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Established in year 2002, one of the aims of the Camping Association of Hong Kong is providing training for its members and developing relationship with international camping organizations. The Association organizes outbound camp visit once every year in order to exchange working experience with camp operating organizations in other countries and to provide learning opportunities for camp personnel of Hong Kong.

The fourth camp visit was held during 27 to 30 November 2006. This time, there were 19 participants coming from camp organizations and the destination was Xiamen in the Fujian province of China. As in the past, camps of special feature were the points of interest and one of the major events was visiting a "tea centre".

In Asia countries, China, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, agro-tourism has been developed over the past ten years. Farm owners have turned their fields and estates into camps and luxury resorts. Some tea planters also successfully turned their verdant properties into tourism and camping destinations. Particularly in India and Sri Lanka, tea tourism has become one of most fabulous activities attracting visitors. Typically, guests get to tea fields and pluck tealeaves. Nature walk, expedition, rafting and golf are offered according to facilities of individual camps and venues, but of course, as much tea tasting as they like.

In recent years, camping activities have been developed rapidly in China. Similar to her neighborhood countries, camps have been built by converting farms and fields and characterized by agro features. However, in an exogenous manner, majority of camps are putting more emphasis on adventure based counseling facilities and activities, which successfully provide a supply driven force into the camping industry. The trip to Xiamen aimed to see rather something in local context.

The four days trip was again a successful one as the Hong Kong camp personnel had a good experience visiting camps with special features. One of them characterized by hot spring and luxury guestrooms had a market focus on corporate training. The other one mixing of hot springs and adventure based counseling facility was built for school youth and general public.

The most impressed one to the Hong Kong camp personnel was a tea center, which demonstrated the transformation of local tea culture into leisure and camping activities.

Being brought up in Hong Kong that has been a place accultured by eastern and western culture, during their stay in the tea center, the camp personnel were amused by the art of tea drinking which is classically and quintessentially Chinese.

Tea brewing demonstration and tea tasting at Ten Fu Tea Garden Tea is drunk for health, and is poured as an offering to friends, and respect to the elderly or superiors. Gestures of pouring tea have special meanings of social manner. Tea may be as common as drinking with an everyday dim sum breakfast or in special occasion when it is given to the bride before marriage, or to guests at celebration and festival.

Camping programmes are always for life education and leisure learning. Creating a lifestyle product for companies and individuals, tea activity can be provided to campers as part of its programme contents. Children attending their school camp may try the practice of tea drinking. They can learn the technique of tea brewing and sample choice potions and learn the cultural meaning behind it. Promoting healthy diet in daily living, the children may try to drink tea as an alternative for picking soft drinks.

During the camp visit events, a training centre was witnessed to be built to the state-of-art but had been out of maintenance and underused, some camps were in nice condition but not that inspiring to the visitors. In comparison, an endogenous tea center, had demonstrated its success in making a difference among the camping and leisure industry. After returning to Hong Kong, the camp personnel might start thinking of something indigenous for their camping ways.

If you are interested to know more about the visit or to share your camping experience, please send mail to info@camping.org.hk

For information of the Camping Association of Hong Kong, China, please visit http://www.camping.org.hk

Source: Photos adapted from:
http://www.trip.longjia.com
http://www.riyuegu.com

 

Happy Camping and keep smiling
Jenny Bowker, ICF President

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