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China has a bit of a thing for building extravagant replicas of western landmarks. One I found out about recently is this Paris-alike in the outer suburbs of Hangzhou, complete with Eiffel tower. And these residential buildings modelled on the Champs Elysees. I actually rather like it, it transforms what would otherwise be an utterly […]

I’ve discovered something very important about the summer here: every day it’s either 30+ degrees, or raining, or both. This rather limits the potential for outdoor activities so I’ve been going to a lot of museums recently. Which is a shame because I actually found some really good places west of Hangzhou to go hiking. […]

When I went to Wuzhen a few weeks ago I missed the last bus on the final leg of the journey and had to take a taxi. I asked the driver if there was anything interesting in Huzhou, the nearest city, and he told me there was nothing there. Actually he was telling a bit […]

Last weekend I felt like doing a bit of walking to went to a village called Longjing which is just outside Hangzhou and easily accessible on the local buses. This place is quite well known for its famous green tea, which you can see growing in all the photos below. There was entirely too much […]

I’m doing a language course here at the moment and the school lets you take some optional courses. I’m doing one on Monday afternoons called 茶文化 “tea culture”. In common with other courses here, most of the time is learning vocabulary, but this one has tea sampling as well. And our teacher organised a field […]

I’ve spent the last two Easters in China visiting these 古镇 “ancient towns”. In 2016 I went to Tongli near Suzhou, and this time last year I was in Anchang. It would be bad to break with tradition so this Easter weekend I visited 乌镇 Wuzhen, which is about halfway between Shanghai and where I’m […]

After I finished class today I went to a nearby nature reserve called Xixi Wetland Park 西溪湿地. It’s a very large area of wetland to the west of Hangzhou. I didn’t have time to explore it all, but there were a lot of spring blossoms out, and a Qing-dynasty-style old street with a little pagoda […]

So I’m taking a bit of a career break at the moment and living in Hangzhou, China for a few months to study Chinese. Last weekend one of my Chinese friends came to visit so we did a few of the local tourist attractions. Actually I’ve been to Hangzhou once before back in 2016, but […]

Last day out in the UK for a few months as doof.me.uk will soon be temporarily relocated. Decided to go walking near the Roman town at Silchester I visited a few times before. And from there walked along the downs to Newbury. There’s something about Newbury as a destination for my hikes, whenever I go […]

I went for another outing on Saturday, this time from Saunderton to Henley. I wanted to go all the way to Goring but it was way too boggy for that. In the mud I managed less than 2mph on average.