Sitting in the low-ceilinged loft of a smoky bar in Yangjiang – China’s answer to Sheffield – Zheng Guogu has just learned the English for ‘piss artist’ and likes it so much he says it three times over.

Piss artists… the Yangjiang Group

With the kind of arresting rawness that you only get when foreigners or very young children swear, Zheng relishes the fact he has no idea what he’s really saying and lets out one more emphatic ‘piss artist’ just for good measure.

Zheng and his collaborators in the Yangjiang Group, Sun Qinglin and Chen Zaiyan,use Chinese calligraphy and alcohol to occupy exactly this space – the unconscious mind seething up through the cleft created when you know vaguely what it is you’re trying to say, but you’re so bladdered on the local Zhujiang Beer you can barely hold an ink brush.

“When we first started working together we used to drink and then by accident we found things that we’d written that we couldn’t remember doing at the time,” says Zheng, who first began working with the other two 10 years ago.

The power and clarity of these calligraphic works impressed them so much that drinking became a pre-condition for their Jackson Pollock-like art jams, sometimes binge drinking for up to three days at a time.

“When you’re in this mental situation you don’t remember what you’ve done,” says Zheng. “It’s exactly this distance and unfamiliarity between your state of mind and what you are doing that draws you to a higher state of art.”

Often taking preposterous news stories for inspiration, the calligraphy is so sloppy the viewer is forced to read the label to find out what the work is referring to.

The results are hilarious and disturbing at the same time.

Hilarious and disturbing… drunken calligraphy

One piece entitled “The Morning After: Masterpieces Written While Drunk, No. 1: ‘I Need a New Kidney to Kill Bin Laden’” references American would-be assassin and dialysis patient Gary Brook Faulkner who launched a private mission to kill Osama bin Laden; the dribbles and spatters of the drunken calligraphy highly suggestive of madness.

Another “Bloodwritten Letter on Imprisonment with the Opposite Sex” uses calligraphy to retell the shocking news story of a 16-year-old girl who, in 1996, was imprisoned for a week with two dozen male suspects who sexually abused her. Zheng writes the text over an unrelated photograph of what appear to be binge-drinking revellers.

The group is unusual in China in that they’ve never left their hometown for the art centers of Shanghai or Beijing. Yangjiang is an unprepossessing coastal industrial town in the southern province of Guangdong famous for producing one-in-ten of the knives in American households.

Staying at home means the money from their growing international reputation (they say there’s little interest in their work in China) goes further.

In the past couple of years, they’ve built a sprawling studio in urban Yangjiang in the shape of an iceberg and in the countryside a complex of interconnected exhibition spaces, rooms and gardens that ranges over several acres and is inspired by the video game “Age of Empires”.

Zheng says there’s little in the way of planning or design in the studio or the complex, the various rooms are created depending on discussions with the builders on the day, and there’s nothing in the way of official planning permission for the buildings.

Urban iceberg… Yangjiang Group studio

He says he even once made an exhibit of the receipts for the bribes he had to pay to various authorities to get his architectural projects through. Kickbacks in China are often demanded through semi-official means, for instance overly rigorous fire safety requirements and the like.

“Oh yes, a lot of people complained,” Zheng says matter-of-factly about his own flat, a warren of connecting chambers built on two presumably illegally constructed floors on the top of a central Yangjiang apartment block. In China, obstacles such as bent-out-of-shape neighbours are usually simply a matter of compensation.

While the group is not overtly political, and they say the authorities take no interest in what they are doing, their works are radical and directly challenge the complex position of calligraphy in China where it is regarded as something of a sacred art.

Chen Zaiyan, who studied calligraphy at university, says simplified characters – a system introduced under Mao Zedong which drastically reduced the number of strokes and characters in a bid to lift literacy – is still unable to take complete hold in the country even after more than 50 years.

He says there’s a gravitational pull towards traditional script because the characters carry a deeper cultural sense, which he says comes shimmering out of the characters “like a mirage”.

“Most calligraphers habitually tend to write in traditional script,” says Chen. “I think in 20 years or more China will return to traditional script.”

Their calligraphy and installations not only keenly identify where the written language is debased, but where it is most vital.

Their Presidential Decree of the People’s Republic of China No. 74 takes the dead language of a screed of bureaucratic text outlining the minimum aesthetic requirements for the modern Chinese city and breathes life into it by blowing it up to 30 metres high and slapping it on the side of a glass tower in Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, their installation Last Day, Last Struggle gives a new context to the kind of bold and direct messages you can see on any market stall in China – “I’m bankrupt and suicidal. Everything must go” says one sign, “I’m old, I’m poor and my wife has left me” reads another.

“In China you can’t just go on the street and protest,” says Zheng. “In many ways, these people are using their shops and these signs to demonstrate.”

As for China’s many calligraphy associations and academies, Zheng says the Yangjiang Group has yet to receive any formal approaches.

“From these groups,” he says with a deadpan and faraway expression, “We have had very little interest”.

Vibrant… Wanfujing night markets

Indulging in this fine sample of Chinese gastronomic tradition is just one of the sensory experiences that make up Travel Indochina’s newly launched food-lover’s tour of the China.

The 13-day China Culinary Discovery tour takes wandering foodies through Beijing, Xian, Chengdu and Shanghai to explore the country’s colourful culinary scene – from sampling street food in the Forbidden City, to hands-on cooking lessons in hutong houses.

The journey begins in Beijing, the country’s bustling capital, where travellers explore some of the few remaining hutongs (ancient alleyways) and feast on a lip-smacking Peking Duck feast at one of the city’s most popular roast duck restaurants.

The culinary quest continues through Xian’s vibrant Muslim Quarter where a sumptuous dumpling banquet awaits.

A short flight then takes tour guests to Chengdu to see the captivating Giant Pandas and shop for ingredients at a traditional market to use in an afternoon Sichuan cooking lesson with the locals.

The tour culminates in Shanghai where foodies immerse themselves in the lively back streets of the Chinese Quarter and the former French Concession area of the city.

Travel Indochina’s inaugural China Culinary Discovery tour departs on 8 April.

www.travelindochina.co.uk

In the hayseed towns of southern China, municipalities where the population barely nudges 700,000 people, little more than a dozen words of Cantonese will get you a pretty riotous response.

The standard reaction goes something like this: your interlocuter immediately starts as if he or she has been addressed by a talking horse or dog. Consternation quickly softens into relief and hilarity on the realisation the sounds are intelligible. As curious and friendly bystanders gather, a gratifyingly large amount of praise is then heaped on you.

“Wah! You speak Cantonese! How clever of you! How long have you been here? Five years! Five years and you can speak a dozen words! That is astonishing!”

It’s such a stock response it’s surprising it’s not in the first chapter of every Cantonese language text – it’s only later that you realise this form of phatic communion is used solely to promote warmth among foreigners. A real relationship in Cantonese is based exclusively on blunt put-downs of the this-lift-won’t-move-because-you’re-too-fat variety.

new ideas, new styles… Kaiping Diaolou

When all communication comprises critical personal remarks, then you are within the keep of a person’s closest associates.

And so it was, as my travelling companion and I basked in the gentle backwash of this flattery in Guangdong province, that a thief struck with such speed and audacity that it more or less ruined the rest of the trip.

It wasn’t bad enough that he managed to extract 1000RMB from a plastic wallet leaving everything else intact, but he practically showed me how it was done.

Diving like a heron into my rolled up jacket, which I had carelessly placed above my head in the luggage rack of a bus, he removed the cash from a zipped inner pocket, left behind anything that could identify him and dropped the money into one of the small black plastic sick bags provided on all buses in China. All of this in one deft move only just out of my line of sight.

Then using the time-honoured diversionary tactic of revulsion, he walked past me and hawked and spat into the bag on top of the fold of bills. Certainly by the time he was in full view, whatever was in the bag was no longer a subject of investigation.

The discovery of the theft in the next town released a powerful surge of primitive emotions. All the free cups of tea and warm smiles were suspect, everyone a potential enemy: we were suddenly in bandit country.

While it wasn’t much money, the theft shattered the mood of the trip and we sat in gloomy silence on a bus out of Yangjiang the following day. It was on this road, under this pall, that I saw a strange dreamlike structure.

Most architecture in China – certainly anything from the 1970s onwards – pays a deep tribute to the public toilet. Covered with off-white tiles and planted like an inverted L, these clusters are utterly ubiquitous and uniformly depressing.

But rounding a corner on the bus, I saw an assemblage of 19th century Qing Dynasty hovels from the middle of which shot two square five-storey towers capped with Byzantine domes supported by a series of arches formed by columns with Ionic capitals.

Bizarre… Guangzhou Kaiping Diaolou

The odd mixture of classical Western tropes on a Chinese building was eery and unsettling. I saw two more of these bizarre structures looming above separate small towns before the bus cruised on to Zhuhai. It’s rare in travel these days that you see something before you’ve heard about it and the towers left a lingering impression.

Back in Hong Kong, I retraced our journey on Google Earth but the villages we passed were a pixelated blur. Sifting through the Panoramio happy snaps of the area, I marveled at why anyone would take, let alone post, a photo of a motorway culvert or an irrigation ditch.

Eventually I found a picture of a squat version of the type of tower I’d seen and at least had a name – Kaiping Diaolou – or the watchtowers of Kaiping. With a UNESCO listing just four years old, the watchtowers are one of the world’s newest and strangest world heritage listings.

There are 1,883 of them remaining in the counties of Kaiping, Enping, Taishan and Xinhui – one small area of Guangdong province which, between the 1890s and 1930s, had a disproportionate number of emigres to the new world. Returning from Canada, the United States and Australia with new ideas and new styles, the emigres built towers to protect their families and fortunes in a lawless region governed by rival warlords and gangs.

The style – a kind of martial Edwardian with baroque and neo-classical features – caught on in the region and eventually more than 3000 of the towers were built, turning the province into a Chinese version of Italy’s San Gimignano.

The Fang Clan Watchtower – a typical example of the style – stands on a short rise outside Zili village. The dome on the stout five-storey watchtower covers a pavilion that housed a searchlight that swept the paddy fields for approaching brigands; a marriage of 20th century technology with medieval security solutions.

I asked my driver, Mr Fong, on a subsequent visit to the area, if the ornate style meant the towers were largely for show.

“No, they (bandits) used to come in their hundreds – sometimes on horseback,” he says, conjuring up a scene straight out of Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai.

A closer look at the diaolou reveals that many of the architectural fittings have a nasty and efficient business end – overhanging eves hide snipers’ spider holes that point straight down to the front door step, the diaolous’ generally good state of repair is due to the fact they were made from reinforced concrete and the internal metal doors often have complex systems of bars and wheel locks designed to keep home invaders from making it to the next floor.

The diaolou, however, were not just a show of force but also a show of wealth, reflecting grand styles in the country where the emigre had amassed his fortune. At various junctures, Mr Fong’s local knowledge gives out – towers not on the Kaiping city’s guide could only be found by asking locals or making dirt track detours.

“The German diaolou is around here somewhere – I know it is,” he says, finally pulling up beside a collection of tiny farm shacks from which a Chinese version of Schloss Neuschwanstein erupts, its turrets, known locally as ‘swallows’ nests’, pinpricked with tiny gun ports.

The best clusters of diaolou are museum pieces – many of them with their original furniture – and form part of a growing tourist industry, with Kaiping the jumping off point. Thankfully, the kitsch of diaolou-themed hotels is a good 30 minutes from the best clusters and it pays to hire a bicycle to thread through the paddies on your own. What you find is Chinese history snap frozen.

Some of the towers still show graffiti or signs of forced entry from the Cultural Revolution. Even more remarkable are the groups of ‘yang lou’ or foreign villas which have yet to gain heritage protection.

After 1928, when the warlord era nominally ended in China, the architecture in the region began to relax and wealthy families constructed elegant two- and three-storey Italianate villas with minimal fortification.

Most of them are empty and where people aren’t in southern China, agriculture rushes in. Peering through the windows reveals bundles of hay and firewood stacked against sticks of 1940s furniture or beneath beautifully executed wall murals. A common theme of yang lou and diaolou murals is the modern ocean liner, usually shown steaming towards a Fritz Lang-style metropolis, the conduit of the family’s wealth and the source of its dislocation.

Riushi diaolou is the high point of the style. A baroque confection with Chinese characteristics, it is still privately owned but after calling the mobile number pinned to the door and after a small consideration, the owner Mr Huang will take you around the nine-storey tower and tell you a little of the family history.

His story is typical of the region. His father, a successful businessman in Hong Kong, had moved most of the immediate family to the British colony but returned before 1949 with the young Mr Huang to attend to a sick relative. History and events overtook Mr Huang and his father. They remained in communist China while the rest of the family still lives in Hong Kong.

Standing in the pan-opticon of the top cupola next to a rusted 1930s searchlight, I asked Mr Huang if the tower had ever been attacked.

“No,” he says, with more than necessary directness. “They never came.”

Back on the road on my bicycle, I get my second Cantonese lesson, a chapter that should be entitled ‘How much did you pay for that?’. A small group of women near a fruit seller were reasonably impressed that I’d hired my bicycle for 40RMB a day, but 12RMB for a handful of lychees! Was I an idiot? Oh well, what could I expect? I was in bandit country after all.

One of Hong Kong’s most diverse and historic neighbourhoods, Wan Chai is about to welcome a new kid on the block, with Hotel Indigo, the latest addition to the city’s skyline, due to open its doors for the first time next month.

Culturally aware… Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island

Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island, opening in mid April, will be a dynamic addition to the fabric of Wan Chai, with its environmental design and individually styled rooms evoking the history and rich culture of one of Hong Kong’s busiest commercial districts.

Set across 29 floors, and housing 138 rooms, the hotel has been designed with the influences of local history and culture, but with a modern twist.

The building’s exterior is wrapped in what designers are calling the gold dragon - burnished bronze solar fins that function as an eco-screen to counteract hot spots and solar gain. The hotel structure is strategically positioned so to utilise the shading effect of neighbouring buildings and create a distinct pattern of sun and shade. This then creates the dramatic image of a dragon, folded around the tall structure and reaching towards a pearl at the very top of the building – a pearl otherwise known as the hotel’s glass-bottom rooftop pool.

The intimate rooftop Skybar is another interesting – and much anticipated – feature of the hotel, serving up classic cocktails, bubbles and a selection of wine as well as some tasty nibbles. But the urban views are reason enough to visit the bar and, of course, the rooftop infinity pool, where you can literally float above the Wan Chai neighbourhood.

An arresting addition to the traditional and modern architecture of Wan Chai, the hotel’s design was inspired by local stories.

Hotel General Manager, Bryan Gabriel, says, “What really sets the hotel apart is the grass roots engagement we have with our intriguing and culturally rich neighbourhood”.

“A big part of our philosophy is to inspire curiosity in our well travelled and savvy guests, connecting them with the neighbourhood from a welcoming and comfortable base that is both striking in design and intimate in its service.”

Wan Chai has many long tau, or tenement houses steeped in history. These days many are still little grocery stores and barber shops that feel distinctly like time stopped back in1962, but some have been restored and transformed, like The Pawn, one of Hong Kong’s first pawn shops and now a charming restaurant.

The old Wan Chai market and flea market at Canal Road East are nearby, and places where locals have gathered for decades – telling stories and haggling and exchanging goods. The last letter is long gone from the old colonial Wan Chai Post Office, but in it’s new guise as the Environment Resource Centre, it’s still well worth a visit.

Along with the hotel, the local government in Hong Kong has recently undertaken several urban renewal projects, including the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.

A Special Lunch Correspondent

Right now, this very instant, is the time to plan your trip to Shanghai.

I’ve been to Shanghai nearly every year for the past decade or so and let me assure you autumn and spring are the best months to be there. Forget winter (it’s miles above the equator) and summer is very difficult indeed.

Let’s say you’re there on holiday, or in town for a few days for business, and want to know where to hang out when your sightseeing or wheeling and dealing is done. Here is Lunch Magazine’s carefully crafted list of the top 10 things to do in Shanghai.

1. Kerry Hotel, Pudong.

Beer garden ... The Brew at the Kerry Pudong

It is in Pudong, which means there is no congestion and wide streets. The Kerry has transformed this end of Pudong. It sits atop a massive shopping centre, has its own restaurants (The Cook, The Meet), its own bar (The Brew), with its own beer garden which looks on to the biggest green space in Shanghai, Century Park. It has its own gym, pool, top class restaurants and the Cook is the perfect place for brunch.

http://www.shangri-la.com/shanghai/kerryhotelpudong/dining/

2. Antique Bike Ride. “Any questions?’’ says Thomas our host and head motorcycle rider.
“How many people have you lost this year?’’ I ask. Everyone laughs and Thomas says. “None, but there are still a few months to go.’’ Thomas is an unknown quantity at the beginning of the ride but by the end I have even more respect for him, if that’s possible.

Sideways ... the best way to see Shanghai

There follows over an hour on the backstreets, high streets and byways of old Shanghai on a collection of antique motorcycles.

He offers us all helmets but we all shake our heads. We go through the Former French Concession and in one spectacular move, roar on the wrong side of the road up Huai Hai Lu, one of the main drags of Shanghai. It’s not for your faint hearted, shy and retiring types. Everywhere we go we are photographed.

We also do a tour of the art district, or Yartz district as I christen it. (Don’t worry, there is a place to buy beer and give the culture a miss, so you don’t have to reach for your sidearm at the mention of the word).

The ride begins at the Peninsula, just near the Bund and ends just after dark, so you get the thrill of doing what you just did in the daytime, only with the sights, sounds and … ah yes .. even the smells of Shanghai at night around you and a throbbing machine between your thighs.
Absolutely unforgettable.

http://shanghaisideways.com/

3. Cotton’s. The best burger I’ve had anyplace, and yes I’ve had ground prime rib in the States. This burger is served with cheese and salad and this and that on the side.

I bully the staff into throwing in some jalapenos to go with the chilli and extremely hot Chinese lajiao (chilli). It comes with fresh freedom fries and I fall upon it with gallon after gallon of Brooklyn Lager.

The bar/restaurant is in the courtyard of an old French mansion, with trellises, plenty of vines and lots of umbrellas and candles. The punters are mostly younger and mostly coupled up. A great place to take a date (I was there with the Old Man). Oh. Almost forgot, this review is for the one on An Ting Lu, I haven’t been to the other one yet.

http://www.cottons-shanghai.com/

4. Salute. Another Mediterranean inspired bar. This bar on Fuxing Lu is run by my very good friend Luka and his lovely Shanghainese bride. It’s only been open a few months and is one of the hottest venues in Shanghai, just off Hengshan Lu. Just by the way, in 1942 Hengshan Lu was known as Avenue Petain and the Vichy French and the Japanese were running the old French Concession. The Japanese were also running the entire lower Yangtze region and behaving rather unpleasantly.

But back to Salute. There is no wine list and no menu. Luka serves whatever he has handy after asking you what you feel like. It appears he has quite a bit laying around … the food is awesome authentic cold cuts.

My companion and I have a spicy salami and some proscuitto with some crusty bread to soak up the truly excellent Valpolicella Luka puts on our table. He only asked me one thing: ‘Please don’t give us any more publicity. I have enough customers’. Sorry mate.

http://www.saluteshanghai.com/

5. The Apartment. I find this place by accident one night when I’m heading to Zapata’s. While stopped at a traffic light a cab overflowing with women, girls, people of the opposite gender asks us where we were heading (the girls asked, I mean, not the taxi). When we tell them they say: “Zapata’s is for amateurs, come to The Apartment.’’

Chillin'... The Apartment's rooftop beer garden

Several hours and some unlikely adventures follow before we find ourselves at the designated rendezvous. The Apartment takes up an entire building and there is something to suit all tastes. On the first floor there is a club with doof doof music and a lot of chaps standing around, along with admittedly some really quite beautiful woman, being gazed at by the aforementioned chaps. Really, what fellows expect will come from gazing longingly at girls is beyond me.

We give that a miss and head on up the stairs. Another disco, with the same ratio of chaps to et cetera. With grim determination and dauntless courage, the birthright of every Australian, we decide to soldier on.

Finally the top floor. A beer garden on the roof. Snow Patrol is playing over the wireless. Clear skies and plenty of the right sort of company. The crowd is friendly (including our cab full of girls who actually do remember us – and have been joined by their grinning life partners).

The beer is cold. It’s a great place to hang or, if you’re in the mood, chill.

http://www.theapartment-shanghai.com/

6. Barbarossa. There is a square in the middle of Shanghai called People’s Square, and a park in the middle of the square, and in the middle of the park there is an island and in the middle of the island there is a bar, and in the middle of the bar … well you get the picture.

The bar is called Barbarossa. They have food and drink and during the day you can look at the giant lotuses in the lake. The day I’m here there's a light rain falling on the water. Upstairs there is a posh bar with a serious cocktail menu. Barbarossa is a must-see if you are in Shanghai. Look out for the lotuses – they can leap nine metres, I’m told.

Directions: It doesn’t appear to have a website. Enter People’s Park from Nanjing Lu West and keep on walking. Eventually you will hear music and when you see the lights of the old mansion, cross the bridge over the lake and there you are!

Tel: +86 21 6318 0220

7. The Glamour Bar, M on the Bund. It has glamour, it has style, it has romance and panache. This is the place to go to be seen and to get a serious cocktail.

You cannot be overdressed in the Glamour Bar, so wear your best frock, or bag of fruit, and shine those shoes for heaven’s sake.There is a balcony for smokers or for those who just want to step outside and look down the entire length of The Bund and say, "Holy cow, how awesome is Shanghai?''

Or go inside and prop up the bar and order another martini. You’ve earned it.

http://www.m-glamour.com/

8. Gintei for all you can eat sushi. The night I go there I’m hungry, really hungry. Did I mention it’s all you can eat? Well it is. It’s also all you can drink.

I order three tallies of Heineken, some Tsing Tao and some sake to keep the beer company. The waitress asks if we want it hot or cold. ’Cold,’ I say as my sister says ‘hot’ at the same instant. Let’s get both. Ursula shrugs.

We order a lot of food. The sushi is fresh. Very fresh and so is the sashimi. The butter fried steak is very buttery and very steakey. Don’t stop ordering because you’re full. And don’t stop drinking just because you have a skinful and your belly is bulging – it’s great food and a fantastic experiment in gluttony. Let’s go there again soon Ushie.

No website. Tel: 6218 1932
75 Nanhui Lu, near Beijing Xi Lu

A slice of luxury... Oasis Room at Banyan Tree

9. Banyan Tree on the Bund. Stay here for a bit of luxury and a fresh perspective of bustling Shanghai. This brand spanking new urban resort has stylish rooms with amazing river views. But if you can, stay in the Oasis Room – it has its own private dipping pool. After a long night out, visit the hotel’s spa to reenergise and get covered in aromatic oils and healing herbs and spices.  

www.banyantree.com

10. Zapata’s. OK. So you knew I was going to end up here at some point. Zapata’s is a Shangahi institution. It’s got the biggest beer garden, the cheapest margaritas and plenty of eye candy for both sexes. Cheap cigarettes, inexpensive Mexican blotting paper (food).

Try not going there … go on just try. I can’t. It’s on Hengshan Lu near Dongping Lu. You can’t miss it and there’s a good bar called Sasha’s next door where you can have a quiet pizza and a cocktail when things get too rowdy and too bawdy.

http://zapatas-shanghai.com/en/home.html

Tantalising... Macanese cuisine

The number of Australians heading to Macau is on the rise, but if James Packer’s latest gambling multiplex isn’t enough to sway you, Macanese cuisine will ensure a trip to the former Portuguese colony is well worth it.

Macanese cuisine offers an interesting blend of Cantonese and Portuguese culinary traditions, with an added touch of spice from African and India influences. 

Macau Food Week is currently underway in Sydney and to whet your palate Sheraton on the Park is serving traditional Macanese fare until 26 October.

In the hotel’s new Feast restaurant, Macanese delicacies such as caldo verde, a chourico-scented soup with finely chopped Chinese spinach; gomes de sa, salted cod with potato; and Portuguese-inspired egg tarts take pride of place on the expansive buffet. 

Diverse... Macau Food Festival

Also available is the genuine Macanese dish, Minchi (minced or ground meat flavoured with molasses and soy sauce and topped with a fried egg) as well as fragrant African chicken and Macau prawns.

If you’re still hungry for more, head over to Macau in Novmeber to celebrate the Island's 12th annual Food Festival. Held at Sai Van Lake Square from 9 – 25 November, the festival will showcase local cuisine as well as culinary delights from Europe, Mainland China and various parts of Asia.

www.macautourism.gov.mo

Qantas might loosely still call Australia home and think it's the government's favourite child but Tourism Australia and the Federal Government are keen to adopt a few siblings for the national carrier as tourism numbers continue to rise out of Asia.

The nation's Federal Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson recently said it's no longer all about Qantas. He said it's vitally important we build strong Asian aviation partnerships and Tourism Australia will partner with "whoever we can that allows us to grow the tourism industry."

Not alone... Qantas a380 Airbus

Ferguson said that with the United States taking the tourism industry seriously for the first time in its history, with a concerted marketing effort being pushed from the White House, it's important to boost Australia's own marketing efforts now and build aviation partnerships around the world with a specific focus on Asia.

The minister was speaking as he announced the federal government's intention to provide extra funds for Tourism Australia's marketing efforts in Asia. Part of the new Asia Marketing Fund, Tourism Australia will receive an extra $48.5 million over four years to further ramp up its marketing activities in Asia – Australia's fastest growing tourism region.

This pivot towards Asia comes on the back of strong growth out of the region in recent years with 40 per cent of all international visitors last year coming from Asia. Moreover, the number of Chinese visitors grew by 20 per cent last year and Japan is again on the rise with visitor numbers swelling by 16 per cent in June this year.

The funds ($8.5 million) in the first year will be used across four strategic projects including a focus on China's secondary cities such as Qingdao, Chengdu and Chongqing which have a combined population of over 30 million.

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said the fund provides an unprecedented opportunity to further drive existing and new marketing initiatives in Australia's fastest growing and most valuable inbound visitor markets.

He also reiterated the Minister's comments regarding the importance of aviation partnerships and said they're currently growing in leaps and bounds with China alone seeing an increase of 100 per cent in recent years.

On the rise... Chinese visitors to Australia

"People mistakenly think we're tied to Qantas but we're not. Tourism Australia is a tourism marketer and 99 per cent of our overseas visitors fly here so we work with people who want to fly here – that's why we now have 14 airline deals globally," Mr McEvoy said.

According to McEvoy, China has a voracious appetite for Australia. "They love our pristine world class environment; our great food and wine; our clean clear climate; breadth of accommodation and friendly and open people."

And China's love for Australia is reflected in the response to Tourism Australia's new global advertising campaign with the advertisement being downloaded 20 million times in China alone. According to independent market research firm Celsius, the campaign registers as one of the top five per cent ever released into Asian markets, putting Australia in the company of some of the world's most recognisable brands.

Whether it’s for business or leisure, visitors are filing into Macau. To accommodate the growth in visitor numbers, Macau is rapidly expanding.

Sands Cotai Central

New tourist attractions, international hotels, bars and restaurants and retail precincts are all part of Macau’s ongoing expansion project.

28 million people visited Macau in 2011, a rise of 12 per cent on 2010. In the first six months of this year alone, 13 million visitors made their way to Macau, an increase of 8.51 per cent on those months in the previous year. Australian visitor rates have risen 7.67 per cent compared with the same period last year.

“I can see this trend continuing as more and more hotels, attractions and activities are unveiled,” said Helen Wong, general manager of the Macau Government Tourist Office in Australia and New Zealand.

Portuguese influence ... Macau

“While the UNESCO World Heritage sites such as the Ruins of St Paul’s and Senado Square remain key tourist attractions for Australians, as too the Macanese food and Portuguese influences, there are many more things to see and do in Macau in 2012,” she said.

“The opening of new hotels, new shops and new restaurants will help cater for the growing numbers of visitors.”

Macau’s new tourist attractions include an incredible Butterfly Pavilion, erected by MGM Macau. This dome-shaped greenhouse houses nearly one thousand butterflies from around the world. Tourists can view these colourful beauties up until October.

There’s also the Fun Ice World on the Cotai Strip, giving visitors the chance to see copies of the world’s famous buildings, made completely out of ice.

Sands Cotai Central- the latest addition to Macau’s Cotai Strip- now provides an extra 1800 international standard hotel rooms and suites, with more added in September with the opening of the new Sheraton Macau. The Sheraton Macau will open with over 4000 guestrooms and suites and over 9000 square metres of function space.

The precinct, which connects the Macau isles of Taipa and Coloane will boast the world’s largest Sheraton brand. Macau already has the largest Holiday Inn and Conrad in the world.

Add on the Shoppes Cotai Central retail complex and you have one very impressive precinct. But it doesn’t stop there. Sands Cotai Central will also eventually add 5800 hotel rooms, 10,000 square metres of meeting space and 100 shops to the global Asian centre.

With around A$1 billion invested in the project, Macau’s transformation will highlight it as a prime business and leisure destination.

Modern Macau

For more information: Macau Government Tourist Office, www.macautourism.gov.mo

One of the key elements – and the nicest – of Shangri-La’s flagship Kerry Hotel in Pudong Shanghai is Brew, its $2 million in-house craft brewery.
And the man on whose broad shoulders this responsibility lies is Kiwi brewer Leon Mickelson. It’s easy to believe the strapping young man who takes me on a tour of the most specced-up boutique brewery I’ve ever seen has managed to accumulate 14 medals in a lifetime of devotion to his craft.
Brew was handed over to Mickelson lock, stock and recipes by the Australian contractors who put the whole creation together.
Mickelson starts with Shanghai water and purifies it to the point where it may as well have fallen out of the sky over his native New Zealand.
Then he adds the minerals native to the water from which his beer recipes originate – for example, an obedient German package of ions for his Pils and some laconic Australian trace elements for his White Ant beer and somehow he recreates hard uptight English di-hydrogen monoxide for his India Pale Ale.  
There’s even some French campagne yeast for his cider, which; while virile, large and serviceable – still tends to run under a heavy mortaring.
Also very much in demand are Mickelson’s seasonal beers.

On this tour I’m invited to taste his pumpkin beer bled straight out of the vat. It’s mouth filling and cinamony.
Mickelson is kept flat out meeting demand for all his creations thanks to the onsite bottleworks supplying receptacles of free beer for the hotel’s guestroom mini bars.
Yes – don’t bother backing up and reading that again – there is free beer, or sodas, in the room mini bars – the Kerry doesn’t believe in socking you 10 smackers for a beer or a Coke for that matter. They just want you to relax, sit at the bar – every room has a bar by the way – and enjoy Mickelson’s handiwork at the end of the day – or even well into the night.
The bar concept should be embraced worldwide. It’s awful taking a new friend to your room only to have to them perch on the bed or lean against the wall.
And for a couple travelling together, it’s a great place to sit and debrief and decompress without having to get togged up and going down to the bar.

Someone's got to do it ... Brea and Mickelson

http://www.thecookthemeetthebrew.com/free-beer-in-kerry-hotel-rooms/

Firstly, there's the annual Feast of the Bathing Buddha, a day in the northern spring where the images of Buddha are ceremonially cleansed and purified in temples throughout the territory.
 

Then there's the Feast of the Drunken Dragon, a strange festival compared with other major Chinese Buddhist ceremonies and dates back from the Qing Dynasty, and the Feast of Maidens and the Feast of Hungry Ghosts.
 

And, of course, there's the November staging of the Macau Food Festival which highlights the many tantalising delicacies of a centre which prides itself on a true mix of recipes from east-meets-west backgrounds.
 

They're among a smorgasbord of festivals to crowd what is a congested calendar for 2012.
 

Beginning with the spectacular Chinese New Year holidays from January 23-25, the list also includes a few annual highly charged favourites such as the June running of the Macau International Dragon Boat Races and Dragon Boat Festival, the Macau International Fireworks Display Contest – in its 24th year – throughout September and the 59th Macau Grand Prix from November 15-18.
 

Combine the festivals with the many tourist attractions which make up the 25 UNESCO World Heritage-listed sites and the contemporary precincts and Vegas-like shows of the Cotai Strip, reclaimed land between the Macau islands of Taipa and Coloane, and there's much to see and do on a visit.

"Whether they are of Chinese or Portuguese heritage, the people of Macau truly like to celebrate with a festival," said Helen Wong, general manager of the Macau Government Tourist Office in Australia and New Zealand. "Prepare to feast on another year of song and dance, colourful religious parades, street markets, spectacular fireworks and plenty of sporting events," she said. "There's no shortage of reasons to visit Macau – throughout the year."
 

Away from the festivities, major attractions of Macau include the iconic 17th Century Ruins of St Paul's, the popular Senado Square with its wave-like paving, the main fortress as well as the Guia Fortress, a sprinkling of refurbished and colourfully painted churches, and the A-Ma Temple, which existed long before the arrival of the first Portuguese sailors 500 years ago.
 

There's also a 20-metre statue of the Goddess of Kun Iam – Goddess of Mercy -  as well as much taller 338-metre high Macau Tower, a venue for Skywalks around the perimeter of an outer rim 233 metres above the ground and a series of  A J Hackett bungee jumps.
 

Details:  www.macautourism.gov.mo

CALENDAR OF FESTIVALS AND EVENTS FOR 2012

Chinese New Year Holidays

Jan 23-25

Feast of the God Tou Tei

Feb 23

Procession of the Passion of Our Lord, the God Jesus

Feb 25-26

Feast of Pak Tai

Mar 24

Macau International Environmental Co-operation Forum & Exhibition

Mar 29-31

Ching Ming

Apr 4

Easter Holidays

Apr 6-7

A-Ma Festival

Apr 13

Feast of Buddha (Feast of the Bathing of Lord Buddha), Feast of the Drunken Dragon, Tam Kong Festival

Apr 28

Labour Day

May 1

23rd Macau Arts Festival

May 1 – Jun 2 (tentative dates)

Procession of Our Lady of Fátima

May 13

International Museum Day

May 18

12th Macau Lotus Flower Festival

Jun 9-17

Macau International Dragon Boat Races

Jun 16-17, 23

Dragon Boat Festival (Tun Ng Festival)

Jun 23

Feast of Na Cha

Jul 6

Macau Franchise Expo 2012

Jul 6-8

International Youth Dance Festival

Jul 20-26

Feast of Kuan Tai

Aug 11

Feast of Maidens

Aug 23

Feast of Hungry Ghosts

Aug 30

FIVB World Grand Prix

Aug (dates to be confirmed)

24th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest

Sep 8,15,22,29 & Oct 1

World Tourism Day

Sep 27

Mid-Autumn Festival

Sep 30

The Day Following Mid-Autumn Festival

Oct 1

National Day of the People's Republic of China

Oct 1

The Day Following National Day of the PRC

Oct 2

26th Macau International Music Festival

Oct 5 – Nov 4 (tentative dates)

Lusofonia Festival

Oct 19-21

Festival of Ancestors (Chung Yeung Festival)

Oct 23

10th Macau A-Ma Cultural & Tourism Festival

Oct (dates to be confirmed)

17th Macau International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF)

Oct (dates to be confirmed)

All Souls Day

Nov 2

Macau City Fringe Festival

Nov 9-25

59th Macau Grand Prix

Nov 15-18

Macau Food Festival

Nov (dates to be confirmed)

Macau International Marathon

Dec 2

Feast of Immaculate Conception

Dec 8

Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day

Dec 20

Winter Solstice

Dec 21

Christmas Holidays

Dec 24-25

Macau International Kart Grand Prix

Dec (dates to be confirmed)