There isn’t a whole load to say about karting. We’ve all done it and loved it. Adrenalin, focus, aggression, speed, revenge, thrills, fun. It does bring out all the basic emotions. Some tracks are better than others, and this Hangzhou one is pretty good. The karts are not particularly quick, (which actually benefits most of us – stay on the track a bit longer) and the track is tight, so going at the speed of sound isnt really an option anyway. The karts are also armoured, so nobody minds a little bit of Dodgems style driving, and the karts all go pretty much the same pace which keeps it properly competitive.

F2 Karting in Hangzhou is busy, and so a Saturday afternoon does mean a bit of queuing. There is pool in the bar and a supermarket for cold drinks between kart battles, and in any case you’ll probably want a break between bouts. Or try in the week – the place stays open until after midnight.

Tickets are 60Y for 6 minutes, and you get 6 tickets for 300Y. Track rental is 4000Y an hour

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.