A good half of the bar is outside – large downstairs terrace and good outdoor space above lets you see out easily. The location is on the way back from the Qiantang River on the Hupao Road junction with Jiuyaoshan Tunnel and so makes a fitting stop on the way home from your Meijiawu bicycle trip. The pints came a little slow – that’s only important for the first pint I guess, but the first is the most important… And the din that is Hupao Road can be a little oppressive at first. But if you have been in China for more than a week I bet you can block that out with a little mental effort.

At night there is supposed to be a band and a good vibe.

On a Friday afternoon it was a peaceful place. The happy little teahouse was thriving with chirping oldies strewing watermelon seeds just about everywhere except the bowls provided. There was one table in the middle of a feast of very local looking Hangzhou food – hongshao rou, bamboo shoots, fish heads, the usual. The rape is in full bloom and behind it some pretty purple looking things that made me think of linseed, but probably wasn’t. On one edge of the field is the Farmers Calendar etched out in stone detailing all the growing seasons, the stars, moon, and probably pi to 28 decimal places (apparently that was invented here too). The calendar was invented by Wang Zhen and recorded in his book finished in 1313. You cant so easily make out the octagonal shape from down here on earth; my friend even had to ask why it was called bagua. She got a kick in the ribs for that. There was nothing to be done except climb the hill.

Not before a quick wander into Yuhuangshan Town (玉皇山) for cigarettes. I asked two or three people about the ‘other’ bagua. I was kinda hoping there would be hushed tones, embarrassed looks and fidgeting, signalling that my advanced investigative satellite research had uncovered some covered-over secret landing site or something, but I’m afraid to disappoint you. Nobody had any idea what I was going about. Where were my horns? (Or maybe this is a really hush-hush facility, an Eyes Wide Shut playground for local officials?)

Of course, you always end up paying. The park farm is free, but the whole mountain is not. Got ya! Mr. Legacy is grinning. It is just 10Y to enter Yuhuangshan Scenic park, and I guess somebody has to pay for carrying all those immense stair stones up the hill. The place is littered with grottoes and temples and pavilions, allowing you to peak at one step over the West lake, and next step over Qiantang River. In Ciyun Temple (慈云宫) a few angry looking demons guard over the ‘Long Life Vegetarian Noodle’ place. The boss wasn’t anywhere to be found…

At the top, just a 20 min easy climb, you come to Zilai Cave (紫来洞), and this spectacular view from the terrace. What can I say?

Not liking to go back the way I came, and smelling on the wind a faint, but so definitely there, pint at the bottom, we went down the other side into the Jiuyaoshan tunnel cutting, and lo and behold on the corner with Hupao Road, was Norway Woods Bar. (挪威森林酒吧) The sun was still up and the pint beckoning to go down. Cheers.

Whoever Mr. Guo Shilin was, he must have had some cash and guanxi. His house was built in 1851 and to have the pull to get a spot right on West Lake he would have pulled some strings. Big strings. The house has smallish living quarters and large gardens stretching in all maybe 100 metres along the lake. The style is very much East China garden, with rockeries, ponds stacked with Koi, windows that somehow look like mirrors – except you are not in the reflection, solitude, and views, some manicured, some natural. Guo’s place faces absolutely east, so the morning sun rising must have been spectacular. From his err breakfast terrace Guo would have seen the whole of Sudi Causeway, an expanse of water and felt a cool breeze.

These days Guo’s Villa is a part of the extensive garden parks of Hangzhou that surround much of the Lake. Of course Sudi is still there, and in the hazy distance Hangzhou is shimmering.

For first timers, the place is a little tricky to find, but it is right next door to the Tea Museum (Lake direction), and if you are turning up in the evening, you’ll find it hard to miss the wood buildings with huge green neon sign outside. There’ll be plenty of badly parked cars scattered around the main entrance. On the way in the din will increase and you’ll realise your effort to arrive late, or early so as to get a table has failed. This place is always full. You can book a table, but all that only really means is that you’ll jump the queue of those waiting who didn’t book. (Book anyway). The menu is on a blackboard and other miscellaneous notice boards littering the entrance and so there will be staff taking orders, delivering food, moving chairs and tables and herding guests onwards all going on in seeming chaos right there when you walk in. With a bit of luck you’ll also soon be herded through a series of rooms and verandas and companion ways to your table. On the way there’ll be fire pots burning, smells of dorian fruit being dismembered, the whiz of blenders making somebody some sort of fresh juice, weird looking toasted whole breads with ice-cream careering past, and when you make to your table, it’ll be clear to you that the chaos is only skin deep. The previous 12 guests haven’t yet put on their coats, but your setting is already spic and span.

Green Tea used to be a little more difficult to find when it was stuck up a mud track near Linyin Temple. The new one is heavily modeled from the last one, with the brick terracing, copious use of pine and batiques. The original Green Tea was a youth hostel and had a few youth-ish maybe hostel-ish trappings; a small pool, climbing wall. Some rooms too. The success was maybe a little too much for the local government who pulled down the building and turned it into tea fields. Sad irony in that.

Thomas, the owner is a bit of foodie. He travels much around China, and whenever he finds something he likes, he takes it back to Green Tea. If the chefs cannot make it according to his instructions, they are sent to the far-flung corner to learn how to make it. So keep an eye out for what the neighbours are eating or otherwise it is easy to miss something special. The core of the menu is based around the duck oven. Thomas cooks lots of things in the oven. Delicious pork belly of perfect succulence, spatchcocked chickens, leg or back of lamb. Fish. Maybe even some duck. It’s a real BBQ. There are other truly delicious things – the fish head in pickled chillies is a house special. And dont forget the booze. Qingmeijiu is baijiu flavoured with qingmei, or plum. It’s only served by the pint, so make sure you have a few hardies to drink it with you as it kicks like an angry mule. The hongmeijiu is a little less fundamentalist, but no less good. And the beer comes in kegs and miniature glasses, so you’ll quickly lose count over how many you’ve had. No harm in that.

The food is surprisingly superb, and the unusual offering of booze, combined with the disarming informality of Green Tea makes for a laid-back evening kick-off for two or three friends, or a gathering much larger. I don’t forget lunch, Green Tea is a great way to have lunch then settle back with some fresh tea and soak up a little afternoon sun.

It isnt the easiest place to find for the first time, so print out this map! If you are going south down Yanggongdi, take a right into Longjing Zhilu. Go over the T junction and on about 200 metres. It’s on the right, before the Tea Museum.

The resort in Lin’an County of the eastern Zhejiang province was the second attempt by local people to have a naturist tourist site. The first nude pool in Lin’an opened five years ago but was closed two weeks [...]

13 Jul 09 Posted in News

Xixi Wetland Art Museum // Hangzhou // China // Studio Pei-Zhu

Chinese studio Pei-Zhu has designed the Xixi Wetland Art Museum located in a rural nature preserved near Hangzhou, China. The concept stems from the interaction between building and nature. As leaves fall from trees they arrive naturally on the ground. The resulting form creates shelter against the earth. This design creates the genuine qualities of scattered, fallen leaves and shelter through five buildings.

via Xixi | archiCentral.

I like real guns that shoot real things that move – not too many people on the whole, although I must admit that desire has been there on occasion. So was a little skeptical about BB, but it was a mate’s Stag Party, there were 20 funny people going, so even if the BB was crap, it was going to be a guaranteed great afternoon. The first bottle of pastisse was gone by 11am, and in no time we were out at the ‘camp’. No joke, this place is on the edge of rather daunting looking military base. There was a Chinese (Xinjiang) style BBQ waiting for us and some more tepid beer, so by the time we got our camo gear, helmets and guns, we were definitely ready for some testosterone / alcohol fuelled violence.

Counter-Strike China has a wooded side of a hill, maybe 10 or 20 hectares with 5 game areas. The place was riddled with trenches, pill-boxes, guard towers and dugouts. Several paths slithered through the undergrowth and I could not help thinking of some of the scenes in Platoon or Apocalypse Now. 20 drunk guys with pretty realistic looking machine-guns helped.

We played 5 games, the usual “Get the Flag” or “Kill EVERYBODY” on two different game areas. Sweated a lot. Ripped our clothes. Got shot up. The Stag had a bright yellow plastic bag on his head, so everybody, including his team-mates made sure he got riddled every game. Focusing on not getting “killed” while running up and down hills is exhausting, but seriously good fun. Try it out one time.

You have to get on the National Road 320 to Fuyang. 15 minutes on from the ringroad keep an eye out for the petrol station on right. Turn in, follow dusty broken road up past military base and on up the hill to the top.

We took the cab up to Meiling Road tunnel, hopped out there and after a deep breath or two, headed up hill, muttering something like “tunnels are built for good reason”. Its a steep climb, but thankfully for this heavy smoker, not too long. It is also paved, so for you guys looking for the real outback, you might have ot go a little further afield. Maybe 20 minutes or so. Cresting the top is probably worth the effort; it is the ridge dividing Longjin Village from Meijiawu.

At this point you wanderer, you have a choice – the steep climb down into Longjin, or a short walk along the top of the hill, and the steep climb down into Xiaoyawu (小牙坞), or a slightly longer walk along the top and down into Meijiawu. Been to Longjin a lot of times, so headed off towards Xiaoyawu.

Frankly, it was a little bit of a disappointment. We followed the signs right off the main path and the steps fell off steeply; so far so good. But the din from below was getting louder and louder, a football match out here??? Unlikely. More likely it was a bunch of people who cannot enjoy the quiet. Sure enough, a beautiful quiet sunny Sunday afternoon wrecked by people who are unable to enjoy themselves without screaming, shouting, spitting and generally behaving like the spoilt inconsiderate wankers the Chinese seem to insist on being in front of people they do not know.

So on to Meijiawu, leaving behind that insensible din.

I have been to Meijiawu many times and always enjoy it. The same little restaurant is still there, never changing. The father daughter duo still serving up delicious local grub. They have a menu now, but that helps little – the best thing to do is ask what she has that’s special today. The baiqieji was still warm, the pumpkin leaves cooked just enough to leave a little crunch. Of course, in Meijiawu the local specialty is the ‘local chicken’ soup, but I have always found that ‘local chicken’ is a euphemism for serving up an undernourished over exercised and therefore chewy as bootleather wrinkly old granny of bird. Avoid, in my view.

Tea was delicious, the little stream floating past must be good for something, and by 4 o’clock we were waiting for the Y4 bus to drag our lazy asses back to the big smoke.

“Let longe Hyatt”. English isn’t his strongest suit. 45 minutes later, laptop and swimshorts (in hand) I am settling into a teak chair outside the Hyatt restaurant. It’s a bit early for a White Russian, but we had been drinking those the night before, and didnt really want to mix it up. And while English may not be my company’s forte, vodka, with small amounts of additives, is.

Back at home 5-star hotels and MacD get kind of lumped together – wouldn’t be seen dead in either. Sorry Hyatt; it’s not about food or service, but at home there are better ways to get either a burger, or a veal escalope on mushroom risotto. In Hangzhou however, I find myself frequently in Hyatt, and MacD. (Again, sorry Hyatt). Normally, of course, it isn’t just to laze around on the terrace all afternoon, being gently massaged by a few White Russians. Not much talking: little bit of Facebook (The wireless from the bar, Bellevue, upstairs is fast); sun soaking through for the first time since, err, September; loads of people wandering buy, some even worth looking at. All in all, a pretty relaxed way to spend the afternoon.

Followed by a swim and a sauna. Life can be good in Hangzhou.