Zen Quest Adventures is leading the way in exploring the frontiers of experiential learning. Our team combines research from a cross section of professional disciplines including outdoor education, sports science, nutrition, education methodology, psychology, public policy and philosophy, to provide interdisciplinary learning in the outdoors. This solid academic base combined with our extensive experience allows us to provide our clients with tailor made programs.

Our team is composed of a unique group of professionals from all walks of life. We combine the skills of accomplished academics and experienced outdoor professionals to deliver programs that are physically, mentally and psychologically challenging; all conducted in safe, fun environments. These programs are designed by a combination of outdoor professionals, adventure specialists and strength and conditioning coaches. On many occasions they work closely together with professors who have extensive experience in running service learning and research programs in China and around the globe. Read more about measuring outdoor education and our ideas for helping it  gain grater recognition.

Dr. Chan Choi Lai, a consultant of Zen Quest Adventures, was a Hong Kong University tenured professor who has pioneered drama education and service learning/community outreach programs since the 1980s. Dr Chan then went on to found the Holistic education centre at Baptist University in Hong Kong. The university conducts yearly service learning programs to impoverished areas in Gansu, Yunnan and the Philippines.

Wang Xiaoli is currently a Post Doc researcher at the prestigious Qinghua University rural development department. A very knowledgeable academic with extensive research on women’s rights in China as well as rural development policy since 1979.

In this era of the global village, Chinese Mandarin is quickly becoming one of the most important business languages. The proficiency of both Chinese and English means that students can communicate effectively with more than half of the world. When you partake in a Zen Quest expedition, you can rest assured that there will be plenty of opportunity to sharpen your tongue in both spoken languages. Most of our staff are bilingual with a solid understanding of both languages and the cultural and historical underpinnings in the development of both English and Chinese.

Accommodation
Accommodation is easy to find in and around the area with many different places to stay and a multitude of service standards. However if you would like to spend time enjoying the wonderful landscape away from the city without the hustle and bustle of the West Street crowds, then we like to recommend The Mountain Retreat. Both as a venue for our corporate, university and youth programs and to individuals who are looking to spend time in the nicer parts of the Yangshuo Countryside.

Travelling and outdoor sports
Yangshuo has long been on the popular tourist trail so everything from getting here, finding places to stay, finding things to eat or activities to do is easy. Even if you are the type of traveller who dose not like easy and is looking for an adventure, then it’s not far to get away into the surrounding villages and see rural life some of it still unchanged from thousands of years before; like the water buffaloes ploughing the fields and houses made of mud bricks.
If outdoor adventure is what your after then Yangshuo also offers a grate range of outdoor sports with rock climbing taking first place. Rock climbing started here in 1992 with Todd Skinner establishing the first routes at Moon Hill. Now there are over 500 routes with more being developed every year and a year round climbing community. In addition to rock climbing there are: cycling, kayaking, rafting, trekking, caving and many other activities.

For more information on Yangshuo visit: thatsyangshuo.com a site dedicated to providing everything you ever wanted to know about Yangshuo and its managed by us!

The wonderful video showing the beauty of Yangshuo at the top of this page was created by: Daan van Reijn, you can find his Youtube Channel here:

Vitalising the moral compass that is inherent in your child through service and self mastery

The focus of the Zen Quest servant leadership program lies in cultivating our students’ intrinsic need and passion in serving others.

Service is an umbrella term that encapsulates the very essence of passion, of initiating an idea and have the confidence and ability to carry the idea out into fruition. The motivation for doing so is to better the lives of others, the methodology in achieving so will require vision, communication, investment and above all camaraderie and shared passion. 

The ultimate aim is to help students develop their moral compass and let their actions be guided by it.

Character building through living in the outdoors

Breaking past self limiting beliefs through adventure

Serving others through cooperative teamwork

Servant leadership is a progressive program. It begins often begins with a  trek. Here students will be taken out of their comfort zone and must learn to live and cooperate with others. They will have to set up camp, cook for themselves and carry equipment and delegate tasks within their teams. They will be taught orienteering and map reading skills to help them navigate the terrain.
The purpose of this exercise is to build up their self-reliance, foster an attitude of team work and increase their self confidence through the accomplishment of a progressively difficult task.

Breaking past self limiting beliefs
We believe that all humans have unlimited potentials, and the hinderance for reaching it comes from self limiting beliefs. We use tools such as climbing, abseiling and gorge walking to help students realise that fear can be overcome. If we can have courage, garner focus and let go of self limiting beliefs we can achieve anything we put our minds into.

The 5th and 6th day of our program will focus on adventure elements that will take students to some of the most rustic regions in Yunnan. They will participate in rock climbing, abseiling and map making.

Community service
Have a real life impact by bringing development, technology or education to rural communities in China.

With projects like building greenhouses, servicing the local temple and putting together lesson plans for village school children, this program seeks to cultivate student leadership through the service to others, while also teaching them to effectively influence and motivate members within their team.

ETM's:

Solar 1- Build interest, enthusiasm and understanding of small solar systems by learning how to build solar panels that can charge a smart-phone on a desktop lamination machine.

Smart heating - Build and test micro heating units, flowerpot heaters, rocket stove heaters and others. In this lesson students learn about space heaters and build them with flowerpots, small candles, tin-cans tinfoil and other simple components. We can then measure their heat output and see who can build the most efficient heater.

Micro hydro- Build an electricity generator out of an old washing machine to power an off the grid home. This is a fairly advanced lesson where you learn how to convert an old washing machines motor and drive train into a water wheel for electricity generation.

Stone master- Build a dry stone wall, our technology classes don't just teach modern techniques and technology, they also bring to life forgotten and traditional crafts which we believe have just as much relevance now as they have ever had.

Micro climate- Build a micro green house with Bamboo and PVC sheeting to grow year round food.

These are just some examples of the ETM modules we have on offer, we are constantly developing new and exciting environmental technology and traditional craft workshops to add to our unique blend of outdoor education and environmental technology programmes.

Contact usfor more information and book your ETM project today.

If you found this page you are probably wondering how can this peace of woven parachute cord (paracord) help me survive in an emergency situation?

The reason is that with some string you can make many things and fix even more. Paracord is tested to hold a load of 249kg (550 lb.) This makes it strong enough for holding very heavy weights but at the same time is light and portable. The cord can be taken apart and the thin fibres inside used independently. Each Zen Quest survival bracelet contains at least 2.4m of full strength military grade paracord.

Splint
You can use the cord to hold a splint in place or even the whole bracelet as a splint.

Fishing Line
The thin fibres in side the cord can be pulled out and used as fishing line.

Unscrewing nuts and bolts!
Wrapping the cord around a tight nut with a loose end on each side, yank it back and forth to break the nut loose.

Eben's interests and skills are spread across a wide range of areas from canoeing and rock climbing to web design and the study of Chinese. Eben is from the UK and graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in 2005 with an Honours degree in Outdoor Leadership.

In 2006 Eben visited China for the first time as an Employee of a small outdoor company in Hong Kong. By 2008 Eben had moved to China full time to run a small Rock Climbing company in Yangshuo South China. In the spring of 2010 Eben went freelance so he could have more time for travelling and going on expeditions. Since then Eben has become one of the founders of Zen Quest - a pioneering outdoor company set to change the face of outdoor education in Asia.

Eben's skills include: the instruction and facilitation of: Rock climbing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Trekking, mountaineering skills, advanced rigging for group abseils, tyrolleans and access work and route development.

Logistics and expeditions management in China.

Web Design and IT: Arch Linux, OSX, Drupal CMS.

Hobbies include: Photography, Travel, 3D printing, Drones.

Visit Eben's own Website: couloursofdiscovery.com for more information about Eben.

Find me around the internet: links.

As part of our consultancy and pro services we offer journalists, scientists, film makers, and media teams logicical and technical support throughout China and the Asia Pacific region.

No matter if your are a one man band looking for help accessing a wild flower meadow in Yunnan or a full size media production team heading to this side of the world, give us a shout and let us help you access the inaccessible.

Young people growing up in this part of the world have a high pressure school system. Virtually all the emphasis both at home and in school is on classroom learning. Although the classroom is and always will be the backbone of school education, to build well rounded members of society it's critical to engage students with real world experiences. As we discovered above, outdoor education is an all encompassing term covering many types of adventure and outdoor provision. But maybe even more important are the tools used in its delivery.
Many people are familiar with the term experiential education, and environmental education. Experiential education as defined by the Association for Experiential Education is:
“a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities.” www.aee.org

The best environments for experiential learning often involve escaping the walls of the classroom and using the wilderness to provide some of the most memorable and stimulating learning opportunities for students.
Environmental Education (as its name implies) aims to educate people about our natural environments. This again ties in perfectly with outdoor education; where learning about the environment is the goal and conducting structured learning in the outdoors (outdoor education) provide the necessary catalyst tying facts to real world experiences. But why stop there? Let's tie the outdoors, education and experiential education together. At Zen Quest Adventures we like to refer to this as holistic outdoor education or 'holistic education', a truly multifarious approach. We strive to get students involved in programs before they arrive by putting them in touch directly with local people to arrange their service projects. We also do our best to follow up on their learning when they return to school.

Fill in the form and see how Zen Quest can help your school to setup unique Microcampus opportunities in China.