Leisure

Hangzhou is a city great for living. Great living means that you can, among other things, find nice places to go and activities to do for your leisure and entertainment. Numerous classical and elegant tea houses, stylish cafes, bars of western style, night clubs and disco halls, fitness clubs, hot springs and foot massage parlours have provided countless choices of leisure and entertainment in Hangzhou.

The locals lead a relaxing life. Their favourite past time remains strolling around the West Lake with their beloved in the moonlight, or playing or listening to music at the lake side.

The relaxing ambience in Hangzhou is easily felt by the many exquisite tea houses strewn across the city. Hangzhou has the largest number of tea houses - nearly 800 - and most brisk tea house business in the whole of China. This is attributable to the production of the famous Dragon Well (Longjing) tea in Hangzhou and hence the dominance of tea culture. It is little wonder that the national-ranking museum China Tea Museum is located in the city. For those interested in China's tea culture, you can't find a better destination than Hangzhou.

Some of the city's tea houses are wonderfully located in the lake area, overlooking the lake. Visitors can take in the beautiful lake while sipping over a cup of fragrant green tea. Some are set in a garden, or housed in classical buildings with refined decorations, evocative of the art ambience in ancient China.

Many of the tea houses serve snack buffet. Guests are treated to a wide selection of snacks and light food, ranging from fruit, candy, beans to congee and nuts. Time spent here in the company of friends cannot be more relaxing and enjoyable.

The coffee houses in Hangzhou are as impressive as those in Shanghai, most stylishly decorated. There are a few such coffee houses along Nan Shan road, which is one of the most pleasant roads in the city, with trees casting a pleasant shade along the lake. They have warm and quiet setting and provide broadband connection. You can bring your laptop computer here and watch DVD films, while sipping over a cup of nice coffee.

Also try those coffee houses in the lake area, including the very popular Starbucks. Occupying a quite corner overlooking the lake, and shaded by trees, the Starbucks at the lakeside off Nan Shan road, proves to be the most popular spot for expatriates and the elite in the town to hang out.

Hangzhou has a surprising amount of good little bars and clubs for a city of medium size. The city is currently producing some of China's best live musicians and any night out on the town here will encounter either a planned or impromptu "jamming session". It makes for a great atmosphere in the bars and clubs. Some of these bars are so called campus bars, which are characterized by their avant-garde music, decoration and playing of rock music. They organize live performances every weekend, including those by foreign students.  

It is no exaggeration. You can enjoy performance of music and opera in Hangzhou every day, and it is all for FREE! At the lakeside, between Nan Shan Road and Hu Bin Road, there are always musical performances. You can easily find four to five groups of people performing at the same time, not far from each other. Performance of Yue Opera, the second most popular opera in China originated from this region, to the accompaniment of traditional musical instruments, is most common. Though these are amateur performances, you will be surprised to see how professional they can get, as shown by the crowd gathered around and the applause they give from time to time.

There is no bag or box to collect money from the audience. For the performers, it is satisfying enough that they can perform and there is always an audience out there.

You can spend a whole morning or afternoon, or even a whole day, listening to and watching these performances. Maybe an eye-opener for many of you.

West Lake and its surrounding area are ideal for cycling with its ambience of romance and relaxation, and natural beauty. Imagine cycling along willows-lined lakeside and the wind blowing in to your face, carrying you the intoxicating fragrance of sweet osmanthus, the city flower in full blooms in autumn. 

There are bikes for rental in the lake area and from the hotels. Bike rental is about RMB10 per hour with RMB300 as deposit. You can also consider buying a bike in China. Bikes are sold at a price as low as RMB170.

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