Spa and Meditation Travel

Gateway to China’s Three Gorges, Tong Jing Hot Springs Resort restores.

Story and Photos by Lee Daley.

Chongqing in China is well known worldwide as the gateway to the Three Gorges, the jumping off point for a three-day cruise on the Yangtze River. Chongqing is also renowned as the nation’s hot spring capital where those in the know can recover from a lengthy flight with a day or two of immersion in the region’s healing waters. Arriving in the city, my husband and I headed to Tong Jing Hot Springs Resort for a soothing soak in the mineral-rich waters that are only part of the perks in this idyllic landscape. Set in a tranquil bamboo forest, surrounded by natural beauty and clean air, an hour away from the busy city, we soon felt one with nature. Bliss awaited.

 

 

Tongjing Hot Springs Resort – a Three Gorges diversion on the Yangtze River in China

Story and Photos by John Sundsmo.

Travelers to China often tour to Beijing (one of the oldest cities in the world; the Great Wall), Xi’an (Terracotta warriors), Chongqing (Three Gorge Yangtze Cruise) and Shanghai (The Bund), but they usually miss the hidden beauty of a rest-stop resort located just outside Chongqing city. Well known to locals for centuries in the Ba-Yu region as Wuling Wonderland, Tongjing Hot Springs Resort is an award winning hot springs spa resort. Located about a half hour drive (30km/19 miles ) from the Chongqing Jiangbei International airport (CKG) near the confluence of the Yangtze and Yulin rivers, the natural hot springs and mountainous landscape of the “Small Three Gorges” are a treat for the senses and especially the tired-traveler-body. My wife and I stopped there for a little overnight restorative jetlag R&R after the long flight from the US West Coast (13 hrs.) and before a Three Gorges Yangtze River tour.

 

 

Rancho La Puerta to Enrich, Relax and Renew

Rancho La Puerta, Mexico, Patio off the dining room where many choose to relax during lunch at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Baja California, MexicoStory and Photos by Stephanie Levin

Located at the base of mystical Mount Kuchumaa range, Rancho La Puerta defies definition. Some hail it a holistic healing environment; others define it as a bounty of beauty and relaxation, and those who sojourn yearly simply refer to it as “the Ranch.” La Puerta means door in Spanish, and the moment one wends through the mix of intoxicating beauty–meadows carpeted with fragrant flowers, giant oaks flanking perfectly placed pathways and velvety, verdant lawns–you realize that you have walked through a door like no other; a cherished experience you want to tuck into your suitcase and carry home.

 

 

 

South Africa’s Buddhist Retreat Center

Buddhist retreat, South AfricaStory and Photos by Wanda Hennig

The Buddhist Retreat Center in rural South Africa has been ranked among the top ten on CNN’s “Best Meditation Retreats” list. To visit is to see why. For starters, the BRC has arguably the best vegetarian “table” in South Africa. Think of a lunch of dreamily light shepherd’s pie made with brown lentils, sweetly spiced caramelized baby onions, tenderly crisp roasted veggies and a sprout salad ablaze with orange nasturtiums, much of this picked, fresh, from a bountiful organic veggie garden and what’s not home-grown, brought in from farms in the area.

 

 

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