Wow! Last night we sat down to eat at Heping Yiyuan, a favorite spot of WildChina’s guests for an elegant tea ceremony or lunch. Typically the eggplant that we make at home or get out at a Chinese restaurant– while deliciously flavoured–is a tad on the mushy side.

This eggplant was entirely different.

Slightly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, it had the perfect amount of salt and sweet. I only wish that the picture could convey how lovely this dish was! For those you based in China or have traveled to China, you already know that the oft forgotten eggplant in North America is magically transformed in China into a delicious dish– even our pickiest clients– the seven year old boy who professed only to like rice in China quickly devoured this dish.

During your visit– or if you are a Beijing local– take a stroll through Ritan Park and pop in for a meal. WildChina is also offering a culinary tour throughout China, where you will be able to learn more about Chinese cuisine.

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Hungry? Take a look at China for Foodies for an unbeatable culinary experience!

Question?

Always envisioned what is would be like to cruise down the Li River and see Guangxi’s karst mountains? Look no further. Stewart Shen, expert WildChina guide, photography guru and fourth generation Guangxi resident, transports you to Guilin, Yangshuo and the Longsheng rice terraces and how to experience these areas differently…

WildChina Guides – Stewart in Guilin from WildChina Travel on Vimeo.
A native of Guangxi, Stewart began his adult life as a farmer during the Cultural Revolution. Stewart’s early life was colorful – in addition to farming, he was also his village’s designated storyteller and official cook. After the Cultural Revolution, Stewart was a member of one of the first groups of students to re-enter university, where he studied English. An avid and passionate traveler, his experiences in the countryside have exposed him to different ways of life of local people, and as a result, his ability to design Guangxi’s best off-the-beaten-path programs are unparalleled. He is best known in photography circles for his ability to identify scenic spots in Guangxi, and is widely considered to be the go-to guide by many of our European photography associations.
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Interested in learning more about traveling to Guangxi province? For family travel, we highly recommend A Classic China Family Vacation and Rustic Guilin. Questions? Get in touch at info@wildchina.com.

WildChina just received news that Travel+Leisure has nominated WildChina in the World’s Best category  for “Tour Operators & Safari Outfitters.”

To complete the 2-minute voting process, please complete the online survey for a chance to win some fantastic prizes, including the grand prize of a $10,000 trip to a destination of your choice.  Sounds like a pretty sweet deal for two minutes of your time.

If you win the 10,000 prize, you might want to visit this courtyard restaurant in Beijing

Voting ends 3/31/12.

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For official Travel +Leisure Award rules, more here.

This year from January 22-28, China celebrates Chinese New Year. We will say goodbye to the Year of the Rabbit and ring in the Year of the Dragon. You might be thinking, “Fantastic– Get me on the next plane to witness this important festival!”  Before getting on the plane, we’ll give you the inside scoop on Chinese New Year and if you should visit China during this time…

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival (or chun jie in pinyin),  is based off the lunar calendar, and  occurs in late January/February each year.  The celebration is a joyous occasion to ring in the new year and spend time with friends and family. This festival is by far and away the grand dame of Chinese holidays and each Chinese New Year Eve, families gather and bao jiaozi, or stuff dumplings, and light off fireworks in front of their homes.

For many expats and foreign travelers, the most surprising aspect of this holiday is the Chinese New Year fireworks. For two weeks, large firework kiosks are set up throughout the cities where anyone can purchase professional fireworks to light off at anytime of day. It’s an absolute scene.

Let’s move on to domestic travel during this period. Take a look below. How does this look?

Pretty stressful, no? Traveling during Chinese New Year is not impossible, but isn’t for the faint of heart. Tickets are harder to purchase, some restaurants will be closed and many of the sites will be crowded with domestic visitors. While you will be able to witness China’s greatest celebration, it will be a bit more work getting around the country.

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More questions about Chinese New Year? Drop a line at info@wildchina.com and one of WildChina’s Chinese travel consultants would love to answer any of your questions.

The recent cruise ship tragedy off the coast of Italy caused the tourism industry to pause and think. What safety procedures should have been in place? What are the lesson that we can take away to ensure that disasters of this scale do not happen again? Many at WildChina questioned if a similar event could occur on China’s high seas or rivers…

To begin, WildChina does not promote the cruise ship experience in China.  We see the value of cruises off the coast of Alaska, where there are multiple high quality off-shore experiences per day, fresh food made from delicious ingredients and experts aboard the ship to explain the ecological history– this all sounds quite lovely and interesting. However, the experience and client feedback from packaged cruise ship experiences in China can be quite different. One small, but poignant example, is that since 2009, many of the cruise ships require clients to tip before being given their room key. This is not exactly what you would call 5-star service…

This all being said, after scouring reports in English and in Chinese for recent incidents of cruise ships accident in China, no significant search results were found. We hope that the recent tragedy will cause all cruise companies to consider their safety practices– including China.

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If you like traveling at a relaxed pace and are interested in traveling to China, we have several ideas that will interest you.  Our favorite is a visit to Guilin– we have customized this trip from anyone to  a family of eight with six children under the age of 12 and a 85 year old couple taking their dream vacation.  Questions? Drop us a line at info@wildchina.com.

Last month in Beijing’s Opposite House, WildChina Founder Zhang Mei sat down with Peter Greenberg, Travel Editor for CBS News and regular guest on The Early Show.  Known as the “consummate insider when reporting the travel business as news, Peter was named one of the most influential people in travel by Travel Weekly, along with Al Gore, Bill Marriott and Richard Branson.”

Mei and Greenberg discussed Beijing’s dramatic change since his inaugural trip “many years ago.”  During his visit, The Great Wall Sheraton reigned as the only “it” hotel , but oh, how times have changed! Beijing is now spoiled with a long list of fantastic hotels, including the Opposite House where Greenberg stayed.

Opposite House in Beijing

Mei and Peter delved into their experiences in visiting the  Great Wall.   During the same initial visit, he “left the hotel at 4:30 AM to be the first one there,” which many thought crazy.  However, when Greenberg arrived and found the sun creeping over the Great Wall and a lone group of Chinese men performing early morning taichi, he knew he had made a good decision– even if it meant having less sleep.

Mei points out that “finding the right locals is key to opening doors” in China and gives some insider tips on how WildChina likes to visit the Great Wall.  Here’s a clue–  it doesn’t invovle sitting in morning traffic and you’ll find yourself with a glass of wine in hand!

Interested in listening to the live recording? Take a look here, including other speakers such as John Pomfret, Washington Post journalist and author of Chinese Lessons and Meg Maggio of Pékin Fine Arts.

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Interested in learning more about Peter Greenberg? Take a look here.

Photos by: Peter Greenberg, Opposite House, WildChina

A chicken is seasoned, wrapped in lotus leaves and slowly baked in clay. Legend has it that this delicacy, of humble, obscure origins came to existence by chance. A beggar had stolen a chicken and ran away. In order to avoid being caught red-handed, he dug a hole in the ground near the river, where he hid the chicken. Later, when he returned for it, the chicken was covered in mud. The man didn’t have utensils to clean and prepare the chicken, so after cooking, the mud became clay. A new dish was born.

I tried this now traditional Chinese dish with my friend Dai at one of Beijing’s finest restaurants, Made in China, on the ground floor of the Grand Hyatt hotel. Although we didn’t have a reservation (and it is recommended), we were able to get a table near the bar. The chicken takes a little while to prepare, so we talked over a cup of liu bao black tea and for snack we were offered orange-infused melon and pickled white beans.

Pre-Meal Snacks at Made in China

When the chicken arrives, the ceremony begins: the waitress brings the piping-hot, clay-covered chicken on a little trolley, and prepares it in front of you. Dai did the honours of breaking off the clay with a huge wooden hammer, she hit hard a few times. Then, with ample dexterity and speed, the waitress breaks off the rest of the clay, under which there is a double wrapping of wax paper and lotus leaves. Once all that wrapping is cleared, the chicken is revealed!

It has been cooking at a low temperature for a long time, stuffed with pickled mustard greens, pork and chestnuts and marinated in a blend of soy sauce, rice vinegar and secret spices. In a perfect combination of pungent, spicy, aromatic goodness, the chicken is so tender that it melts in your mouth.

We also ordered braised Beijing cabbage with chestnuts and saffron, fragrant and sweet; and Chinese pancake with yellow chives and sesame seeds, perfect to soak up the Chicken aromatic juices.

Made in China’s menu you will find as well: old-fashioned Peking duck; imperial-style braised shark’s fin soup and double-boiled bird’s nest with Yun’nan ham. Made in China’s wine list includes reds and whites from France, Italy, Spain and the New World, as well as Chinese wines and liqueurs. If you really want to splurge, why not pair your abalone with a 1982 Chateau Lafite-Rotschild, at RMB 99,999 per bottle.’

Made in China is also renowned for its wonderful deserts. We were tempted by an original selection of Western ice-cream with an Oriental touch. The delicate sweetness of osmanthus milk and the slight alcoholic tang of wu liang ye chocolate are a perfect match. Other deserts include: Banana chocolate spring rolls with jasmine tea sauce; milk-caramel- stuffed sesame puffs with pu’er-tea-flavoured chocolate fudge; and hawthorn jelly and date cake.

Within 10 minutes’ taxi drive from the Forbidden City and Tian’anmen square, Made in China is a perfect choice for indulgence after a visit to Beijing’s main tourist attractions.
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Interested in learning more about China’s cuisine? Take a look at China for Foodies, a delightfully delicious tour throughout the country.

Photos and text by WildChina’s Yummy Mummy, Chelin Miller.

Interested in meeting one of WildChina’s top guides, Shirley Wang? Want to catch a glimpse of Beijing to see what it is really like?  Look no further than this two-minute video that follows Shirley throughout the city, including a visit to the Temple of Heaven…

Shirley is known for her patience, ability to work with children and families, attentiveness to clients’ needs, and passion for the guiding industry. She graduated from the Beijing Institute of Tourism with a degree in English. Yet, even before graduating from university, she began leading tours in the Beijing area.

Shirley traveling in Cambodia

Shirley constantly works to improve her guiding and loves to take on groups of all sizes. She has extensive experience with family and student groups, and likes to share her understanding of Beijing’s culture and architecture as well as her knowledge of local songs and games. She has a lengthy and diverse list of previous clients that includes the CEO of Johnson & Johnson, Asia. When she’s not guiding, you will mostly likely find Shirley traveling around China (or beyond)!

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Want to read more about Shirley? Here are some rave reviews from past clients.

Keen to have Shirley as your guide when you travel to Beijing? We don’t blame you! Get in contact at info@wildchina.com

If based in China, you can see the link on Youku here. 

Earlier this month, Zhang Mei was featured in China Daily in “A walk on the wild side.”

The article tracks Mei’s “Cinderella” story of growing up in Yunnan province, her transformative experience at Harvard Business School and working at McKinsey & Company. Journalist Mark Graham also discussed Mei’s pivotal moment when she began thinking about starting WildChina in the late 1990s. After several years in the corporate world, Graham reports, “Zhang began to formulate a plan to turn her favorite hobby, exploring the wilderness regions of China, into a viable business.”

Zhang Mei and her son in Argentina

Graham not only followed Mei’s professional life, but about how she spends her time when she is not in the office. “I love going back to Yunnan; I find living, breathing real villages more interesting. I take these amazing hikes; I still feel an adrenaline rush on every trip I go on,” Zhang says.

Outside of Mei's hometown, Dali, Yunnan

Mei also hinted at her favorite hidden treasure in China– Guizhou Province. The upcoming Sisters’ Meal Festivalis not to be missed (early April 2012) and the rich minority culture, warm people and colorful Miao villages are unlike anywhere else in China.

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Did Yunnan or Guizhou perk up your ears? Interested in having Mei as your travel consultant? Send an email to info@wildchina.com to learn more.

Last sunny Saturday, I got a call from my friend in Leishan who told me there would be a Miao New Year festival in the Leigong mountains, which includes rural Miao villages in Leishan and Taijiang. The official Miao New Year Celebration had already passed for 20 days, but the party was still going on in the villages.
 

Leishan Region

Yes, my guess was very right, this experience was absolutely a highlight. In the late afternoon, we arrived at a township via Leishan called Fangxiang, a very authentic Miao village built right on a steep mountain. I was received with open arms by the locals, and of course, they offered lots and of rice wine.

A group was dancing with a bronze drum, and there were huge Lusheng pipes. We were only outsiders at the villages, and people there dragged us to go dance with them and tried to teach us the steps.
 

We started to hike around 9am and OMG, today’s hiking is FANTASTIC, plus a beautiful sunny day. We hiked through fields, pine forests, villages, and a crystal stream where we had a kebab picnic, which was tons of fun. We hiked for almost an entire day and by the time we got to the next village, it was almost dark.

We had reached Baibang Short Skirt Miao village, where we were dragged by the locals for another evening of celebrations and a bit more rice wine. No matter whether they know you or not, they cherish every single guest. For dinner, we were invited over to the villager head’s house for dinner and had delicious fresh pork.  The dinner we had with the locals was over 15 people, including the villager leaders and their wives. While we ate, we were treated as VIP guests. After dinner, they sang to us and more and more neighbors kept coming to offer us, because they heard party leader’s home had guests.

After several hours eating, we went to see their dancing. The costume of the Baibang is very distinctive from other shortskirt Miao. The locals had been farming for a entire year, so it’s such a great time to rest and have some good food. I wished badly that you everyone at WildChina could be here witnessing. Such a great great great time. In Guizhou, they have a warm heart, heavy heritage, beautiful costumes and wonderful smiling…

Now, it’s back to Guiyang where my lovely daughter awaits… But I found my mind is not back yet, all the images in my brains are villagers, laughter, rice wine and singing,…

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An account from a recent trip in Guizhou from WildChina expert guide, Xiao. To learn more about Xiao and see a quick clip from Guizhou, please see here. 

If you are interested to see Guizhou’s festivals for yourself,  we would strongly suggest looking at Sisters’ Meals Festival which takes this year from April 5-7, 2012.  More questions? Please contact info@wildchina.com.