Janet Yang, one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” and producer of such films as Joy Luck Club & The People vs. Larry Flint, stopped by WildChina’s Beijing office to discuss her new movie, SHANGHAI CALLING. It will come as no surprise that when Janet entered our office, she definitely drew looks of awe and admiration.

Janet was in town to talk about SHANGHAI CALLING and we were lucky to get a few sneak peeks of the film.  A romantic comedy about an ambitious New York attorney sent to Shanghai on assignment who immediately stumbles into a legal mess that could spell the end of his career.   But with help from a beautiful relocation specialist, a well-connected foreign businessman, a clever but unassuming journalist, and a street-smart assistant, Sam might just save his job, discover romance, and learn to appreciate the many wonders Shanghai has to offer.

WildChina guests, hailing from Paris to Buenos Aires, often prepare for their journey by watching films, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Raise the Red Lantern.  While we love these films, the images that they project are of a China that existed generations ago.  It can be confusing for first time visitors to China to arrive in Shanghai expecting Mao suits, and be confronted with new airports, high-speed trains and swank international clientele sipping martinis in hopping bars. SHANGHAI CALLING is the first film we have seen that excels at portraying a realistic Shanghai, a complex mixture of sexy modernism and ancient streets filled with jiaozi (dumplings) vendors.

This film is a total treat and we can’t wait to see the full length production in movie theaters in fall 2012.

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Photos by: First Independent Pictures, SHANGHAI CALLING

It has been an exciting year for WildChina. In the past 12 months, we pioneered hiking routes in the Abujee region of Tibetan Yunnan with WildChina expert Jeff Fuchs, led our inaugural program, Taiwan Treasures, in Taiwan, and helped to arrange a champagne engagement proposal on top of the Great Wall.
 

 
In our industry, hours are long and cell phones are never off so we can answer any questions our guests might have for us.  As such, the +1,000 emails we received telling me how WildChina helped you experience a ‘real’ China let us know that we are doing our job well–and nothing could make us happier.
 

This year, WildChina is thrilled to be nominated for Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards.  I would love it if you could help spread this news to let readers of Travel + Leisure know that WildChina is the company to travel with in China.  I owe it to my guides and wonderful team to show them that people around the world think that they are doing an exceptional job.

Many of you have asked how you can help.  One way would be to vote for WildChina before March 31, 2012.  To do so, just follow these simple steps:

1. Go to http://tlworldsbest.roiresearch.com/home.aspx?OJZrlUYH=1
2. Select YES or NO; then click ENTER.
3. Fill in the Tell Us About You
4. Select Tour Operators/Safari Outfitters
5. Select WildChina
6. Complete the survey & submit!

 

Of course, if you feel that WildChina can improve our services, we would still love to hear your thoughts so that we can work to address problem areas.  Please send your comments to feedback@wildchina.com.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Mei Zhang

Founder of WildChina

 

WildChina, alongside Outpost Magazine, Revo, Mountain Hardwear, and ZoomerMedia, is sponsoring a once-in-a lifetime journey, The Kawa Karpo Expedition.  Leaving next week, WildChina expert & good friend, Jeff Fuchs will be leading this expedition.

Fuchs, a longtime resident of Shangrila and Explorer Club member, has a longtime fascination with lost trade routes and sacred Tibetan mountains.  With this journey to Kawa Karpo, Fuchs, alongside Bill Roberts of Zoomermedia, aim to immerse in “a journey along an ancient pilgrimage-trade route, a journey to recapture and peek into an ancient route when mules and men (and mountains) were inseparable. ”

Speaking to Fuchs on the phone earlier today, he is hard at work putting on pre-expedition pounds and eagerly awaiting the arrival of Roberts and videographer Roberto Gibbon Gomez.  At the moment, Fuchs imagines the expedition will take 9-12 days to complete, depending on weather.

Stay tuned right here on the WildChina blog to track the Kawa Karpo Expedition. Fuchs will be sending photos and stories via sat phone while on the trail!

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If Jeff Fuchs’ journey sounds right up your alley, WildChina is offering an expert-led trip with Fuchs exploring The Ancient Tea and Horse Caravan from April 11-20, 2012. Sign up now!

With winter winds blowing through northern China, cold season has sadly set in.

While WildChina’s international staff is beefing up on their Vitamin C and working to get a good night’s sleep,  we wanted to share how WildChina’s expert local guides ward off the dreaded sniffles and sore throat. Their responses– some expected and others quite different– are a wonderful insight into Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Do let us know if you try any out on your own!

1) Hot foot bath: Every night draw hot water in a tub and add in a table spoon of vinegar (very imporant). This is an effective method when you are beginning to have early symptoms of a cold as it can ward off a more serious illness.

2) Firmly (don’t hold back!) rub a hot towel behind the ears: Every night before bed (very important to be done on a regular basis), grate a hot towel from the top to the bottom of your ear, causing friction + slight pain.  Good preventative measure.

3) Eat onion ginger porridge:  Place 250 grams of washed rice into a pot of boiling water. Add 100 g of finely minced ginger and 100 g of minced onion. Boil for nine minutes and add a dash of brown sugar. Apparently more effective than than any medication and the hot porridge will begin to make you “sweat out you illness.”

4) And last but not least…Back Scrapping: Dip a coin in white wine and begin scuffing the chest, back and spine on both sides, to create redness + sores on the skin.  This, apparently, eliminates fever and body sweating.

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Interested in learning more about Chinese Traditional Medicine? We have experience in customizing trips with a TCM expert! Get in touch at info@wildchina.com.

 

 

Each year, WildChina plans and leads journeys for thousands of clients from all over the world. And with these clients, comes lots and lots of used plastic water bottles– which doesn’t make us, as committed members to sustainable travel in China, very happy.

However, as China has no potable drinking water– even in the big international cities like Shanghai or Hong Kong– we have been left with limited options.

 

You might say, well, “Why don’t you provide each WildChina guest a re-usable water bottle?” In theory, we couldn’t agree more.  WildChina would love to purchase BPA-free water bottles for our clients to use both on trip and at home.  However, since our guests cannot re-fill their water bottles back at the hotel or at a restaurant, we are uncertain that investing in water bottles is a good investment.

 

One model that WildChina Founder Mei Zhang liked was discovered at a recent holiday to Soneva Kiri Six Senses in Thailand. At this resort, elegant glass bottles can be picked up and dropped off at many locations throughout the property. We think this is a great idea and the bottles look classic and high-end

However, if traveling with young children or on a Huanghuacheng hike, we are not convinced that this is the most appropriate solution.

We have a few more ideas up our sleeves, but would love to turn this conversation over to you. What are your thoughts?

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Have any ideas? We are all ears. Drop a line at info@wildchina.com to tell us your suggestion.

Photos by: Sustainable Water, Paul Moreno, Nalgene, Zhang Mei at Soneva Kiri

There is arguably no trip more important than one’s honeymoon. And while many couples opt for mass scale inclusive resorts and sugary drinks, others are looking to take a trip of a lifetime and experience something a bit different. As a result, each year WildChina carefully plans bespoke honeymoon trips throughout China for couples from all over the globe. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we sat down and compiled our favorite top three romantic experiences in China to share with you.

1. Sample imperial cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as you watch the sunset together in your private courtyard in Hangzhou at the Amanfayun, for a passionate evening alone.

 

2. Horseback ride side-by-side against the serene backdrop of Lashihai Lake in Yunnan province, an experience you’ll remember for the rest of your lives.

 

3. Buzz above Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour in a private helicopter tour; take in amazing views of this subtropical metropolis that few ever experience.

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Planning a honeymoon trip? WildChina would love to help. Drop a line to info@wildchina.com.

Photos by: Amanfayun, WildChina and Hunter Holt

 

It will come as no surprise that travel in China can be tricky.  Mountaineous terrain in the rugged western regions, booming cities of 18 and 20 million people, and a serious language barrier for those not fluent in Mandarin are all challenges one can face. In the words of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, “We aren’t in Kansas anymore…” never rings truer when landing in China for the first time.

However, there are the rare moments when China travel becomes a bit easier.  One of WildChina’s favorite off the beaten locations is Mt. Kailash in the Ngari prefecture of Tibet. Mt. Kailash is one of China’s most holy mountains and the three day circumnavigation around the base of the +21,000 ft. mountain is challenging, but moving. In the words of WildChina Founder Zhang Mei, “Definitely a trip of a lifetime.”

 

Several years ago, arriving to the base of Mt. Kailash was an ordeal.  Three days of arduous car travel extended the trip significantly and turned many away who only had 7-10 days of holiday.  Fortunately, a flight from Lhasa to the Ngari prefecture has opened, allowing quicker access to Mt. Kailash. 

Earlier this morning, WildChina received a travel request from a couple interested in traveling to this region and we were thrilled to tell them that the three day challenging drive could be reduced, allowing them to visit other places on their trip, allowing more time to explore the Guge Kingdom.

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Interested in traveling to Tibet in the near future? Summer is a fantastic time to go. Get in touch at info@wildchina.com
 

Last weekend, WildChina expert Alison Klayman received a Sundance Film Festival Award for her film, Ai Weiwei Never Sorry.

 

The film documents Ai Weiwei from 2008 toJune 2011, during which Klayman had unparalleled access the artist’s personal life. When Chinese authorities detained Ai Weiwei for three months in Spring 2011, Klayman made many media appearances to speak about Ai and her work, including on CNN International and The Colbert Report. That same year, she was named a Sundance Documentary Fellow and listed in Filmmaker Magazine’s annual list of “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”

WildChina spoke with Klayman earlier today to discuss her experience at Sundance. “The real reward has definitely been the overall response to the film at Sundance, from the audiences and also the filmmaking community. To have the whole festival and town buzzing about Ai Weiwei’s charisma, humor and courage, to overhear conversations around town about China and social media and change, and to see that the overwhelming takeaway message for audiences was to be inspired to go speak out in their own life…that was the real reward.”

From everyone at WildChina, congratulations!
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Interested in learning more about WildChina’s expert network? Take a look here to learn more about experts including leading Great Wall historians, the most sought after Contemporary Chinese Art advisors and tea experts who can take you to far away plantations.

Photos by: LA Times

 

Hangzhou, located in the lower Yangzte region, has always been renowned for its excellent green tea, and is often associated with Chinese monks, intellectuals and scholars who spent their time meditating in temples and conversing in teahouses and beautifully landscaped gardens.

 

On a cold, snowy morning, we visited a tea farm in Longjing, in the hills of Hangzhou, also known as Dragon Well. From Longjing comes one of the best green teas in China. We went during Chinese New Year week celebrations, and although the area was packed with tourists, we managed to escape the huge crowds because Vincent, our WildChina guide, took us to a private farmhouse, overlooking the tea plantations. We were welcomed with “Xin Nian Kuai Le” – Happy New Year greetings, as the farmer’s wife extended a glass of hot, fragrant Dragon Well green tea. We sat on the terrace, overlooking the tree plantation, sipping tea, talking and listening to Vincent play traditional Chinese music on the bamboo flute.

It was a sunny, cold, quiet morning. After enjoying the fresh air and warming up with our tea, we went on a short trek up the hills of Dragon Well, cloaked by a blanket of green bushes. The shaded areas were still covered with a thin layer of silver, shiny, sparkly snow that was beginning to melt with the first rays of sun timidly appearing behind the hills. I had to stop every few steps, not because the trek was difficult or treacherous, but because the breath-taking views deserved to be photographed.

Even on a winter’s day, the landscape is outstanding: lines of tea plants uniformly growing along the hillsides, with scattered trees bearing tiny red berries. And below, deep down in the valley, a small fairy-tale village – white houses with black roof tiles, smoke still coming out of their chimneys. After our walk we went to a local restaurant called Green Tea that, as the name suggests, serves a variety of dishes aromatised with the precious crop, as well as other specialities: Green tea handmade Tofu; Green tea roast pork, chicken or fish; Bread temptation, to name but a few local dishes.

The restaurant has a bucolic, folk atmosphere. Surrounded by a small lake, it is built out of warm, light, wood. It is decorated with rustic pottery vases, freshly cut flowers and ethnic textiles and its many windows allow visitors to appreciate the views. There is an air of congenial hospitality and joy. People sharing their dishes, chatting, laughing. ‘Green Tea’ restaurant is right next to China’s biggest and best Museum of Tea.

At the museum you will find a comprehensive exhibition of the history, cultivation, production and consumption of all sorts of teas. The museum is surrounded by carefully landscaped gardens, with little creeks and waterfalls scattered all over; ancient trees, exotic plants and beautiful birds … No wonder Marco Polo, upon arrival to this area, described it as ‘Paradise on Earth’.

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Interested in learning more about China’s tea culture? Drop a line to info@wildchina.com to experience a customized tea tour throughout the country or take a look at Tea & Horse Caravan, which has set-departures from April 11-20 and September 12-21, 2012. 

Words & Photos by Chelin Miller, WildChina’s own Yummy Mummy.

 

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?