June 2009

K&C Founder Randy Lynch's 2009 Top 10 Favorite Asia Family Travel Experiences

1. Kyoto, Japan: Private Geisha dinner and girls' "dress-up"

This is one of the truly special and unique highlights of a Japan private tour: a special evening private Japanese-style dinner with contracted Geisha Entertainment arranged at a local Kyoto restaurant. This unique Geisha night includes one Geiko and two Maiko (young, apprentice Geisha). Together they perform dancing and singing, as well as serving a multi-course traditional Kaiseki dinner. Prior to dinner, the young ladies in your party will have the opportunity to be dressed up as Maiko for experience and photo memories. My eight-year-old daughter, Zen, thought this was "awesome!" Geisha entertainment represents the highest level of Japan's Shinto/Buddhist-centered culture and its other-worldly aesthetic.

2. Chengdu, China: Private panda audience

The Chengdu Research Base/Giant Panda Eco-Park is a must visit for all families traveling to China! The sprawling 600 acre complex is most impressive – a lush landscape with rolling hills mixed with the natural bamboo habitat of both the "giant panda" and the interesting "red panda" (think of a raccoon crossed with a fox!). Over 70 giant pandas live here. After arranging a donation with the research center, families are given a golden opportunity for a private "holding-hugging" session with a "baby" panda (over 40 lbs!). In reality, there exists no other place in the world where one can experience such personal encounters with giant pandas – only here in Chengdu.

3. Beijing, China: Toboggan down the Great Wall at Mutianyu

Notwithstanding the various wall locations, we enthusiastically endorse the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, an approx. 2 hour drive from downtown Beijing. Not nearly as jammed with tourists as the closer Badaling site, Mutianyu has a ski-lift service to the Wall itself where one can hike (an earnest work-out!) to varying sections of the Ming Dynasty guard towers, with few tourists and unobstructed views. Another big plus of Mutianyu - a toboggan ride from the wall to the base. Each toboggan has a manual control throttle that controls your speed sliding down (4500 ft.) from the wall highpoint - the entire trip down takes about 5 minutes - exhilarating!

4. Gora Kadan Ryokan – Hakone, Japan

This is one of the most emotionally gratifying of all of our private tour experiences in Asia. The heartwarming director of COSO orphanage, Sean Samnang, will welcome you and offer several volunteer options, ranging from 2 hours to a full day, with the beautiful young orphans of COSO. You will later be directed to a make-shift stage for a Khmer/Cambodian dance performance by the orphanage's children. Although absent the ornate costumes featured by the professional Aspara dance performers, the precision and slow graceful style of the children dancing is amazing. Despite all of their obvious disadvantages, the kids take great pride in their Khmer culture and spend countless hours practicing their craft.

In addition to the COSO Orphanage experience you may also participate in an Angkor Well Project. Among our clients wishing to give back to those less fortunate, the Angkor well project has become immensely popular. For a cost of USD400-600 per pump/well, based on the size and the distance of the water well, one may donate a well, thus providing fresh drinking water to a local village. By most estimates, less than 31% of rural Cambodians have access to safe water. When visiting the village actually receiving your well donation, you see first-hand the real difference you are making in the villagers' daily lives.

5. Mekong River: 2 day/1 night LuangSay Cruise on the Mekong River between Luang Prabang, Laos and Chiang Rai, Thailand

In contrast to the 5-Star luxury resorts we normally use in Southeast Asia, my eight-year-old daughter, Zennia, considers the tranquil LuangSay Cruise down the Mekong River as "roughing-it."

The 2 day/1 night journey up the Mekong River from Luang Prabang to Huai Say Laos, across the border from Thailand, is a great way to wind down and simply enjoy the Mekong River culture and scenery. This area is very authentic in terms of local Laotian life. The LuangSay river barges have comfortable open-air seating for 40 passengers, plying the Mekong for seven hours each day. You overnight literally in the middle of nowhere, on the banks of the Mekong at the LuangSay Lodge. Although certainly not luxury, the lodge has clean, comfortable villas overlooking the Mekong and a friendly, Laotian staff that earnestly care for your needs. This is a rustic, spartan environment in a good way. Based on the clean, pristine air and remote location, you are assured of a great night's sleep.

6. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Maesa Private Elephant Camp

What the Four Seasons or Mandarin are to luxury hotel accommodation, the Maesa Elephant camp is to very personal, hands-on, high touch elephant training. A three-hour private elephant camp experience will include a brief training of elephant commands, riding the elephants on your own (no worries with trainers close by), personally bathing the elephants in the river (so much fun!!), and end with a painting session with your elephants. Yes, with directions, these elephants can actually paint and draw!

7. Halong Bay, Vietnam: 2 day/1 night Junk Cruise

An overnight at the Halong Jasmine Junk along Halong Bay is the perfect R&R experience. Halong Bay is perhaps Vietnam's most natural picturesque setting. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Halong Bay features thousands of sculptured limestone karsts set in a bay of gleaming blue/green waters. Ample kayaking opportunities.

8. Guilin, China: Biking/Trekking/Chill at Hotel of Modern Art (HOMA)

Guilin's unique landscape, with its ubiquitous karst limestone formations in the setting of lush, green rice fields adjacent to the Li River, evokes traditional Chinese landscape paintings. Great picturesque biking and trekking opportunities here. Notwithstanding the large number of tourists visiting this area, it's still worth the visit! An added bonus of visiting Guilin is a stay at HOMA (Hotel of Modern Art). Founded by a Taiwanese business entrepreneur in 1997, HOMA represents a lovely balance of world class sculpture, architecture, and art set against the backdrop of the natural beauty of the lush grounds. All 46 rooms here are individually designed with hip, funky decorations/artwork, along with flat-screen TVs, modern amenities, and a "wow" design aesthetic. I feel HOMA is THE place to stay if visiting Guilin.

9. Dali & Zhongdian, Yunnan China: The Linden Centre and Banyan Tree Ringha

A stay at the Linden Centre in Xizhou (near Dali) is reason alone to visit the Yunnan Province. Founded by the Mandarin-speaking expat Linden Family (Brian, Jeanee, Shane and Bryce), the Linden Centre offers a complete immersion into the local minority cultures within the context of a completely restored traditional Bai estate. This place represents perhaps the most pristine example of vernacular architecture in all of China. All of this and 5 star service!!

Zhongdian, a remote, obscure region (Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) rich in Tibetan culture, rises 10,000 ft in elevation on the southern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.

Amazingly, Banyan Tree Resorts has built a lovely idyllic resort here in Ringha, using Sino-Tibetan designs with each lodge/villa looking remarkably like the local Tibetan farmhouses. The Banyan Tree is located in a lush, green valley that is truly representative of this beautiful, remote land. At least during late spring/summer period, think of the scenery as a Tibetan cultural version of Sound of Music. This is a great family summer destination.

10. Thailand & Vietnam: Family Beach Fun!

Take your pick – Amanpuri in Phuket, Thailand; Nam Hai Resort in Hoi An, Vietnam; Pimalai Resort in Krabi, Thailand.