Bangladesh stayed with me in flavours, fabrics and faces
Looking back on a 2025 journey through Dhaka, Bagerhat and the Sundarbans: street food, clothes made by local tailors, and the people I remember.
Read the story↗JESSIE WENJIE LI · GLOBAL LIFESTYLE CURATOR
The World
Through
Jessie’s Eyes.
102 countries, and a continuing curiosity about how people live. Journeys through belief, history, food, art and the everyday, seen through a traveller’s eyes and a background in hospitality.
Explore the journal↗THE WORLD THROUGH JESSIE’S EYESCULTURE · HERITAGE · FOOD · WAYS OF LIVING102 COUNTRIES & COUNTING
FIVE WAYS INTO THE WORLD
Follow a curiosity.
The same journey can cross several themes. Begin with the question that interests you.
01 / 2 STORIES
Sacred Journeys
Sacred places are also lived places. I am interested in how belief, history and ordinary life meet in a mosque, a pilgrimage town or a place of remembrance.
Explore this theme ↗02 / 5 STORIESWorld Heritage & Civilizations
World Heritage opens a conversation about why a place matters. My writing connects that history with what I actually see, how a place is presented and the lives around it.
Explore this theme ↗03 / 5 STORIESRituals & Living Traditions
Festivals, inherited practices and everyday rituals reveal different ways of making meaning. I write about encounters with curiosity, while keeping personal feelings distinct from claims about a whole culture.
Explore this theme ↗04 / 5 STORIESCulinary Cultures & Terroir
A hotel dinner, a market stall and a meal made with a host can all tell a story. I follow food into kitchens, markets and places of origin, paying attention to people as well as taste.
Explore this theme ↗05 / 9 STORIESArchitecture, Art & Designed Living
I look at the places we inhabit: hotels, museums, streets, gardens and spaces of rest. A background in hospitality adds practical questions to my curiosity about design and everyday life.
Explore this theme ↗A PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW
The Jessie Edit
Stories of people, places and ways of living, selected from my travel archive.
Following Geoffrey Bawa: a journey through Sri Lanka’s living spaces
A hotel founder’s journey through houses, gardens, dining rooms and coastal hotels, asking what makes a place feel alive.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
Why AlUla became the desert I wanted to return to
Nabataean tombs, contemporary art, a mirrored building and a long lunch: the layers that made AlUla much more than a landscape to me.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
Walking my own pilgrimage: Koyasan and the Kumano Kodo
Meditation, forest paths, hot springs, fellow travellers and a missed last bus: finding my own pace on Japan’s sacred routes.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
What Jeju’s three UNESCO identities actually mean
Biosphere reserve, natural World Heritage and global geopark recognise different things. Understanding them changes how I look at an island.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
A ranking brings me in. A story makes me stay.
An evening at The Flying Hog, JW Marriott Jeju, and a hotel founder’s view of what makes hospitality memorable.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
Our mother-and-daughter journey through Middle-earth
New Zealand in 2015: Hobbiton, museums, a knitted teapot cosy and a few adventures that helped me recognise the pleasures I wanted to return to.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
My first mixed-gender sauna experience at Vabali, Berlin
A July 2021 visit, a tightly held towel, and a garden of timber, water and quiet: what I remember about bodies, culture and the design of rest.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
Travel well. Spend wisely. Experience deeply.
Why I call myself a Smart Tourist, and why a luxury hotel and a simple guesthouse can belong in the same journey.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
From seeing places to creating one
Garden Villa Collection connects my experience as a traveller with the practical work of creating a hospitality space.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
Jeju, at walking pace
My first visit to the island, with time for the coast, local streets, museums and everyday life.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
Alone in Kyrgyzstan, remembering a bowl of noodles
Lakes, yurts and mountain roads—and the evening I spent more than an hour learning to pull noodles with my guesthouse host.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
A room with more than one life
At Garden Villa Collection, looking back at the glasshouse, the terrace and the everyday work of making space for people.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
THE WIDER JOURNEY
102 countries.
Many ways to live.
From mother-and-daughter travels in New Zealand to Berlin’s bathing culture, the Silk Road and the Pacific islands: selected chapters from a continuing journey.
Explore by destination↗A world of chapters
2014–2026 · SELECTED JOURNEYS
Read by destination
Destinations with stories already in the journal. The wider travel timeline continues below.
THE EXPLORER · THE CURATOR · THE WRITER
Hello, I’m Jessie.
I’m Jessie Wenjie Li, a global lifestyle curator based in Hangzhou, China. I have travelled to 102 countries, exploring the connection between places, people and everyday life.
My background combines international hotel management, tourism planning research and cross-cultural projects. I hold a master’s in International Hotel Management from the University of Queensland and undertook doctoral research in tourism planning at Peking University.
I enjoy a beautifully considered hotel and a small local restaurant. I’m interested in how a space feels, what an experience means and what makes a place worth remembering.
More about my work and perspective ↗Jessie Wenjie Li
102Countries visited
HospitalitySPACE & EXPERIENCE
EN / 中文Bilingual writing
JESSIE’S TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY
Travel Well. Spend Wisely.
Experience Deeply.
I call myself a Smart Tourist. I choose according to the quality of the experience, its setting and its value to the journey.
Read my philosophy↗FOR EDITORS, HOTELS & LIFESTYLE BRANDS
Good stories begin
with a conversation.
I welcome conversations with editors, hotels, luxury travel companies, restaurants and design or wellness brands. Let’s explore a story or experience with a clear point of view.
- 01Editorial commissions & bilingual features
- 02Hospitality visits & independent observations
- 03Experience curation & advisory
- 04Brand stories & cross-cultural projects
wenjie1972@googlemail.com
A collaboration starts with a shared brief. Editorial scope and any hosting or commercial relationship are agreed and disclosed for each project.
A collaboration starts with a shared brief. Editorial scope and any hosting or commercial relationship are agreed and disclosed for each project.