Our Favorite Dining Experience in China ... at Hangzhou's Xihu State Guesthouse

If I’m allowed to pick just one favorite dining experience in China ... which includes the major culinary metropolises of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ... my vote would go to a certain restaurant in Hangzhou.

Mind you, I do consider myself a very picky foodie when it comes to Chinese food, and especially with traditional Chinese food. While I do have preferences towards time-honoured local favorites rather than wild fusion dishes, that’s still a LOT of restaurants to choose from. This place has to rank higher on my list than Beijing’s Dadong, Shanghai’s Fu 1088, or any of my beloved little eateries in Hong Kong. And I found it in Hangzhou.



The food is phenomenal to say the least -- here I had my best ever fresh-water fish AND my best ever eggplants, as well as two excellent shrimp dishes. While its cuisine alone would be enough to make a great meal, the best part awaits the diner yet. This place also happens to be situated upon a 36 hectare private garden forming arguably the most serene stretch of the West Lake, all for the exclusive enjoyment of its dining and lodging patrons. Interested yet?



Introducing the Ziwei Hall. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it. In fact most Hangzhou locals don’t know its name either, and simply refer to it as the restaurant inside the prestigious Xihu State Guesthouse. And what’s more ... many citizens see the army checkpoint at the entrance and still think it’s government-property and thus must be off-limits to civilians.



This is the ginormous former villa of a Qing Dynasty scholar and merchant, now converted into one of China’s top 5-star hotels. Chairman Mao stayed here almost every summer, as did Nelson Mandela once. But it’s most famous for hosting President Nixon on that historic first trip by a western leader in 1972, and for being the resident where Mao drafted the constitution of the People’s Republic. Being a State Guesthouse it does occasionally purge all civilian guests and get locked down, when China welcomes some foreign monarch or prime minister, or perhaps Kim Jong Un. Other times of the year though, it is open to civilians for lodging, lunch or dinner.



But here’s the trick to visiting the restaurant. Reservations are definitely recommended as i) the restaurant occasionally closes for private banquets, ii) they speak reasonable English anyway, and iii) it convinces the PLA soldiers guarding the security checkpoint that you’re not some random tourist sneaking in for pictures. So we called ahead, arrived on foot (easy 15 minutes walk from the popular gardens of Viewing-Fish-at-Flower-Harbour), and opted for lunch rather than dinner for an afternoon stroll in the sunshine.


Food Review: ZIWEI HALL at XIHU STATE GUESTHOUSE (Hangzhou)
Address: Yanggongdi 18, Xihu District, Hangzhou
Hours: 11:00 – 20:30
Website/Map: Official Site
Directions: There are two entrances, both guarded by security checkpoints. The north entrance is just south of Guo’s Villa, while the south entrance a 15 minute walk north of Viewing-Fish-at-Flower-Harbour. Just mention to the soldiers on duty that you’re going to "Ziweiting Restaurant." We passed through without even needing to show our passports.


We had no idea how vast the villa grounds were until we arrived -- twice we got lost looking for the restaurant, and once we were turned back from a dead-end by the friendly soldiers. It took us a good 10 minutes walk past elegant pavilions, manicured pine trees and ponds full of Koi fish before we finally arrived at a white building with a receptionist counter. That turned out to be the restaurant complex, strategically situated at the centre of the villa next to the lotus pond.



Reservation had its advantages, as they saved us a table by the floor-to-ceiling window facing the lotus pond. The service here had to be the smoothest and closest to international standards I've ever seen of any state-owned restaurant in China -- courteous, well-trained servers, an easy-to-use menu in the form of an iPad (with proper English translations!), and even a complimentary pot of Hangzhou’s Longjing Tea (Shanghai’s Fu 1088 charges RMB 80 a pot in comparison). Try getting this at any of the state-owned establishments in Beijing!



Frankly my expectations were quite high -- the cuisine of Zhejiang is considered one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China, and this particular place is widely reputed to be the best of Hangzhou, if not the entire Zhejiang. As a result I half-expected this meal to cost around RMB 500, and was surprised to see signature Hangzhou dishes such as Steamed Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy (Xihu Cuyu) for the family-friendly price of RMB 36. Pictured above is our choice of dishes as displayed on the iPad menu, though they ran out of Crabs in Fermented Wine and we switched to Drunken Live Shrimps instead.



Now I'm crazy about Sashimi. I'm also crazy about shrimp, to the point of traveling to Kanazawa a few years back in part for a taste of the tiny but extremely sweet White Shrimp (Shiroebi in Japanese). I didn't expect to find White Shrimp (Baixia in Chinese) of a completely different variety in Hangzhou, also served completely raw. And not just raw, but ALIVE.

That's right. The tentacles still MOVED at our table. This is the Eastern Chinese tradition of Qiangxia, or literally Wine-Choked Shrimp (my translation), where live shrimp are drenched in a marinate of strong liquor to stun, sterilize and flavor, all at the same time. To eat, simply twist off the head and squeeze the meat out from the tail end, a la toothpaste. Sorry if I'm making this too graphic.

The flesh was quite sweet, though not as sweet as my expectation of shrimps this fresh, and certainly nowhere close to Shiroebi. I understood then why the dish needed so much seasonings and minced garlic, as these freshwater shrimp lack the briny taste of their saltwater counterparts that helps accentuate the sweetness of the meat. That said, I have no complaints about this dish though. These were still very good shrimp, and I certainly couldn't have asked for anything fresher.



For entrees we selected two of the most representative dishes in Hangzhou Cuisine, but at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of flavors -- starting with the extremely light and delicate Longjing Shrimp, then moving onto the heavily vinegared sauces of Steam Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy.

At RMB 108 the Longjing Shrimp (Longjing Xiaren) was justifiably the most expensive dish, as each of the 80 or so small freshwater shrimp had to be meticulous peeled and deveined by hand, then lightly kneaded to achieve the smoothest texture. The preparation of these shrimp was top notch: smooth to the tongue with a light coating of eggwhite-marinade, and perfectly crisp to the bite. Unlike some of the Longjing Shrimp I had in the past, the Longjing tea leaves here was added as a final seasoning rather than an active ingredient in the stir-frying, thus preserving the bitterness of tea as a palate cleanser against the slight oiliness of the dish. To be fair the shrimp meat did taste a little too oily at first, but the ideal balance would be achieved after a dip in the sweet vinegar.

That was good, but it's only starting to get even better.



Introducing the best fresh-water fish I’ve ever had outside of Unagi dishes, and this is coming from a guy who hates most fresh-water fishes for that repulsive, pond-raised stench known as Tushengwei to the Chinese, Dorokusai to the Japanese, and Friggin’ Muddy Taste in my kitchen. Known to the locals as “West Lake Vinegared Fish,” this Steamed Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy arrived on a monstrous plate, halved lengthwise and smothered in a thick sauce of aged vinegar and red cane sugar. On any other day the grass carp and I are sworn enemies ... usually its Muddy Taste would be so intensely disgusting that I’d refuse to share the same table with a pot of Grass Carp Congee. But this was the most famous dish of Hangzhou, and prepared by supposedly the best restaurant in Hangzhou. I know I’d regret it if I didn’t at least try, perhaps just for a pea-sized nibble.

But this was sooooo good. So good, that I couldn’t even recognize it as a grass carp without that characteristic muddiness. Perhaps the sharp, complex acidity of aged Zhejiang vinegar had something to do with it, or perhaps it was some sort of fermented rice wine marinade, or the fish itself, or maybe some super secret technique passed down from the grandmaster chef for Chairman Mao. Whatever it was, it removed all traces of the unpleasant fresh-water flavor and turned the fish into something as enjoyable to me as a saltwater grouper. Miraculous ... Shenhuqiji ... was the word that came to mind.

But just as miraculous was the price of RMB 36 (CAD$5.7) for such a massive fish, expertly prepared by a restaurant which was, apparent to me by this point, clearly among the best in Eastern China. This lunch was going really well with each dish progressively outperforming the previous, and we’re still not finished yet!



Now THIS. This was truly, absolutely the best dish of the meal. My wife, the eggplant lover, picked this unassuming dish of homey eggplants deep-fried in an XO Sauce-infused batter. The flavor here far surpassed any eggplant either of us had ever tried -- soft, delectable eggplants in a perfectly golden batter, with the umami taste and hint of spiciness from the dried scallops and chili peppers in the XO Sauce. And just like top quality Tempura, it came without any hint of excess oiliness at all. The price was again unbelievably cheap for a 5-star hotel, though I would have gladly paid 3 times the price for our best eggplants ever.



We finished off with a bowl of Noodles in Hangzhou Style, known as Pianchuan’er in the local dialect (which I have no clue what it means). It was almost identical, in both ingredients and flavor, to what is called "Noodles with Pickled Mustard Greens and Shredded Pork" in Hong Kong. It's somewhat back-to-earth after all the extraordinary dishes we had, but that’s okay. This was already our favorite meal of our entire 17-day journey.



Making our best lunch even better was an after-lunch excursion in the Guesthouse's immaculate classical gardens, and a romantic stroll along its own private shoreline of the West Lake, free from any tourist crowds or amplified megaphones. Remember that this villa was off-limits to commoners, let alone foreigners like us, only a generation ago, and you’ll see how much we enjoyed this rare peek inside the mystique of a “State Guesthouse.” After all, I don’t think I’ll get invited by the Chinese Premier to Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse anytime soon.



These were easily our most pleasurable 3.5 hours in Hangzhou, or perhaps anywhere in China. As we exited through the entrance on the Guo’s Villa side, a signage of "No Access for Wedding Photos" reminded us once again of how fortunate we were to tour and to have one of our most memorable meals at such an exclusive location. At a price no more expensive than a family steakhouse in Canada, I’m sure that I’d be here a couple times a month, if only I worked (or retire!) in Hangzhou.

Bill for Two Persons

Live Drunken White Shrimp	RMB 68
Longjing Shrimp	RMB 108
Steamed Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy	RMB 36
XO Sauce Crispy Eggplant	RMB 26
Noodle in Hangzhou Style	RMB 28
Fruit Platter	FREE
15% Service Charge	RMB 39.9
TOTAL	RMB 306 (CAD$48.6)

A Full Day on the West Lake of Hangzhou

With only two nights and one full day in Hangzhou, we decided to skip all other sights and surrounded ourselves with Hangzhou's one genuine world class attraction. This was the playground of bureaucrats and literati in Imperial China, and heralded as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in modern times. Imitated everywhere in China but never surpassed, this is the one and only West Lake of Hangzhou.



If you have enough time for only one lake in China, this would be my pick. Some China experts may frown at my suggestion -- foreign tourists often do the obligatory cruise expecting a wildly scenic trip and come away slightly disappointed. But that's completely missing the point IMHO. The West Lake is simply so much more.



Yes the natural scenery isn't bad, but I've seen a lot of prettier places even within the borders of China. What propels the West Lake to the pantheon of China's tourist attractions is definitely not the lake itself, but 2000 years of high culture refined by the literati of the ancient region of Jiangnan, or South of the Yangtze. The West Lake is so entrenched into the Chinese culture that you'll see its influence everywhere, if you look closely.



Take out any crinkled One Yuan bill out of the pocket, and you'll see the famous image of the West Lake's Three-Pool-Mirroring-The-Moon on the back. Sit down at any teahouse from Hong Kong to Shanghai to Beijing, and you'll likely see West Lake's Longjing Tea featured prominently on the menu. Walk into any traditional opera performance and you may see the West Lake painted in the backdrop -- after all two of the Four Great Folk Legends of China are set on the West Lake. This isn't just some body of water -- it's interweaved into the heart and soul of Chinese culture.



Marco Polo arrived in the 13th Century and declared Hangzhou the most splendid city in the world, which was no small acclaim coming from a traveler from Venice at the height of its maritime power. It was during these medieval times when Hangzhou was China’s cultural capital, and the West Lake the muse of the literati in poetry and prose. In fact two of China’s great poets, Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo, built the two long causeways on the West Lake when each served as governor of Hangzhou, several hundred years apart.



So we booked ourselves into one of the closest hotels to the lake shore to maximize our time for evening walks, and diligently set out at 09:00 in the morning to discover our own favorite corners of the West Lake. For the sake of flexibility we simplified our itinerary to only two spots: the Xihu State Guesthouse for lunch, and the Guo's Villa, both being on the western shore of the lake. The route we took at the end of the days was:

Hotel - Yigongyuan Park (walk) - Three-Pools-Mirroring-the-Moon (boat) - Viewing-Fish-at-Flower-Pond (boat) - Lunch @ Xihu State Guesthouse (walk) - Guo’s Villa (walk) - Yuehu (walk) - Gushan Park (walk) - Dinner @ Lou Wai Lou - Broken Bridge - Wushan Night Market (taxi) - Hotel (walk)



We started the morning on the 25-minute boat ride to the Three-Pools-Mirroring-the-Moon, a historic island of classical gardens so carefully manicured that one could draw parallels with great Japanese gardens such as Kanazawa's Kenroku-en. But the winding paths, pine trees and fiery maples surrounding the inland lake are where the similarities end. IMHO this island is one of the best illustrations of the subtle differences between Chinese and Japanese gardens, or ... I would venture to say, Chinese vs. Japanese philosophy towards nature in general.



You see ... the 400-year-old island is entirely artificial. Within the ring-shaped island is another lake, and within the small lake lies another even smaller island. One can see the crazy amount of efforts taken by medieval engineers just to create this miniaturized version of the West Lake within the West Lake. There is this great desire to cultivate a scenery of harmonious existence between mankind and nature, not unlike in theory to the ancient engravings of calligraphy and pavilions at the precarious cliffs of Huashan Mountain. Now compare this to the the desire to cultivate nature in Japanese gardens such as Kenroku-en. Yes the Japanese also put a lot of effort to tame nature and achieve their picture-perfect gardens (see the Adachi Garden for instance), but not to the extent of deliberately integrating the mark of mankind into the landscape.



Our next stop was the southwestern shoreline of the lake known as Viewing-Fish-at-Flower-Pond. This large, rambling garden used to be extremely unpopular when the government charged RMB 40 for entrance, but has now become a mandatory stop for all tour buses after becoming free-of-charge. Don't believe the tranquility you see in the photo, as the whole place was full of rowdy domestic tour groups. That's okay though -- we're only passing through on our way to the real destination ...



This is the most worthwhile of all attractions on the West Lake, IMHO, except it's arguably not an attraction at all. The Xihu State Guesthouse is a grand, state-owned hotel possessing one of the only stretches of private shoreline on the lake. There are no crowds to get in the way of pictures, no amplified megaphones to pierce the serenity, and most importantly, arguably some of the best food in Eastern China. This is such an awesome place that I'll need to dedicate the next article to it.



The best part of the Xihu State Guesthouse was its pristine gardens which, along with the excellent lunch, kept us for almost 3 hours. After this we continued north along a picturesque area of artificial causeways and wetland known as Yanggongdi towards our next destination -- the small but elegant Guo’s Villa with yet another rare stretch of private shorelines.



I can’t give Guo’s Villa enough praises as this is one of the true hidden gems on the West Lake IMHO. Organized tours are effectively deterred by the RMB 10 (CAD$1.6) entrance fee, leaving its immaculate garden and pavilions to the enjoyment of the few independent travelers stumbling in. Even on a clear Sunday afternoon the garden were relatively non-crowded, which definitely cannot be said of most other spots around the lake.



Like the Xihu State Guesthouse, Guo’s Villa started as the mansion and garden of a Qing Dynasty scholar-bureaucrat, and one who was powerful enough to acquire his own private section of the lakefront. Today the fish pond inside the garden still draws its water directly from the West Lake, though the resident white swans have recently been replaced by ugly plastic replicas. But that was the only speckle I could find in the otherwise perfectly manicured garden -- it could have rivaled the famous classical gardens of Suzhou, if only it was bigger in size.



But it was big enough to spend a leisurely hour between the pondful of orange Koi fish, zigzagging causeways with impeccable viewpoints framed strategically by window openings, two teahouses serving local Longjing Tea, and a pavilion atop a prototypical Suzhou-style artificial hill made of Taihu limestones. If you’re tired of doing the West Lake with the piercing loudspeakers of local tour guides constantly in the background, this would be a great place for a little quiet retreat.



The Quyuan Fenghe area just north of Guo’s Villa was also quite enjoyable, especially towards the later afternoon when large tour groups have move off. I haven’t seen an official English name for this place, though I would loosely translate it as Lotus in the Breeze at the Winery Courtyard. A modern replica of the old Imperial Winery has recently been erected with advertisements of wine tasting (though we didn’t indulge), and the lotus blossoms are still tousled by the breeze at the charming lakefront.



As the afternoon started to wind down we headed into the former realm of the Imperial Garden at Gushan. Facing the West Lake at the southwestern foot of the hill behind overgrown vegetation, is the Xiling Society of Seal Arts where the ancient arts of seal engraving and calligraphy are still practiced and refined to this date. This would be the best place if you ever want a genuine high quality seal made in your (transliterated Chinese) name. It was also our last rest stop before an early dinner, in the atmosphere of intellectual and artistic pursuits that has made Hangzhou famous for the past millennium.


Food Review: LOU WAI LOU (Hangzhou)
Address: Gushan Lu 30, Xihu District, Hangzhou
Hours: 11:00 – 21:00
Website/Map: Official Site
Directions: It's on the shoreline of the Gushan Park along the northern shore of the West Lake. This is THE most famous restaurant in Hangzhou, so any taxi driver should know the place.


Despite its well-documented fame, Lou Wai Lou was NOT our first choice due to mixed reviews from the locals. We originally planned to go to Bailu Canting (ie. "White Deer") at the Xinyuanhua Mall, but gave up on the idea remembering the previous night when we were handed the 200+th spot of the ridiculous queue. Lou Wai Lou's convenient location convinced us at the end, though we went in without much expectation to be honest.

To be fair though, this place is a true Hangzhou institution, established in the 28th Year of Emperor Daoguang, or Year 1848 in the Western world. So it’s been standing on the shore of West Lake pretty much since the Opium Wars, serving the rich and famous of China through Imperial, Republican and Communist eras.

Lou Wai Lou’s main draw is about traditions, and so we ordered traditional Hangzhou dishes, starting with the local favorite Mrs. Song’s Fish Soup (Songsao Yugeng) pictured above. Like anything in the Geng category this was a very heavy, substantial soup, but tasted unexpectedly mild without any of the fishiness one might associate with fish soups. While the flavor wasn’t anything spectacular, the display of great knifework was evident with the extremely thin shreds of delicate fish meat. I would put this in the category of Shougongcai (“dexterity-based dish” ... my translation) where the appreciation of the chef’s nimbleness with the transformation of ingredients is as important as, and perhaps even trumps, the taste. When this dawned on me, I started to see why this restaurant gets such polarized reviews.



We also ordered the Fish Soup with Crab Caviar, which turned out to be a Mrs. Song’s Fish Soup plus a good dollop of crab meat and caviar. Now THIS was an EXCELLENT soup, infused with the richness of the umami flavors given by the crab caviar. The fact that we arrived during crab caviar season (usually late September to late November) probably helped. This bowl cost 50% more than the already expensive Mrs. Song’s Fish Soup, but it was worth every single Yuan.



For appetizers we started with the Drunken Chicken in Huadiao Wine (Huadiao Zuiji). While the chicken did have the typical texture and taste of a free-range bird, the depth of flavor in the rice wine marinate completely let us down. It actually didn’t taste bad ... but think about it ... When the mom-and-pop Shanghainese restaurant in my neighborhood can do this simple dish better than the most famous restaurant in all of Hangzhou, why should travelers waste their valuable time and money here? This is inexcusable.



Then we moved onto another cold dish, the syrupy sweet, glutinous-rice-stuffed lotus roots known as Guihua Tang’ou. This completely reversed the impression from the previous mess up, and turned out to be a very good dish. The lotus roots were crispy, the rice filling was chewy as expected, and the distinct flavor of Osmanthus flowers (ie. Guihua) provided good depth to the honey. While not everyone likes sweets before the entree, we really enjoyed this dish.

So far we had one unremarkable dish, one excellent dish, one poor dish, and one good dish. Now you can see the rollercoaster ride we’ve been taken by Lou Wai Lou as we await our final dish, a grand, classy dish in the culinary traditions of this Jiangnan region.



The Braised Cured-Ham in Honey Sauce (Mizhi Huofang). This is a classic dish that I’d previously only seen on TV and, due to the exclusivity of the main ingredient, typically served only in restaurants serving more posh clientele. I was expecting a price of RMB 200-300 for a dish of this level of prestige, and jumped to order when it was listed on the menu for RMB 108.

The soul of this dish should be a square of the best cut of Dry-Cured Ham, the Chinese equivalence of Jamon Iberico or Prosciutto di Parma, sourced from the black-headed, black-tailed pigs from the city of Jinhua just southwest of here. Pardon the messy appearance of the dish, but I failed to stop our server in time while she clumsily sliced our perfectly squared ham. The flavor was complex and savory as expected of quality cured ham of any nationality, and the indigenous saltiness had been perfectly countered by the Osmanthus-flavored honey sauce. If I’m allowed to nitpick, the texture of the meat was a little tough, meaning that they didn’t invest enough time into steaming the ham, and that the cut of ham was still not the best quality compared to Jinhua Hams I’ve had in the past. I did enjoy the way they meticulously softened the skin though, and how the little layer of fat remaining from the steaming process was well-balanced by the acidity of green plums in the sauce.

This dish was definitely above average, though not entirely spectacular. But at the relatively cheap price of RMB 108 for a generous square of Jinhua Ham (which went for RMB 48 per 500g at traditional delicatessen shops we visited), I’ve got no complaints.

My final verdict for Lou Wai Lou? In one word, inconsistency. I can completely understand how this place can simultaneously generate positive and negative reviews, possibly from diners sitting at the same table in fact, if their quality can oscillate from dish to dish like what we experienced. Would I recommend this place? Yes, but only if you’re staying for several days and have been to the Xihu State Guesthouse already. If you have time for only one dining experience in Hangzhou though, forget this place and just stick with Xihu State Guesthouse.

Bill for Two Persons

Drunken Chicken in Huadiao Wine	RMB 32
West Lake Honey-Stuffed Lotus Roots	RMB 22
Mrs. Song's Fish Soup	RMB 19.6
Fish Soup with Crab Caviar	RMB 28
Slow-Braised Cured Ham in Honey Sauce	RMB 108
Rice	RMB 1
Large Beer	RMB 12
TOTAL	RMB 222.6 (CAD$35.3)

It was already dark outside after our long dinner. We had a night view of the lit-up Broken Bridge, then hopped on a taxi to the Wushan Night Market (located at Renhe Road and Yuewang Road, about a 10 minute way east of the Longxiangqiao metro station). We didn’t end up buying anything, but it was authentic, rowdy, and a perfectly Hangzhou way to wrap up a Sunday evening and work off that huge chunk of ham.

Being a serious (and hopefully well-rounded) foodie I can't limit myself to just formal restaurants. If the Xihu State Guesthouse is Hangzhou’s finest, Lou Wai Lou is the most famous, then the following place must be Hangzhou’s most popular eatery. Beware of this popularity though, as we had to WAIT 2.5 HOURS (!!!) just to get in.

Food Review: THE GRANDMA'S (Hubin Branch)
Address: Hubin Lu 3, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou
Hours: 10:00-24:00
Website/Map: Official Site
Directions: It's right at the corner of Hubin Road and Jiefang Road, facing one of the most popular sections of the West Lake. The closest metro station is Longxiangqiao, three blocks to the north.

The Grandma’s is undoubtedly among Hangzhou’s most recognized brand names. Synonymous for famously cheap food at consistently good quality, this local joint has now expanded as far north as Beijing and Shenyang, which tells you they’re doing something right. So right in fact, that when we arrived at their flagship branch on Hubin Road on a Saturday night, we were handed queue ticket #562 with more than 200 tickets in front of us! After heading to Bailu Canting, the main rival of The Grandma’s across the street in the Xinyuanhua Mall, only to find an even longer queue, we had no choice but to wander the nearby shops while waiting for The Grandma’s to call my cell phone. And close to 2.5 hours we waited, before finally getting seated. That had never happened to me before in China, Hong Kong or Japan.



If you’re asking what’s so attractive about this place, look no further than this Tofu with Sesame Oil (Maxiang Doufu). The tofu itself wasn't too sensational: slightly grainy mouth-feel, rich soybean flavors, and really nothing that would either wow or offend your tastebuds. But the price was ... get this ... an astonishing RMB 3 (CAD$0.5).

What else can you buy with RMB 3 these days, when a 500 mL bottle of juice costs RMB 4? It's no fluke that we had 561 tables ahead of us, and probably 700 in total, on the evening on our visit.



The Red-Braised Chinese Radish wasn't quite as miraculously cheap, but still a bargain at RMB 10. Again the flavor was just above average, but the radishes were quite well-simmered to thoroughly absorb the marinate. Who can complain about a RMB 10 dish at a sit-down restaurant next to the West Lake?



We did splurge ... well, for a relatively cheap RMB 45 ... on one of the more expensive dishes on the menu: an entire chicken slow-roasted inside an earthen pot and smoked with tea leaves (Chaxiangji). While I didn't really taste any tea in the chicken, the flesh was so tenderly roasted it practically fell off the bones. With a whole bird staring at the two of us, I was starting to think we ordered a little too much food.



We finished with an unconventional but delectable dessert. Our Green Pea Puree with Cream (Naixiang Qingdouni) arrived as a large tub of pureed pea, with the skin meticulously removed, mixed with the sweetness of honey and fresh cream. For a large enough portion for three to share, the price was an amazing RMB 10.

So our entire meal with two appetizers, one entree, a dessert and a large beer cost RMB 78 (CAD$12.4) in total. I'm sure I'm among thousands others who vouch for this place. As long as you're not expecting an exceptional dining experience, The Grandma's should be a pretty safe bet at a backpacker-friendly price. But one last word of caution ... remember to drop by a couple hours early to get your queue ticket!

Bill for Two Persons

Tofu with Sesame Oil	RMB 3
Red-Braised Chinese Radish	RMB 10
Tea-Smoked Chicken	RMB 45
Green Pea Puree with Cream	RMB 10
Large Beer	RMB 10
TOTAL	RMB 78 (CAD$12.4)

Finally, a short review of our choice of hotel:
Hotel Review: NEW DONGPO HOTEL (Hangzhou)
Address: Xihai Scenic Area, Huangshan, Anhui
Price: RMB 278, including breakfast
Website/Map: Here's the Official Site, but we chose to book thru Ctrip.com.
Directions: Exit the Longxiangqiao metro station and walk south for a block to Renhe Road. The hotel is almost at the corner of Renhe Road and Yan'an Road.


This is the cheapest 3-star hotel we found within a block of the West Lake. While there were a few other cheaper 1- or 2-stars (eg.Elan Inn) nearby, none seemed as convenient and well-rounded especially considering the free (and quite decent) Chinese-style buffet breakfast here. The location just can't be beat -- 1 block from the West Lake, 1 block from the metro station, and a 15 minute walk to the Wushan Night Market. I wouldn't hesitate to return should I visit Hangzhou again in the future.

Hiking Huangshan’s West Sea Canyon

For a short three hours this was my best hike. Ever.

If you’ve ever seen classical images of pine-clad Chinese mountains shrouded in mist, you’re probably thinking of this place. It was some of the most jaw-dropping mountain scenery I’ve ever seen -- and I’ve seen my share of mountains living in Western Canada.



Sadly this was also one of the last clear photos I took at Huangshan. My window of opportunity lasted exactly 3 hours 9 minutes, before heavy fog rolled in and took away everyone’s chances.



That morning we diligently woke up at Hongcun at 05:30, took the 06:40 bus to Huangshan Mountain, left our large baggage at the Bus Station and took the Yungusi cable car up the back side of the mountain. It was already shrouded in heavy fog from mid-mountain up as we arrived, and the visibility was barely 200m as we made the hour-long hike from the cable car station to our hotel at Paiyunlou. After checking in and shedding unnecessary weight off our back, we started our descent into the West Sea Canyon.



The West Sea Canyon was in fact one of the reasons we picked China for our vacation this year. This landscape within is widely rumored to be most impressive in Huangshan, if not all of China. The time was 11:15 when we started to enter the canyon on the Paiyunlou side. All of a sudden a few rays of the sun shone through, and the heavy curtain was miraculously lifted from the front of our eyes in a matter of minutes. The entire canyon was now visible, right down to the bottom of this impossibly steep valley.



With every movement of the rising streams of misty air the landscape kept shrouding and revealing itself, and with every few steps the viewing angle changed enough to offer a different perspective of the jagged peaks and the pine trees clinging fearlessly to the vertical cliffs. Every hiker stopped in their tracks for photos, or simply to exhale. Any short 50m walk would easily take 10 minutes.



At the time of our visit the National Park was building its funicular at the bottom of the canyon, meaning that the bottommost section of the canyon, from the bottom of the Second Ring road on the north side to the Buxian Bridge on the south side, was closed for constructions. For us it meant that we could only hike down as far as the Second Ring, before climbing all the way back up to Paiyunlou.



While the trail's condition and cleanliness was among the best I've seen in China, or any country for that matter, the terrain itself presented a moderate challenge halfway between Paiyunlou and the First Ring. The elevation dropped abruptly with flights after flights of long winding stairs wrapped around the cliff side. The time was already 12:45 by the time we reached the First Ring.



The further we descended down the mysterious valley, the more intimately beautiful the landscape became until everything resembled scenes out of traditional Chinese ink paintings. Most astounding was how the indigenous Huangshan Pine carved out its niche from the most inconceivable of places, often growing straight out of seemingly bare vertical crags.



Equally impressive was the way the footpath was impossibly constructed, suspending in mid-air by a cantilever system of horizontal beams driven into sheer granite cliffs. Tourist pamphlets would never divulge, but these trails were constructed at the great cost of human lives, and no responsible hiker should take these heart-stopping views for granted.

As we reached the top of the Second Ring road it was time to make the decision of taking the left or right branch down. Our map showed a down-arrow on the left branch with the word Zhuangguan (Spectacular), and so we followed ...



And it was way too Zhuangguan for us … the ridiculously steep stairs became a 60-plus-degree drop, and the only thing that would prevent us from free-falling 500m to our deaths were the thigh-height railings. My wife had enough of this craziness, and we decided to meet up again at the top of the Second Ring. With the utmost degree of caution I would venture down to the bottom, and she would have to call for help should I not return.



The Chinese map didn’t lie -- it truly was some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere. By the time I went down the Second Ring it was already 13:06, nearly 2 hours since we started out from Paiyunlou.



As soon as I made it past the section that turned back my wife, the slope returned to a more reasonable slope ... if you consider 45-degree reasonable that is. I still had to be careful as scores of hikers are known to fall to gruesome deaths every year, though no official numbers ever get published.



At 13:15, exactly 2 hours from the start, I finally reached the very bottom of the Second Ring, the end point of my hike down the canyon on this day. It was probably the slowest 2.5 km of downhill hiking I've ever done, and I only had my camera to blame.



The only path to bottom was locked as expected, less than 100m in elevation from the very floor of the canyon. I quickly took a couple of pictures before hurrying back up the thigh-burning climb. I certainly didn't want my wife to think I was missing!


By 13:27 I puffed my way back to the top of Second Ring and rejoined my wife, who was just finished with helping a bunch of elderly Taiwanese hikers with her trusty map. The rest of the hike was a pure cardio and stair-climbing workout. Ominously thick clouds rolled in as we made our way up and the temperature dropped noticeably, condensing the air into an increasingly dense fog again. By the time we reached Paiyunlou again at 14:30, we couldn't even see our hotel from 100m away. This spelled the end of sightseeing for every visitor, and we had no choice but retreating to our hotel room for the rest of the day.



Just when we thought the weather couldn’t get any worse the next day, it did. We woke up at 05:30 and climbed to the top of Danxia (Purple Cloud) Peak for the sunrise, only to be stymied again by a horrid visibility of about 20 m! The heavy fog and drizzles would persist for the rest of our morning on Huangshan, forcing our attention to the dangerously slippery trail in the absence of any visible scenery. Even against the flow of a standing queue of domestic tourists at the narrow and infamously precarious 100-Step-Scaling-Ladder, the expected 3.5 hour-long hike from Paiyunlou Hotel to the Yuping Cable Car took us only 2.5 hours to complete in the absence of any picture-taking.



I couldn’t help feeling somewhat bittersweet as we descended by cable car from what would likely be our once-in-a-lifetime visit to Huangshan. The weather was crappy; the trails were packed to the edges with rowdy domestic tour groups; and I ended with 3 hours’ worth of photos out of 26 hours on the mountain.



But those 3 hours also presented the most magical and breathtaking mountain scenery I have ever seen, and I would never trade these 3 hours for 2 sunny, fogless days in retrospect. Yes it would be a nice secondary bonus to witness a completely cloudless panorama, but that’s not what Huangshan is most famous for. I’ve already seen the best of Huangshan, the moment that thin, misty white veil started to rise out of the West Sea Canyon’s valley floor.


Hotel Review: PAIYUNLOU (Huangshan)
Address: Xihai Scenic Area, Huangshan, Anhui
Price: RMB 790
Website/Map: Check prices from Agoda or Ctrip, whichever is cheaper at the time
Directions: The easiest approach to the hotel involves taking the Yungusi Cable Car up and follow the signs towards Xihai (West Sea). You'll first pass the Beihai Hotel, then the Xihai Hotel, and finally reaching Paiyunlou in about an hour's hike.


This was by far the most expensive hotel of our entire trip. The price of RMB 790 (CAD$125) was actually considered a bargain considering foreigners are always charged RMB 100 to 200 extra per room, depending on where you book. In comparison the average price of the rest of our stays cost RMB 260 (CAD$41), and the hotels at the foot of Huangshan probably averaged around RMB 200 -- this tells you how lucrative the hotel monopoly is at the mountain top, and why the management company is profitable enough to be traded on Chinese stock exchanges.

But if you’re planning to hike both the West Sea Canyon and the front and back sides of the mountain top like we did, you probably have no choice but to take a deep breath and prepare to be gouged. The only options cheaper would involve renting tents (RMB 200) from the hotel in warmer seasons, or crashing into dorm-style bunk beds (RMB 120 per bed) in rowdy 16-people rooms. We were actually very happy with our 3-star room -- very clean, quiet and comfortable -- except for its attempt to charge another RMB 25 for the usage of a set of toothbrush and toiletries. Good thing we came prepared.



Booking a room was only the start of the price-gouging. Charging RMB 80 each way for the cable car was at least acceptable, but a further RMB 19 for the 20-minute shuttle bus between the cable car station and the gate was getting ridiculous. Every item for sale at the mountain top was at least two to three times the price at the bottom, but that’s somewhat justifiable after seeing how porters climbed all the way from the bottom carrying 96 kg (yes, I counted … 48 bottles of 2 litre Pepsi) on their scrawny shoulders.



Dinner at the hotel was overpriced and mediocre in taste. We watched our wallet and ordered some of the cheaper dishes -- an appetizer of Marinated Duck (Jiangya) for RMB 40, Red Braised Eggplants (Hongshao Qiezi) for RMB 50, and a casserole of Tofu with Three Delicacies (Sanxian Doufubao) for a whopping RMB 80 -- with hardly any meat, and still ended up paying around RMB 180. I estimated that the same dishes at the bottom of the mountain would only cost about RMB 80, but then I remembered the porters.

Bill for Two Persons

Marinated Duck	RMB 40
Red Braised Eggplants	RMB 50
Tofu with Three Delicacies	RMB 80
Rice x 2	RMB 10
TOTAL	RMB 180 (CAD$28.6)

At least we didn’t need to spend extra on breakfast the next day. We followed the advice of Chinese travelers and brought a backpack full of snack food, bottles of juice, a small bottle of rice wine, and these two bowls of Jinmailang "premium" instant noodles that came with a whole marinated egg inside. Dropping in some pre-packaged braised chicken gizzards (I know it sounds dodgy, but the locals bought them by the kilogram and they turned out quite tasty) into the soup and it became the warmest breakfast for a cold morning on a 1700 m mountain top.

By 12:00 we came down the mountain and found a decent and reasonably priced lunch spot, just outside the bus station on the next side street to the right.



It was the restaurant with NO NAME, seriously. We did asked the owner’s wife and she did try to tell us the story ... in her local Huangshan dialect which was entirely unintelligible to me. I did get the impression that they ran into some sort of bureaucracy trouble with the local officials and had to tear down the original name they chose.



Our eyes lit up when we saw the words Tujidan (free-range eggs) on the menu, after our wonderful experience with scrambled eggs at Hongcun. The eggs here weren’t quite as incredibly flavorful as those we had previously, but the eggs did taste of a mildly free-range quality and were still tastier than the Canadian eggs that I typically get at home. And since I didn’t know if I’ll ever set foot in Anhui Province for a taste of these farm-raised eggs again in my lifetime, I actually ordered two dishes of scrambled eggs, the pictured dish with Wood Ear Mushrooms (Muer), and another with Chinese leek flowers.




Bill for Two Persons

Scrambled Eggs with Wood Ear Mushrooms	RMB 22
Scrambled Eggs with Chinese Leak Flowers	RMB 26
Stir-Fried Spinach	RMB 16
Rice x 2	RMB 4
Plate Set x 2	RMB 4
TOTAL	RMB 72 (CAD$11.4)

This was the end of our adventure in the landlocked, rural villages and towns of Jiangxi and Anhui, and the start of our next adventure in the sleepy waterside towns and glitzy metropolises of Zhejiang and Jiangsu. At 14:15 we took a 3.5-hour bus ride back into the realm of bright city lights, to the picturesque West Lake and congested traffic of Hangzhou. We would spend our next 8 nights adapting to the tradition of waterfront-living synonymous with historic Eastern China.