Hangzhou

I'm off to Hangzhou to study for 2 months - can someone please provide the down-low on Hangzhou. Good bars, nice routes to jog etc - I'm looking for any input whatsoever - also if I want to head to Shanghai - could I go in the afternoon and have the option to come back late?

Thanks alot.

Hangzhou is around 2 hours from Shanghai by train, could be a little less on the fastest trains. Take that into consideration.
Cheers!

#1 is right, 2 hour and a little more for express trains, and around 3 and a half for regular trains. The area around the West Lake is a park, and there are joggers around there. The view of the West Lake is great and it is pretty green when I went in July. For Shanghai, you can go in the morning, have a lunch in Shanghai, explore around, and come back after dinner. If you are going to be in Shanghai this summer, let me know and maybe we can get together for a drink or something.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the info - I'll be there from May to July 1st - If you are there I will meet you for a drink - I'm going with 22 other students and I will need a break from the group! I may have more question as the time nears. I hope you don't mind but I mind private message you for more questions.

Thanks

There are a lot of Bars in Rd.NanShan around the west lake.

look at the lp map and guide. Hangzhou is a beautiful city. there is a night market on hefeng lu near wushan (i think its part of the old street). catch the sunset from hubin lu near the expensive hotels or on the shores of liulang wenying park. currently, the museum, tea museum, and silk museum are free. generally all the places listed in lp are worthy of your time.

then there is longjing tea village, after seeing the unspectacular spring, go back to the sign that says longjing tea village, walk down the road (down the hill) until it ends and turns into a trail. there is a beautiful valley with tea leaf plants growing everywhere in between trees and on hillsides. when i did the 45-50 minute downhill walk the water in the creek next to the trail was a light blue. at the end of the walk, you get to the misty nine creeks park which you can check out if you want. there will be taxivans that are cheap here and can take you back to the main area of the city. or you canwalk another 30 - 40 minutes to the main road near a pagoda and a city bus station

oh, and in every city you go to. get a tourist map and a chinese map. the chinese maps have bus routes on them.

i forgot to add:

since you will be there for a while, dont forget to check out suzhou. there are 9 major gardens, tiger hill, and zhouzhuang

dont be afraid to assert you position in the mobs trying to buy food, bus tickets, and whatever.

hangzhou is by far the best city in china by far and lonely planet does not give it enough credit its small enough to handle and not nearly as polluted as beijing or shanghai (which is a real disappointment) and its go the best lake and gardens that ive been to in china. the first time i went i fell in love with it its chic sophisticated and expensive but who cares

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>there is a night market on hefeng lu near wushan (i think its part of the old street)<hr></blockquote>That's Hefang Jie, also known as Qing He Fang, runs east from Wushan Guangchang (Wushan Plaza). If you walk there from West Lake, the nearest would be directly east from Liu3 Lang4 Wen2 Ying1, about 1+ km, mostly along quite an uninteresting road.
#3, I'll be in Hangzhou on 12-13/5 for my birthday weekend. :) Will be the 2nd time, last year I did the same. Let me know if you're coming to Shanghai and I'll be happy to meet up too. :)
Cheers!

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>then there is longjing tea village, after seeing the unspectacular spring, go back to the sign that says longjing tea village, walk down the road (down the hill) until it ends and turns into a trail. there is a beautiful valley with tea leaf plants growing everywhere in between trees and on hillsides. when i did the 45-50 minute downhill walk the water in the creek next to the trail was a light blue. at the end of the walk, you get to the misty nine creeks park which you can check out if you want. there will be taxivans that are cheap here and can take you back to the main area of the city. or you canwalk another 30 - 40 minutes to the main road near a pagoda and a city bus station<hr></blockquote>#5, kudos to you, you've discovered one of my favourites in Hangzhou, and one of my best-kept "secrets".
The "unspectacular spring" is Hupao.
From the Longjing tea village, you actually walk down to Jiu Xi (Nine Creeks). I think there ARE really 9 streams that you cross on the trail.
The pagoda near the end is Liuhe Ta (Six Harmonies Pagoda), but you'll reach the road and bus station before that.
The bus back to town at the end is K4.
Cheers!

i still think meijiawu beats the longjing route. the meijiawu town itself, while pleasant, is a bit too disney. but if you go to the farmhouses set back from the area across the street from the entrance to Yunxi Scenic Area, you can have a great homestyle meal on a deck set amidst the tea terraces, back behind the entire meijiawu area where it is much quieter (and cheaper).

From Yunxi, if you don't mind stairs, you can walk all the way up through the bamboo forest to the temple at the top, and this trail will wrap around to the 9 creeks trail mentioned above (or you can head north/east to longjing - this part of the trail system mentioned above makes complete circle around the ridges)