TRAVEL: WINTER HANG-OUT
Travel: Winter Hang-out
January 20th, 2010Hangzhou is strictly for summer, right? Wrong, as Susie Gordon finds out.
Winter is the season when most people want to hibernate. Either that, or go somewhere warmer. The thought of venturing outside for any longer than is truly necessary brings the chills – literally. So you’ll think we’re mad to suggest a winter walking holiday in Hangzhou. The comforts of kongtiao and a warm duvet sound much more tempting, we know. But after a bracing trip to Zhejiang’s lake city, we have to sing the praises of an off-season outdoor holiday. It’s cheap, for one thing, which is a blessing after the excesses of the festive season. And it’s healthy. There’s nothing like crisp wind blowing off a lake to clear the cobwebs.
Getting to Hangzhou from Shanghai is easy. Just turn up at the Railway Station or Nan Zhan, buy your ticket, and hop on. Less than two hours later (depending on which train you take) you’ll be in Hangzhou. Since we were going budget, we booked to stay in the Wushanyi Youth Hostel. There are plenty of mid-range hotels in Hangzhou if you want something a little luxurious, but a private twin room in Wushanyi was pretty much hotel standard. That, plus their giant dog, made it a good choice. We paid 160 RMB a night for a twin room with ensuite. If you really want to slum it, dorm beds go for around 50 RMB per night. If you’re a true backpacking hardcore and have a hostel discount card, it’s 10 RMB cheaper.
Wushanyi Hostel is only ten minutes’ walk from the lake, so as soon as we’d dumped our bags we set off. Our itinerary was loose – get around the lake and up at least two mountains, obviously with breaks in between.
Even in winter, Hangzhou’s West Lake (Xi Hu) is stunning. Wreathed in mist with a weak sun casting ochre rays on the soft waves, it looked just as lovely as it does in summer, but with fewer tourists. Bliss. We started with a highly unimaginative coffee at the lakeside Starbucks at Xi Hu Tian Di then walked north-east, parallel to the main business district. Over the course of two hours, we skirted the lake to its northernmost extremity, and ended up at Shuguang Lu, singled out as “Bar Street” on the map. Here we stopped for some burritos and a beer at Maya (94 Baishaquan, Shuguang Lu曙光路白沙泉94号).
The next day we retraced our steps and bisected the lake on Su Di, one of three causeways that cross it. Frequented by joggers and cyclists (Hangzhou operates a bike rental system with drop off spots dotted around town – you see the red bikes everywhere) Su Di, built in 1189, offers panoramic views of the lake, with several cafés and restaurants along its three kilometers. It meets the shore at Nanshan Lu, close to a scenic park which has a pretty (fake) church and lots of rolling lawns. As lunchtime approached, we skirted the lake’s southerly edge on Nanshan and came to Omar Indian Kitchen (61 Nanshan Lu 南山路61号). The décor was charmingly kitsch (newspaper print table cloths, plush velvet sofas, and lounge music) but the food was fantastic, and not too expensive - around 40 RMB for a dish.
Hunger banished, we headed up to the Heavenly Wind (Tianfeng) temple at the top of Wu Shan. This beautiful building with its elaborately carved cornices is visible from just about everywhere in Hangzhou, and the views from the upper floors are textbook panoramic. The ancient mystique is thwarted somewhat by the modern elevators (which probably account for the 30 RMB entrance fee). As evening drew in, we took a taxi to the northern suburbs where we’d heard there was a new and unusual bar. Marquise (276 Wen'er Xi Lu文二西路276号) is part wine bar, part salon, and part antique bazaar. If you had an eccentric French spinster aunt, this is what her apartment would look like. Marquise sits between shops on an unassuming stretch of Wen’er and is run by a pair of jolly Chinese girls who have lived in Paris. There’s a cosy parlour with Sun King couches, a little shisha room, and a well-stocked bar. If we lived in Hangzhou, we’d make it our local.
After breakfast the next day, we walked from the hostel up Hefang Lu onto Zhongshan Nan Lu, which has undergone one of those quaint “ageing” makeovers made famous by our own dear Xintiandi. Just off the main drag is a snack street, with wooden stalls selling baozi, rou jia mo, noodles and other traditional xiao chi. The pedestrianised part of Hefang Lu is something of a tourist trap. At this time of year there are more tiger-themed knickknacks than you could shake a stick at, so we decided to go off-piste and walk down to the river.
Hangzhou’s Qiantang River isn’t lauded as one of the city’s highlights. To be honest, any body of water would take second fiddle to the lake, but we were curious nevertheless. We set off south on Yuhuangshan Lu, and navigated a truly unlovely stretch of road which took us under the mountain via a tunnel. (Walking over the mountain itself would have been more scenic, but we all know what they say about hindsight.)We emerged from the tunnel into the twelfth century, or so it seemed. Stretching out towards the buildings on riverside were acres of farmland – tranquil rice paddies, misty fields, ploughmen tilling the earth. The Ba Gua Tian (八卦田), or Eight Diagrams Field, is an intricate octagonal agricultural space designed using the principles of ba gua - the Taoist representation of interlinking concepts. It was laid out during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) to grow the emperors’ crops, and is now overseen by Hangzhou’s Research Institute of Crop Science. The best view is from the tea shop at the top of Yuhuang Mountain.
As it happened, we never made it to the river. We’re saving it for next time.
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