Changliu: Eco-tourism in the shadow of the Pearl River Delta

Derrick Chang — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

An authentic Hakka village, free of made-for-tourists features, becomes a great weekend eco-getaway

Not far from the economic powerhouse that is the Pearl River Delta, it’s hard to believe that there’s a bastion of traditional culture still around in Guangdong province.

Life in the Hakka village of Changliu brings back memories of simpler, albeit poorer, times in China. Family members live near each other, harvests are shared and traditional and religious customs live on.

This is very much a working village and nothing that you see is staged for visitors

I recently visited Changliu village to take a look at an eco-tourism project jointly funded and run by social workers from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-Sen University.

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Trapped in Shangri-La: Seven days of (mis)adventure

Derrick Chang — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Our drive starts out calmly enough.

The plan is to rent a SUV from the scenic town of Zhongdian -- also called Shangri-La -- in northern Yunnan province, China, with a local driver for three days to circumnavigate the majestic Meili Snow Mountain range.

Then we would head over to the Tibetan-Yunnan border town of Deqin before bearing south to end our trip in the hyper-commercialized ancient town of Lijiang.

But like most adventurous trips, almost nothing goes to plan -- we veer far off our anticipated route.

And our trip is all the better for it.

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Eating up Malaysia's neglected east coast

Derrick Chang — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:00:00 +0000

I am a frequent visitor to Malaysia’s west coast and Malaysian Borneo.

But a six-day drive up the east coast was a new cultural experience not only for me but also for a friend from Kuala Lumpur who learned more about his own country on our short trip than he did in school.

The much-traveled west coast of Peninsula Malaysia is a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian culture.

But to experience pure-breed Malaysian life a trip out to the peninsula’s three east coast states of Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan is a must. They host a few popular resort islands, but in general the three states are a given a wide berth by the tourist trade.

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Recent Posts by Author

Changliu: Eco-tourism in the shadow of the Pearl River Delta

Trapped in Shangri-La: Seven days of (mis)adventure

Eating up Malaysia's neglected east coast