Yunnan.
3. USB rechargeable battery: $16.65 for two AA batteries. These would help you avoid a situation of having your non-rechargeable AA batteries die in a remote place where you cannot buy replacements.
4. Water-purifying pen: $60. This pen allows you to drink tap water safely so you can avoid purchasing bottled water everywhere you go.

Travel gear and gadget companies are continually coming up with innovative products to lessen our environmental impact while traveling. If you wish to lessen the impact of your travels, you may want to consider these products when planning your trip to China or anywhere else.

After having wreaked havoc in the Philippines, where it killed 11 people, Typhoon Megi is headed for Hong Kong and mainland China.

Megi is expected to touch down on Hong Kong this Friday, October 22^nd, or on the following day. Wind speeds at the storm’s center are estimated at around 52 meters per second.

Hong Kong is expected to bear the brunt of the storm in China, but the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan are also preparing to be hit by Megi’s powerful winds and heavy rains.

It is believed that Megi will be the strongest storm to hit China all year. Travelers planning on visiting Hong Kong this weekend are encouraged to reconsider their itineraries.

In the meantime, China is taking serious precautions before the storm hits and has suspended train services in Hainan and Guangdong.

WildChina urges all travelers in the region to be cautious and put their own personal safety first. For up-to-the-minute updates on Typhoon Megi, visit the Hong Kong Observatory website.

Megi Satellite Image: dailymail.co.uk

This past week, China Daily reported that Beijing’s rescue team, “Luye,” responded to four emergency calls during the week-long October Holiday alone – all from travelers who needed assistance in remote areas outside of the city proper.

As, according to the article, this and similar teams received only 9 similar calls for all of 2009, what is causing this rising trend in travel emergencies?

Luye head Lu Zhonghong attributed the increase to lesser-known spots preferred by travelers and lack of know-how, saying, ”Most people who get into trouble those days are travelers without professional knowledge and the equipment they need to hike.”

Though “people increasingly prefer to travel in undeveloped areas and in the mountains around the city,”  he said “it can be very dangerous to climb such peaks, especially when people are not familiar with the terrain.”

We’re strong proponents of off-the-beaten-path travel in China – but, safety is also our first priority. Here are our tips for experiencing China’s unique sites without ending up lost, injured, or worse:

1. Choose your destination wisely: Adventure is one thing; danger is another. Research destinations carefully, because someone’s definition of “difficult” might be your idea of certainly unsafe. Consult travel operators, travel review websites, and other travelers.
2. Explore with an expert: Just because you’re a good adventurer doesn’t necessarily mean you can navigate unknown terrain without a local guide. Do your research and make sure that you are traveling with a well-trained, experienced guide who can knows the area, terrain, and routes like the back of his or her hand. (We know plenty – just ask.)
3. Off-road during the off-peak: Holiday periods in China are notorious for logistical issues that may cause delays and cancellations. If you are traveling remotely during a Golden Week or other popular travel period, emergency services may not be able to act as swiftly on your behalf. Choose a time to adventure when rescue teams, hospitals, and police will be less busy.
4. Have connections handy: If you’ve traveled China extensively or live in the country, you might not want a guide to take you beyond the tourist hubs. In that case, make sure that you have plenty of local contacts whom you can call or find in the event of an emergency. Information for friends’ families, local hotel / lodge owners, and regional emergency hotlines should be on hand at all times.
5. And, of course, do not travel alone.

In Mark Graham’s late September South China Morning Post article, “On the inside track,” the author quotes a Chinese couple expressing their changing thoughts on tourism at home: ”We want to explore [China] more and more; it’s something my parents’ generation could not do.”

The couple’s comments are reflective of a generational shift in Chinese travel. As the mystery, grandeur and beauty of China’s many diverse areas becomes increasingly accessible to its own people, the Chinese are choosing domestic travel over international – and at a rapid rate.

Chinese tourists are looking more to inbound tourism, but away from the crowds of popular sights. (Photo from Shanghaiist.com)

However, these tourists aren’t choosing cookie-cutter tour buses and factory shops – wealthy Chinese now want to explore their roots in an authentic, eco-friendly way, with customized ‘green’ travel.

Read what WildChina’s Mei Zhang has to say about the direction of travel for domestic Chinese tourists and how it’s shaping the industry. Download the full article from the WildChina website (listed in ‘WildChina in the News’ under ‘September 2010′), or read it on the South China Morning Post website if you are a subscriber.

Local governments of Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan and Qinghai have recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement to create what is being called the Shangri-La Ecotourism Region.

Officials from Tibet’s third-largest city, Changdu, reached the agreement with Yunnan’s Diqing, Ganzi in Sichuan and Yushu in Qinghai. All participating areas will remove barriers in areas including policy, transportation and services.

Although details are still not very clear, we are hopeful that the agreement will bring ecotourism that is both sustainable and beneficial to local residents to this beautiful part of China.

We especially hope it assists Yushu, which was struck by a deadly earthquake in April of this year, with its rebuilding efforts. To get a feel for Yushu, check out this video of its annual horse festival, which takes place in July.