Skiing in China

Just as I hinted in my previous post, I will be talking a bit on my skiing experience in China. About that, I don't have much to say. I did had an EXPERIENCE. It wasn't exactly fun but I did had fun (do you get it??).



The ski resort that I was staying at. This is the place NOT the place to go if you ever go to Yabuli, which is located further up Harbin. My family thought that this place was good since they hosted the winter olympics there.

But the place was BADLY maintained, perhaps because its the beginning of winter and they are just opening. I had to bath in cold water! Imagine, the temperature there was way below -25 degrees. On the other hand, the service there was really good. Despite how much I did not like the place, the staff did try to make it up to us.



This was taken at the window of the restaurant. Surprisingly, the restaurant served really good food (I was really hungry too). The windmill out there is actually a chalet. Don't be tricked by its pleasant exterior. The INTERIOR is rotten and abandoned, therefore the hotel has decided not to rent them.



Here at this very hill lurks evil, EVIL!!! I know from the looks of it, it looks pretty harmless but I'll tell you more later in this post.



Here's my sister with her personal trainer. I think she did a better job than me, or she had a better trainer. She was the one who really enjoyed her skiing experience.



Here I am, helplessly trying to ski. Ok, lets recap and count the number of times I fell.

1st time : Right after putting on the skis, I tripped and fell on FLAT ground.

2nd time : Going up the hill, I fell down twice trying to get on the lift. Locals were laughing!

3rd time : Up the hill, I fell down trying to get OFF the lift.

4rd time : My trainer was guiding me down the slope. I did not "extend" my skis properly
and started to accelerate forward, and crashed right into her!

5th time : Halfway up the hill on the stupid lift. I did not have a good grip so I fell.

6th time : I finally got the hang of everything, so it was time for my solo run down the hill. Well, somehow I detoured to the right and crashed into the bushes. I always seemed to be able to turn right but NEVER turn left which was the BIG problem.

7th time : Thank God this was the LAST time I had an accident. I did not exactly fell but on another solo run down the hill, I went all the way down at full speed. Those who ski would know that your skis need to be opened wide in an "A" shape to slow down.

Well mine was more like an "H", my skis were parallel, so I was speeding all the way down the hill. It was a really frightening experience, feeling that you have not control on whats going to happen next.




Fine, it wasn't all that bad. I did have fun along the way. Falling down was actually pretty funny and something that I would remember for the rest of my life. (And also my mom took these shots of me and my sister, she's a pretty good photographer herself!)



My sister loved skiing so much she wanted to continue. But the day was ending and the snow have almost turned into ice, making it dangerous as it would be more slippery and harder to stop.

We chatted with a local later during the day and found out that we were cheated of our money. We practically paid more than half for everything. The local told us that there were many other better and cheaper ski slopes around which charged less than half of what we paid. Other "non-tourist" hotels were also much cheaper.

Sigh....so perhaps this could be a word of wisdom for all of your people who are planning your holidays there. Oh yeah...and one more thing. It gets dark by 5 o'clock so prepared to be damn bored in the evenings as there is no night live over there. All in all it was a pretty good experience. I would definitely take another shot at skiing if I ever get the chance.