Shanba restaurant, famed for its rainbow trout, is a favorite destination for urbanites on weekends and holiday.
Does country-style baked rainbow trout tickle your epicurean fancy?
In that case, take yourself to Beijing Rainbow Valley beside Yanxi Lake in Huairou district. There are dozens of fishing and barbeque spots in the district's 10 villages that are a perennial favorite with visiting urbanites on weekends and holidays.
The valley is an hour's drive north of downtown Beijing on the Jingcheng expressway; its entrance is left of the Yanxi roundabout.
The drive through the valley is along a zigzagging road shaded by tall trees in which auspicious red lanterns are hung. Rustic courtyards with barbeque pits, mountain villas, countryside hotels, as well as various styles of ranches nestle among green hills and blue waters.
Deep into the valley there springs to view a complex of rustic brown houses dotting the hillside that comprise the valley's famous Shanba (Mountain Bar) restaurant and hotel.
A stay here offers the opportunity to listen to folk music, fish for rainbow trout, gaze yonder at the Great Wall, take exercise or play mahjong in cool shaded yards, and sleep in a clean, well equipped room.
"We just want to make our guests feel at home," says manager Liu Jiang. A travel enthusiast, Liu and his two brothers and one sister were regular weekend and holiday visitors to the outskirts of Beijing. They stumbled upon the valley by chance and, upon discovering it was a source of the district's famed rainbow tout, started a catering business.
The hotel offers accommodation to suit every taste - from farm houses, to traditional courtyards to villas. Most of the bar's 200 staff members are local villagers who stand to earn 100 yuan ($14) per day at peak season. The Shanba is hence an important source of income for local residents.
A young African surnamed Abrille has opened an African Exhibition Center at the bar displaying 1,000 items of handicrafts, including stone sculptures, wooden musical instruments, leather drums and masks from 10 African countries.
"We thought visitors might enjoy looking at these original exhibits in a suitable setting," Liu explains.
Besides Shanba, visitors have another option for accommodation. Buck Commune is a mountain hotel with 100 wood cabin-style guest rooms at the foot of an ancient mountain pass. It is named after the eponymous canine hero of Jack London's Call of the Wild.
The valley receives 1 million tourists every year, and has earned the local government 14 billion yuan ($2 billion) in tourism income last year. More than 4,500 solar energy road lights were installed last year to brighten up the valley nightlife, giving those who don't have time to satisfy their taste buds during daytime the chance to enjoy an evening as well as day of brilliant sightseeing.
(China Daily 06/26/2008 page19)
