Ningbo, Zhejiang

Hi Hi,

so, this autumn I'm gonna be moving to Ningbo (paperwork permitting), thought I'd start this thread about Ningbo and Zhejiang province since I know this forum has plenty of connections with that part of the world (Suzhou especially it seems!  )

Anyways, looking for highlights, fun stuff and impressions of all sorts from the province, and if possible from Ningbo too.

If anybody living in the area wants to PM me, t'would be nice to maybe meet up and talk shop!  

FoZz

< Fozzie, I inverted the title to the Western method of writing place names. You are exactly right in how the Chinese write them, but a lot of readers neither know about that, or have much familiarity with place names... -R >

Nice place!
One of the better in China, IMHO...you could certainly do a helluva lot worse.
Proximity to the sea gives it some relief from the weather and the pollution...and great seafood. Plenty for foreigners there, but not as given over to them as Shanghai or Hangzhou. Fairly easy access to Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, some amazing water-village country, lakes and forests, much more.

It is seriously over-run by Germans, so plenty of warm potato salad and grim, humorless perverts to be had there.

You know what the best thing about Ningbo is?  They have a bridge to Shanghai, heheheh.

On a more serious note, Although Ningbo is pretty flat, Zhejiang is something like 70% mountain (you can see them in the distance all around the city) and I am appalled with myself that I hardly ever got my ass out in to the countryside at weekends when I was there.

...this autumn I'm gonna be moving to Ningbo...

...I am appalled with myself that I hardly ever got my ass out in to the countryside (around Ningbo) at weekends when I was there.

Did MK's fixed-term contract come to an end and Fozzwaldus is about to start his at the same establishment in Ningbo?  I wish you both the very best in the future if I'm right.

I have only travelled through Ningbo in order to get to Putuoshan, but it seems like the perfect location for a bit of old and new China.  One of my greatest regrets - looking back on my time in the region - was never getting to see Shaoxing.

It is seriously over-run by Germans, so plenty of warm potato salad and grim, humorless perverts to be had there.

Haha. Why all the Germans? Does some auto manufacturer have shop there?

Also, while I'm not going there, I have heard good things about Ningbo and would be curious about the nightlife, i.e. bars and live music venues for rock music. How's that down there?

And good luck Fozz!

Hi. I'm a new member, and I live in Ningbo. I've been here for a year and I'm staying for at least another one. It's the only place in China that I have lived, so I can't compare it to anywhere else, but if someone doesn't want to live in a major metropolis, it's a reasonable option. If you want to spend time in bars and restaurants with other foreigners, then there are 2 areas that have these, and though the place isn't overrun with foreigners, there are probably enough around if you want to base your social life around them.

I'm a bit hard on Ningbo the city sometimes, because to my mind it is polluted (but maybe less so than other parts of China) and though locals constantly say how beautiful the city is, this seems to be based primarily on the fact that the main river and the buildings have lots of pretty lights on them. If you have never forgotten the giddy excitement of Christmas trees, Ningbo may be the place for you.

My reason for staying is that there is a good Salsa dance school and I'm not sure I would find another one outside of the big cities. If anyone visiting or living here think that they can match the Chinese natural sense of rhythm, feel free to get in touch and come along.

Anyway, as i said I'm a new member, so I don't think I can pm anybody yet, but OP, it would be cool to meet up, show you around and maybe pigyback on you into a social life when you arrive.

If anybody has specific questions, feel free to ask. Invictus, there is a bar called Z Rocks. I think that they probably have rock music some if not most nights, though I only go there on a Sunday for Salsa.

hey Mr Ben: I'd be glad to hook up for a chat or whatnot, just hang on till you get PM privileges and send me a message

 

in the meantime, make the most of this place's phenomenal backlog of posts, and get onto the introductions board and make a show of yourself! (folks are friendly round here, and tis a good way to get your post count up!) 

Nightlife in Ningbo - smattering of ex-pat type bars ranging from the upmarket hotel type through faux-irish to dodgy dives. KTV and CHinese techno blasting discos abound.

Music - If you are looking for something raw edgy and new you are most likely out of luck unless I grew really out of touch in my last year or so there (things change pretty fast!).

On thte other hand, there is as Mr Ben mentioned Z-rocks, although last time I was there it featured a slighlty more racuous version of yer average Philipino cover band (no bad thing sometimes).

You could also try the long-standing popular but not to everyones tatse LBB which has open mike nights and such - mostly younger foreign crowd.

Finally, there was also a genuine attempt at a local rock bar kicking about for a while, '1982' at the drum tower, but it never really seemed to take off, perhaps due to to location (translation - wrong side of the city for me.)

www.ningboguide.com is fairly decent as ex-pat city listing websites go, just don't expect unbiased or tremendously cutting edge knowledge, and void the forums, and you'll be fine.

Ningbo is one of the few places I have found where the expat crowd and the teacher crowd seem to mix well and I think the reason is LBB. It's a dive, but everyone seems to appreciate it as such and they mingle well whether before heading out to other places for the evening, or on their way from one district to the other.

Hang out there a few nights and you'll make friends quickly. The girls on staff are cute and can play pool quite well.  Also, they have a crazy good selection of music on the bar computer and you can pick your own songs if you're nice.

Having seen Raoul's setup at the Shamrock in Suzhou, even he would be drooling at LBB's music "library."

Dive bar, good music, cute staff, no expat attitudes.

Drool baby drool.

Are there any English-speaking hiking groups based in Ningbo or Hangzhou that do regular hikes in the area?

Are there any English-speaking hiking groups based in Ningbo or Hangzhou that do regular hikes in the area?

I hope Raoul doesn't mind me posting this but hangzhouexpat forum organise all sorts of cool stuff in hangzhou like hiking and bike rides

There are actually quite a few of us  on here live in Hangzhou, we should really capitalise on this....

Thanks for the tip. Looks like I may be spending quite a few weekends in Hangzhou rather than staying in Ningbo...

It's not English language, but there's this group

http://www.nbcst.com/forum-74-1.html

It would mean hanging out with Chinese people, (Oh the horror!) but there are plenty of people on the walks who speak English. I haven't gone on a walk recently, but earlier in the year about 100 people on average went each week. You may not even be the only laowai.

2 problems

1. You have to pay online beforehand, so I tend to go (or not) with Chinese friends as they're able to do this.

2. There's the obvious danger of people attaching themselves to you like a leech, but this only happened once.

'I've never had a western friend before.'

'You don't have a western friend now you creepy, deranged looking stalker that I met 5 minutes ago and have been trying to outpace up this hill which if you don't back off soon I might throw you off I do have a qq number but you're never going to know it why with my hatred of humankind did I come on an activity with over a humdred people one of whom was always statistically likely to ruin my whole day by not understanding the non-verbal cue of being compleltely ignored.

So, to be fair. Problem 2 might have been me and not him.

Anyways, there's a qq group for the walking group; 72478740. 宁波户外徒步高级群1

Hi Simple 74 - I tried to instant message you before about your other Ningbo-related post.

I'm in Ningbo now, send me a message when you're finally allowed and I'll be glad to answer any questions you've got.