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High camp gets back to nature
By Pan Zheng |
March 25, 2009, Wednesday
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HANGZHOU is witnessing a new breed of adventurers. They are "city campers" who like spending a night or two on the rooftop of a high-rise building in the center of the city. Pan Zheng tries the great outdoors.
Hangzhou has seen some strange groups of people in its time, but these days it must be scratching its ancient head and wondering what these new people are doing.
Groups of young men and women can be seen in Hangzhou laden with helmets, climbing equipment, sleeping bags and tents.
They look ready to camp out - which is what they are going to do. But not on a mountain or in a forest. These young people are "city campers" and they are aiming to spend a night or two on the rooftop of a high-rise building in the center of the city.
Most of the "city campers" come from the Tianze Outdoor Club, the biggest camping club in East China. Some of the members began to realize that they were becoming bored with their regular haunts at the botanic garden or beside the West Lake.
As well, since most of them are white-collar workers, they don't have much time to spend traveling far from the city.
So they combine a little adventure with pragmatism and find that the roof of a high-rise building can be a perfect compromise.
Although camping on the roof is not as exciting as camping in fields or on the sides of mountains, it has its own attraction and romanticism.
Preparations are a lot simpler than camping out in the wild. The city campers only need to bring tents, flashlights, sleeping bags, damp-proof cushions, bags and something to eat and drink. Sometimes candles are brought along but they are used with care. No one wants to see a fire on a rooftop.
Like camping in the wild, you can only enjoy yourself after all the hard work is done. When the campers arrive, they carry their equipment, food and often some beer to the rooftop and set up their tents.
If it's a fine night, they can lie back and look at the sky, counting stars, watching the moon and the sunrise.
If it rains or there are storms or snow forecast, the evening has to be canceled.
Lightning, especially, is not good for rooftop campers.
"We often organize these nights out. City camping doesn't need many participants, usually about 10 at a time. Our members register their names on the Internet and when the number reaches what we need, we begin to arrange the date and place," says Zhang Song, manager of the Tianze Club.
"We limit the number of participants for two reasons. First, we must ensure safety; secondly, too many campers on the roof may intrude on the residents below."
Have there ever been problems?
"In fact, never. Actually there are few dangers and with full preparations we can help our campers avoid them. On the other hand, we seldom affect the residents either because all of our campers are well disciplined. Quite often we have had residents come up to the roof and join us," Zhang says.
City camping has become a craze for many.
Anytime there's an opportunity to scale a rooftop and set up a tent, some campers are always there.
"When you look down over the whole city from the roof, you feel like you were in another world. We just want to have fun," he says. "City camping is very relaxing. We make friends, drink beer, sing songs and chat with each other, and with the moon and stars. This is the life we want."
Hangzhou has seen some strange groups of people in its time, but these days it must be scratching its ancient head and wondering what these new people are doing.
Groups of young men and women can be seen in Hangzhou laden with helmets, climbing equipment, sleeping bags and tents.
They look ready to camp out - which is what they are going to do. But not on a mountain or in a forest. These young people are "city campers" and they are aiming to spend a night or two on the rooftop of a high-rise building in the center of the city.
Most of the "city campers" come from the Tianze Outdoor Club, the biggest camping club in East China. Some of the members began to realize that they were becoming bored with their regular haunts at the botanic garden or beside the West Lake.
As well, since most of them are white-collar workers, they don't have much time to spend traveling far from the city.
So they combine a little adventure with pragmatism and find that the roof of a high-rise building can be a perfect compromise.
Although camping on the roof is not as exciting as camping in fields or on the sides of mountains, it has its own attraction and romanticism.
Preparations are a lot simpler than camping out in the wild. The city campers only need to bring tents, flashlights, sleeping bags, damp-proof cushions, bags and something to eat and drink. Sometimes candles are brought along but they are used with care. No one wants to see a fire on a rooftop.
Like camping in the wild, you can only enjoy yourself after all the hard work is done. When the campers arrive, they carry their equipment, food and often some beer to the rooftop and set up their tents.
If it's a fine night, they can lie back and look at the sky, counting stars, watching the moon and the sunrise.
If it rains or there are storms or snow forecast, the evening has to be canceled.
Lightning, especially, is not good for rooftop campers.
"We often organize these nights out. City camping doesn't need many participants, usually about 10 at a time. Our members register their names on the Internet and when the number reaches what we need, we begin to arrange the date and place," says Zhang Song, manager of the Tianze Club.
"We limit the number of participants for two reasons. First, we must ensure safety; secondly, too many campers on the roof may intrude on the residents below."
Have there ever been problems?
"In fact, never. Actually there are few dangers and with full preparations we can help our campers avoid them. On the other hand, we seldom affect the residents either because all of our campers are well disciplined. Quite often we have had residents come up to the roof and join us," Zhang says.
City camping has become a craze for many.
Anytime there's an opportunity to scale a rooftop and set up a tent, some campers are always there.
"When you look down over the whole city from the roof, you feel like you were in another world. We just want to have fun," he says. "City camping is very relaxing. We make friends, drink beer, sing songs and chat with each other, and with the moon and stars. This is the life we want."
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