Golden Week is coming up, and it’s the perfect opportunity to get out of Beijing and into the mountains (or deserts!) Escape crowds, closed restaurants, and the sadness of slow or no waimai by finding your peace in nature. Here are some family-friendly adventures to help you see parts of China you’ve never imagined and avoid the big shutdown during the October festivities.

Subashi Ancient Ruins

First up! Journey to the West, along the Silk Road: Korla to Kashgar. This seven-day adventure brought to you by Beijing Hikers will cover more than one thousand kilometers and take you to west China by jeep through the vast empty areas of Xinjiang Province. This trip goes through some of the most remote parts of the ancient Silk Road, so you can imagine what it was like for travelers going by camel or on foot. Visit the Baicheng Landforms, the ancient city of Subashi, and the Daksiliya Grand Canyon, and see a part of China unlike any other. During this trip, you will stay in local hotels at night.

Baicheng landforms

Second option is another seven day Silk Road trip. Journey From the West, Urumqi to Jiayuguan. This trip explores the northern part of the Silk Road, a more well-traveled portion than the Korla to Kashgar trip. Enjoy hikes and walks as the scenery changes from grassland to desert. Visit the beautiful and stark Nanshan Grasslands, and the ruins of Jiaohe, an ancient city sacked by Genghis Khan in the 13th century. In Dunhuang, see the Magao Grottoes and Crescent Lake. Visit the fortress at Jianyuguan, which marked the western end of the Ming Dynasty’s Great Wall. This trip will give you a taste of the rich Muslim culture alive in western China.

Crescent Lake, Dunhuang

The details for the Silk Road trips: Suitable for children 6+. October 1-7. RMB 19,150 (members get a discount), RMB 15,220 for ages 6-11, RMB 15,670 for ages 12-17. This is an all-inclusive trip; the fee includes plane tickets, guides, hotel stays, food, and drinks. Click here for more information on Korla to Kashgar, for more information on Urumqi to Jiayuguan click here. There is a lot of driving on these two Silk Road trips, broken up by hikes and sightseeing. If you don’t like long drives, you may want to consider another option.

Chongqing at night

If you’re looking for a more urban experience, you can join Cultural Exchange Trips (CET) for their Chongqing, Chengdu, Xian – 3 Most-Go Cities Tour, and spend seven days exploring these three famous Chinese cities.  You’ll visit Chongqing, the largest inland municipality in China; see Chengdu where the biggest panda research center in the world can be found; and last visit Xian, the capital of 13 ancient Chinese dynasties. This tour will include pandas, the Leshan Giant Buddha, Mahjong, Sichuan hotpot, and the Terracotta Warriors.

Pandas at the Breeding Center in Chengdu

The details: October 1 – 7. RMB 4,585 with discounts available for groups, fee includes round-trip transportation by high-speed train, hotel, meals, and an English-speaking guide. Fee does not include entrance fees to all places.  Meet at Beijing West railway station.  Click here for more information.

Tengger Desert dunes in Inner Mongolia

If you have less time during Golden Week, but still want to get away for a few days, consider a 4-day trip to Tengger Desert Lakes in Inner Mongolia instead. This trip from Beijing Hikers travels through the desert by foot, jeep, and camel. Spend one night camping in the desert, and visit an oasis. This trip is relatively easy with climbs up sand dunes and some short desert hiking, it is recommended for ages 7+. Tengger Desert is very special, with a long history and a lot of cultural diversity. It is located in the northernmost part of Inner Mongolia.

Riding Camels through the Tengger Desert

The Details: October 2 – 5. RMB 8,800 (members get a discount), Kids ages 7-11 RMB 6,850, kids ages 12-17 RMB 7,090. The price includes flights, transportation, hotel stays, food, drinks, and a guide. Click here to learn more.

Longji Rice Terraces 

Or you can visit one of the most beautiful places in China with CET, on their four day Guilin: Li River, Yangshou, Longji Highlight Tour. This area is known for its mountains, rice terraces, and the Li River which snakes its way like a ribbon through some of the greenest scenery on the planet. Highlights include staying in the Mahai Village in the Longji Rice Terraces, going bamboo rafting along the Li River, and a hike through karst formations in the ten-mile gallery.

The details: All ages are welcome to come on this trip, but check with the organizer to see if it is right for your family. October 2 – 5. This trip arrives and leaves from Guilin train station or airport, you are responsible for getting to and from Guilin. The trip fee includes bus, accommodation, meals, ticket fees, guides, and insurance. RMB 1,845 for adults. Children under 1.2m are RMB 895, children under 3 are free. Click here for more information.

The Silver Pagodas stand on the site of a Tang Dynasty temple

Only have one day to spend sightseeing in nature? We have you covered. Kids Club: The Silver Pagodas will take an easy walk through the countryside for a picnic by the 600-year-old Silver Pagodas. After seeing the Pagodas, spend the afternoon relaxing in the sun with an optional climb up to Silver Mountain. Join Beijing Hikers for this fun and relaxing day exploring China’s beautiful countryside.

View from Silver Mountain

The details: This trip is recommended for ages 5–12. RMB 360 for adults, RMB 180 for kids 6–12 and RMB 150 for ages 3–5. The hike is 2–3 hours over 4–6km. The trip leaves on October 6. Pick up areas are Liangmaqiao subway area at 8am and Lido Metropark Hotel Starbucks at 8.30am. Click here to learn more.

If none of these trips spark your interest visit Beijinghikers.com or CET’s WeChat: CultureExchangeTrip for many more options to get outdoors, learn something, and have fun!

Photos: Beijinghikers.com, CETtrips Beijing

 As we clearly move from winter to summer with a brief pit stop by spring, the outdoors beckon. The weekends and holidays will be a nice treat to get away from the normal routine. Whether you want to go with a large group or a small one. Here are tips of getting ready to go for a hike we dug up from our archives.

Many parents are intimidated by the idea of hiking with young children, but that doesn’t have to be the case, according to touring experts Beijing Hikers and Beijing Sideways. Founded in August 2001, Beijing Hikers is an outdoor group founded by hikers for hikers. They organize frequent excursions around Beijing. Beijing Sideways allows visitors to see the city from a motorcycle sidecar with day trips and overnight stays at the Great Wall. Here, both groups offer their tips for trail hiking with kids.

Before the Hike
First, find out if the outing or hike is suitable for kids. At Beijing Hikers, it depends quite a bit on the individual child and whether or not they’re used to being outdoors. The group rates its hikes from 1-5 (1 being the easiest and 5 being the toughest). Try the easiest hikes first to get a sense of where your family fits in on the difficulty scale, then contact Beijing Hikers about the suitability of the hike that you’re interested in.

Check the weather forecast and dress accordingly. Bring some extra clothes in case the weather isn’t as nice as forecast. In general, hikers should wear loose and light-colored clothing in the summer, with a hat and sunscreen. During the rainy season, take a waterproof outer layer with a change of clothes to leave in the car. In the winter, wear thermal layers, a waterproof outer layer, and a scarf, gloves, and hat to cover any exposed skin. Bring extra warm clothing, just in case.

 During the Hike
Always take care of yourself, so that you can take care of your children. This includes staying well-fed and well-hydrated, and having good hiking shoes, so you don’t lose your balance when carrying or helping your kids on the trail.

When hiking with kids, take it easy in the beginning, and add more challenges later. For example, you can repeat the same trails by walking together the first few times, then allowing the kids to range ahead once they’re more familiar with the route. Parents can also set a theme for the outing (e.g. “Our mission is the climb the Great Wall” or “We’re going to look at the autumn colors”) to make things more fun.

For families with younger children, it’s a good idea to set up base at a nice spot and explore the surrounding area from there. Talk to them about what they’re seeing, whether it’s insects, animals, people, or landscapes. Like with any outing, you’ll have to respect or adjust to your child’s napping and eating cycles. “I know that I can have my kids nap in the baby carrier or in the car, if they have their baby seat,” says Beijing Sideways Founder Gael Thoreau. “Our oldest (age 2.5) can skip the nap if we just put her to bed early after the hike.” He says it’s even easier for breastfed newborns, who spend most of their time sleeping and wake up mainly to feed. “My first-born was on the Great Wall at 15 days [old],” recalls Thoreau. “We went there to escape the July heat!”

Find out more here.

Vietnam shares a lot in common with China: Buddhism, its enviable locale in tropical South-East Asia, and its history of communism to name a few. Before we left to Hanoi for our last ever school trip, most of us Year 13s at The British School of Beijing Shunyi (BSB Shunyi) weren’t expecting anything spectacularly removed from what we were used to. The only unknown things that we thought we’d have to face were ants “all over” our hotel rooms, which one reviewer on Trip Advisor had seemed very passionate about.

We were wrong on two counts. First, contrary to my friends’ Trip Advisor-induced fears, there were no ants in the hotel. Second, Vietnam proved to be a most extraordinary country, a pocket of remarkable natural beauty and enthralling cultural traditions, the home of countless memories — both our own and those of devastating war still scarring the face of the otherwise flawless landscape. Not one of us would ever dispute that some of the best times we shared as a year group were during those six days in Hanoi and Cat Ba Island.

We slept in a junk boat out in Ha Long Bay, watching the sun rise out from behind rocky crags jutting tens of meters out from the sea like giant shards of glass. The sky stained the brightest shade of orange as the endemic species of monkeys and birds began their morning song from the jungles sprouting on the crags. Two eagles danced with each other, forgetting for a moment all the fish in the clear waters below. We slept on the decks, talking well into the night, and counting every star as they emerged in clusters; it was the first time I’d not heard a single one of my friends complain about wifi.

It was a precious time, bringing into focus how close we are. We’ve been friends for years, and have been the best parts of each others’ lives. The trip to Vietnam highlighted that we will be graduating in six months, scattered all over the world, from the Netherlands and Canada to the Philippines, possibly never to see each other again.

My whole life, as far as I can remember, has been one extended game of leveling up through year groups in school, waking up, and taking classes with the same people every day, eating lunch with them, studying together, hanging out, and talking about life after school; all leading to the culminating Year 13. Before this point, I haven’t had to worry about anything; not by any real standard. I level up to the next year group, avoid certain teachers, get just enough homework done to avoid major detentions, and deal with petty drama.

But during this trip more than any other, it hit me how all of this will fall away before I know it. It feels like when we leave BSB, our worlds as we know them, will be turned upside down and have the life squeezed out of them. Our best school trip ended on a distinct bitter sweet note of finality; a knowledge that after the bus pulled up in front of the school gates we would never be together like that again. This, I believe, made us appreciate our brief escape to Vietnam all the more.

Despite my latest realizations, there was a lot to admire through the nostalgia. Hanoi is a thriving, sprawling beast of a city. Fellow BSB student Casey Cheung says his highlights were: “the enthusiastic locals persuading me to buy communist posters, and the water puppet show which we watched in Hanoi. It was an hour of blissful enjoyment. Vietnamese culture has been engraved on my heart.”

Even though there wasn’t a whole lot of natural beauty in Hanoi, the free time we got to spend wandering the alleys weren’t outshined as Year 13 student Amy Deng notes of the experience. “We got to walk around on the streets, looking in local shops and trying out all the local food. People were extremely welcoming and enthusiastic.”

Perhaps even more poignant was Ivan Chow’s sentiment of the trip. “Being a firm believer of socialism, having the opportunity to see the only remaining statue of Lenin meant a lot to me. Vietnam was much more of a socialist state than I had anticipated, and the people of Vietnam have proven to me that people are indeed able to live in peace and harmony under socialist rule.

Others of us, like Ella Malibiran of the Philippines, were adamant that Vietnam would never be the same without our friends. “The best part was getting the opportunity to spend time with my friends on the boat in HaLong Bay. Shopping along the streets of Hanoi with millions of Dong was crazy but cool as well. I would do anything to go back with my friends.”

Amy is a Year 13 student at the British School of Beijing Shunyi (BSB). Having grown up in The Hague in the Netherlands, she has lived in Beijing for four years and hopes to share her views on current affairs and school news through her blogs.

The beijingkids student correspondent program gives high school students with an interest in writing and journalism a resource for guidance, feedback, and real-life training. If you are a student interested in becoming a beijingkids student correspondent, or you know a student who is, please contact yvetteferrari@beijing-kids.com

My WeChat moments lead me to believe that many of you are either on vacation right now or just coming back. If you haven’t already planned your October holidays it’s not too late! I’ve scouted out three amazing trips which each still have places available, but act fast to get your spot.

Uganda: September 26-October 7
The Yoganda Trip Service, Yoga, Safari Adventure
This trip is organized by yours truly, and is for the adventurous and brave who want to experience Africa in an intimate way. A ten day excursion, this is an incredible trip where you can experience service work at one of Africa’s most amazing community development organizations, Musana. Also includes a hike to Uganda’s most beautiful waterfall, Sipi Falls, and a three day safari checking out lions, elephants, hippos, and more. Cost is around RMB 24,000. Kids are welcome if the parents are brave enough to take them (Kai is coming). Contact me at Theresa@taozitreeyoga.com

Sanya, China October 3-6
Mind, Body Fitness Retreat
If you’d like a few days full of healthy goodness by the beach organizers Erin Henshaw and Brittney Dunn promise “mind-bending, cardio-pumping, sun-soaking goodness”. Both women are shiny happy examples of what it means to live positively. Kids over 12 are welcome to join. Henshaw says children of this age have participated in the past and really enjoyed themselves and benefited from their time there. events@ewestclub.com

Yunnan, China September 26-October 4
The Hutong and The Yunnan Bike Journey
I took a similar journey by bike a few years ago. It was truly magical. Children over ten can participate; the organizers say they had a family of four last year who loved it. With stunning scenery including tea forests and mountain villages. Yunnan has fifty-six ethnic minorities, so this trip gives riders a chance to appreciate the huge breadth of Chinese culture.

Theresa Pauline is a yoga teacher, social entrepreneur, momma, wife, and beijingkids contributor. You can find out more about her at www.taozitreeyoga.com

Photos: Taozi Tree Yoga, EWest Club, & The Hutong

Last October, we took an eight-day tour of Yunnan with China Culture Center over the National Day holiday. Our itinerary was jam-packed; there were places to be and things to see. Since our family can be a little lackadaisical about pushing ourselves out the door and exploring new environs, we decided that a small group tour was just what we needed.

Going with a group meant we wouldn’t have to do any of the planning ourselves, but we would still get to visit many parts of a region we might otherwise not be able to discover on our own. During this trip, we explored Kunming’s karst rock forest, Dali, the UNESCO-protected town of Lijiang, and Shangri-La, which inspired a novel. We picked up a lot of information and trivia about each place we visited.

Sometimes, things just clicked. We genuinely liked the people we were touring, including our tour guides. Two of the kids in the group turned out to be my sons’ schoolmates. They were traveling with family friends who had children as well. Without any planning, there turned out to be a small group of similarly-aged kids.

The people without children turned out to be very fun. We enjoyed exploring together and winding down at the end of a long day with cold beers at the local bars. One lady in the group was such a charmer that she made friends with bar owners wherever she went. In one of the locales, an impromptu party broke out with Tibetans, Chinese, Germans, Polish, an Australian, an African and Filipinos all dancing together to world music.

Discovering Yunnan Food
One of the highlights of the trip was Yunnan’s many regional specialties. There was yak meat, fried red beans, local goat cheese, potato string pancakes, crickets for the adventurous, plenty of wild mushrooms, and lots of fresh green vegetables that were simply sauteed in garlic and a little bit of oil.

After returning to Beijing, we suffered from the usual vacation hangover. We were tired and in need of a vacation from our vacation. We missed the good food. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover that Europlaza had a really good restaurant that serves up Yunnan cuisine.

Although Treescape is not new to Shunyi, it was a new addition to our repertoire of restaurants. With a lounge in the front and a playroom for children, it is a popular choice among Shunyi families and sees brisk business for weekend lunch.

We like any of their fish dishes, which are prepared with a yummy combination of spices. We order a different one each time. All the mushroom dishes are sure to please me, while the truffle-infused dishes are a popular choice with my husband. My boys get a kick out of their standard order of bamboo rice, a sticky rice cooked inside a hollowed-out bamboo stem. The bamboo is split open at the table to reveal freshly-cooked rice peppered with peanuts.

Oddly enough, our favorites at Treescape are not necessarily dishes that we actually had in Yunnan. This was just another reminder of Chinese cuisine’s diversity. And yet, tasting Yunnan food brought us back to our favorite family holidays.

Bizarre News from Yunnan

Because we had such a good time in Yunnan, anything related to the region that comes up in the news catches our attention. I still chuckle over the amazing drama that has emerged from that part of China. The circumstances were strange and read straight from a comedy of errors.

Apparently, a couple in Yunnan was unhappy about being served from dirty bowls at a local restaurant. One complaint led to another, and the couple got into a full-blown fight with the servers when the woman was told they were short RMB 5 on their bill. The argument got physical and the couple ended up in the hospital, he with broken ribs and she with head injuries.

The woman sued for damages and reimbursement of their hospital bills, which amounted to a total of RMB 68,000. The restaurant owner came up with a creative solution. He paid back most of the amount, but reserved RMB 10,000 to pay back in 1 jiao coins. It took 18 bank clerks nine hours to count and roll up the 100,000 coins.

One year on, we are still regaled by Yunnan and its people even in our little remote corner of Shunyi. Not to worry; I’m pretty sure us waiguoren will not have this kind of experience at Treescape or elsewhere in our neighborhood.

Treescape 千景树云南菜馆
Daily, 11am-10pm. Shop 213, 2/F, Europlaza, 99 Yuxiang Lu, Tianzhu Town, Shunyi District (8046 7133) 顺义区天竺镇裕翔路99号欧陆时尚购物中心2层213

Photo by Dana Cosio-Mercado

Dana is the beijingkids Shunyi Correspondent. Originally from the Philippines, she moved to Beijing in 2011 (via Europe) with her husband, two sons and Rusty the dog. She enjoys writing, photography, theater, visual arts, and trying new food. In her free time, she can be found exploring the city and driving along the mountain roads of Huairou, Miyun and Pinggu.

By this point Julian had done the Forbidden City, Olympic Venues, Temple of Heaven and so was really due a visit to the Great wall, but I wasn’t sure how to get him there. A friend had recommended the Beijing Downtown Backpackers Hostel as they ran a hike along the wall from Jinshanling to Simatai for a reasonable RMB 260. Intrigued, we made our way to the Fish ‘n Chips at Nanluogu Xiang, then went a bit further along to check it out.

That Saturday started very early- about 5:00am in fact. I’ve never been a morning person (‘only dull people are good at breakfast’- Oscar Wilde), and I was a true zombie as I stumbled about the house sorting out the day bag with packed lunch, pre-frozen drinks and entertainment for the 3-hour journey to and from the wall. When all that was done, we wandered round to the Hostel for 6:40am to catch the bus. Perhaps surprisingly, we were not alone- an impressive crowd of around 10-12 were also on our trip and they were an interesting ensemble of people. Among the group were an Austrian, a group or Americans, a Danish couple and (with some national pride) a chap wearing a Welsh top. We all clambered onto the bus and in the warm cozy vehicle I promptly fell asleep.

When I woke up about 3 hours later we were about to arrive. Pulling into the Great Wall at Jinshanling we were told to our shock that the cable car would take 60 minutes to get to the wall. Julian and I were horrified until it transpired that he actually meant 16 minutes. Relieved we got our tickets and started up the mountains leaving the bus and the terrible music of the cable car station behind, eager to start our Great Wall hike- a strenuous 4.5 hour walk along an 8km stretch of the wall, encompassing 31 guard towers and billions of steps. But hey, Julian was a Junior GB squad Canoeist and I’d done a half-marathon in the UK, how hard could it be?

The answer to that became blindingly obvious by the time we stopped for the first of our major breaks in the 9^th guard tower. Hard. Very Hard. The views were breathtakingly beautiful, the company brilliant and the never-ending steep steps a real… pain. Without doubt Simatai was far more stunning than Mutianyu, and the non-renovated parts of the wall added to that charm. Moreover unlike Mutianyu the wall was practically empty leaving us feeling like the sole owners of the world wonder. Nonetheless we were saved on our hike only by our decision to pack copious biscuits and drinks, a cooling breeze and the good-natured competition between Julian and me as we raced along some of the easier sections.

A spectacular trip, but one that our legs weren’t going to forget in a hurry. Indeed by 1:30pm as we struggled down the last few steps (during which I wrote the word PAIN! In my notebook), we were definitely ready for home and a cool Tsingdao. However, looking back I can say that the whole trip was fantastic, and if there are any sports conscious families out there, I recommend you check it out.