Club Med coming to China

by Melanie Nayer on

The famous foam parties are heading to China.

Club Med announced it will open new hotels at the Sun Mountain Yabuli resort, a destination ski resort in northern China. The two hotels will make up Club Med Yabuli Resort and include 133 and 155 rooms, respectively in each hotel.

According to a press release, Club Med will provide up to $3 million in funding for additions to the two hotels that include new facilities and renovations that are synonymous with the Club Med brand.

Melco China Resorts, also located in the Sun Mountain Yabuli Resort, will manage all ski activities, retail and commercial operations, winter and summer resort attractions, mountain operations (lifts and snowmaking), and the existing 20-suite mountain top hotel and mountain top dining.

“China is an exciting and dynamic country for tourism and one we are committed to as a growth market for Club Med,” said Henri Giscard D’Estaing, Chairman of Club Med. “Over the last two years we have conducted extensive consumer research and the number of mainland Chinese guests visiting our Asian resorts continues to grow. We have reviewed many resorts across the entire country and in Sun Mountain Yabuli and Melco China Resorts, we have found a resort and company that shares our focus for excellence and the overall customer experience.”

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8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

by Gadling Staff on

There’s nothing better than having new and exciting experiences while traveling the globe. But, are you gutsy enough to try eating delectable delicacies such as grasshoppers, cockroaches, and gigantic worms?

Me neither … but these eight people are.

Giant Chinese Cockroach – Thailand

This cockroach is so big, I’m surprised they didn’t sell it by the pound.

Fresh Weevil Grubs – Amazon Jungle

Bear Grylls stars in this “Man vs Fresh Weevil Grub” clip. Oops, sorry for the squishy bits. Hope you didn’t get squirted.

Large Crunchy Cockroaches – Thailand

These guys went looking for the “Bug Carts” in Bangkok. I’m not sure that’d be my first stop.

Scorpions – China

“Kinda like eating an eyebrow,” he says. This guy eats four of them!

Giant Mangrove Worms – Philippines

Giant worms pulled from trees… and I mean GIANT. Could you eat the whole thing?

Deep Fried Tarantula – Cambodia

“Eat your heart out.” Looks kinda chewy if you ask me.

Giant Waterbug – Thailand

This poor guy had no idea what he was in for. Is he crying? There’s no crying in bug-eating!

Grasshoppers – Thailand

Thai Lady: “It’s crunchy.”
Director: “Like potato chips.”
Thai Lady: “Yeah. Kind of.”
Director: “$15 bucks and you got a whole meal here.”

Enough said.

Don’t just see the Great Wall of China, eat it

by Annie Scott on

In preparation for the World Chocolate Wonderland exhibition opening on January 29, 2010, Chinese confectioners have created an entire Great Wall of Chocolate.

“You have higher and lower levels and you have to fit each brick into place, one by one, to build it up, it’s difficult,” said chocolatier Wang Qilu. The wall reportedly includes an entire “crumbling” section, just like the real thing.

The hope of World Chocolate Wonderland general manager, Tina Zheng, as well as many of the participating chocolatiers, is that the approximately 80 ton exhibition (including other wonders like 560 chocolate terracotta warrior replicas) will boost China’s chocolate industry.

“Chocolate has not been around in China that long, it doesn’t have that several-thousand-year history that it does in the West which has made chocolate as common as milk or fruit,” Zheng told Reuters.

The wall stands just 33 feet long, but is doubtlessly far more delicious than the actual, 5,500.3 mile wall.

If you’re interested in seeing China’s World Chocolate Wonderland, get yourself to the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium on January 29.

[via Reuters]


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Most unsual way to go to Las Vegas: The Flying Elvi

by Jamie Rhein on

This scene in Honeymoon in Vegas is the most unusual way to head to Las Vegas if I’ve ever seen one. Here at Gadling, unusual travel is not unknown. Catherine is trying out various travel options in China at this moment, Jeremy is traveling around Southeast Asia as creatively as he can, and if you check out Mike’s personal blog, you’ll see A LOT of the unusual. I mean A LOT.

Although Honeymoon in Vegas is not the best movie Nicholas Cage has been in–Moonstruck and Raising Arizona are my two favorites, this scene is a hoot. This is something Mike would do when he slips out from behind his SkyMall Monday desk. Totally. The Flying Elvi, sky divers who are Elvis impersonators, do exist. I can see Mike now.

By the way, Honeymoon in Vegas is still wandering around cable channels. I saw part of it two weeks ago which reminded me of this scene. It also has one of the funniest altercations with another passenger at an airline check-in desk. You can see that here.

Seven days in China for under $900, flight included

by Annie Scott on

I am delighted to tell you about a deal I may snap up myself: China Spree‘s 7 Day China Express — Beijing Free-style Travel (2010) will take you to Beijing from San Francisco and put you up at a four star hotel for $588 ($988 from New York). They’re even throwing in free breakfasts.

The hotel is The Beijing Huabin, which is located just a ten minute walk from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, opposite the National Grand Theater, and also near the Wangfujing shopping area. Your stay will be five nights (the sixth is lost in travel) in a room with all the usual accoutrement including an LCD TV and broadband internet. There are tours available to the Summer Palace, the Great Wall of China and the Temple of Heaven at an additional cost, or you can make your way there yourself and explore on your own with the help of a guidebook (or even just the internet). If there’s somewhere else you’d like to visit, China Spree can help you make arrangements.

The catch? Departure taxes and fuel surcharges ($299 from SFO, $307 from JFK), and the low, low prices only apply to trips in December and January — after that, they climb, but you can still find a pretty great deal.

So, from SFO in January, you can go to China for seven days for $887. Not. Bad. Visit the website or call 866-652-5656 to book.