I don't know which is more exciting news - the fact that I went skiing on Saturday, or the fact that my friend Ed just arrived in Harbin - it is SO nice to see a familiar face from home, and I get to speak English with him, which is an added bonus. Hooray!
This weekend was crazy in a both fun and stressful way. Friday night I watched Jackass II with a bunch of my classmates - I was the only girl. It was very interesting to see how the Americans and Chinese reacted differently to the various stunts. There were things that the Chinese students just didn't get at all, but in the end, I found out the one thing that everyone agrees on: grown men unexpectedly getting whacked in the nuts is absolutely hilarious.
Saturday morning I woke up at 5:45 in the morning to head out to go skiing. There were 23 students total who signed up to go on the ski trip - trying to organize 23 people to do anything, let alone rally to head out to the Chinese wilderness to go skiing, is an interesting challenge. Fortunately, we all made it out and made it back with only minor glitches - it was an awesome day. The train to Yabuli left Harbin at 8:00 - after a quick breakfast at KFC (for some people) we were ready to go. The train ride there was pretty uneventful - I sat across from three older people who alternated between looking out of the window and looking at me - and we got to Yabuli around 11:00. Chaos then ensued while trying to buy return tickets - as I feared, we were only able to get standing tickets - and involved serious amounts of elbowing and cash-waving before the woman behind the counter took notice of us. My roommate had arranged a small bus to take us out to the ski area, which was located about 15 miles out of town. One of my goals for the trip was to pass a donkey-pulled cart on my way to go skiing. This didn't happen on the way TO the area, but in the afternoon, as we were just getting back into town, out the window on the right side of the bus I saw... a cart being pulled by a donkey! Goal achieved.
Donkeys aside, the driver drove remarkably fast given the road conditions (and the fact that the drifting snow had turned the two-lane road into a one-lane road), but we arrived just fine, and went in search of tickets. Chaos again ensued while my roommate made several phone calls to find the woman with whom she had negotiated our discounted group lift ticket price with. In China, almost every price is negotiable, including alpine lift tickets. We had 17 people buy 4 hour passes, and 6 people buy 2 hour passes. 23 people packed into a small room waving money and trying to figure out what they want to do = stress. It all settled down in the end, though, and we went off in search of rental equipment.
In the US, they make you sign complicated liability release forms, and adjust to a T the settings on your bindings before they release you out onto the hill. In China, they give you a pair of boots (mine were Technicas, one missing a buckle, the other missing a strap), a pair of poles, and a pair of skis (Volkls - not bad, though the binding mountings were about a centimeter off). Not until I went outside to put the skis on did I discover that they hadn't adjusted the bindings for me - apparently, in China, this is something you do yourself - or in my case, have the security guard checking lift tickets do it for you. This is the first time a man in uniform has adjusted my bindings, and he was really, really nice about it. Against all odds, the skis worked great, and never flew off at unexpected times (which was good, because there were no liability release forms. I think in China, your arrival in the country means you've basically accepted that whatever happens to you is pretty much your own fault...)
The chairlift was fine, and never stopped once. I think in China, if you miss the chairlift or fall down, you just try and get out of the way as best you can without getting clocked in the head by the passing chairs. I think the fact that the chairlift was incredibly slow helped here - it took about 15 minutes to get to the top of the mountain, which really wasn't that high - more than Pat's Peak less than Sunapee size. It was decently steep, though, and the fact that it wasn't groomed at all made it even more challenging. It was awesome - there were three trails open - two intermediate, one advanced. There was no easy way down, as a couple people found out the hard way - oddly enough, the bunny hill was located at the top of the mountain (complete with agonizingly slow pomalift), and the only easy way down was to take the chairlift. There was one section of the trail where all the snow had been completely blown off, leaving only hardpack underneath - there was an "alternate route" covered in four feet of powder, but that was also a bit tricky to negotiate - I fell once, which was a bad idea. It was freezing cold, and alternately sunny and gusting snow squalls, but it was FUN. I LOVE SKIING!
Our train back left Yabuli station at 5:44, and it quickly turned into a race against time to make the train. Our goal was to leave at 4:30, which is when the last skier made it back to the base lodge. quick quick! returned all rental equipment, and left the ski area gates at 4:55. Yikes! Our bus driver understood our predicament, and responded accordingly. floor it! all sorts of Volkswagens, trucks, and donkeys were passed in the supreme attempt to get us to the station on time. We got there at 5:20 - time to spare! Apart from a shouting/wrestling match which erupted on the platform between a group of about six people over I'm not sure what, (none of it involving any of us, fortunately!) we got on the train with no problems at all. Of course, we didn't have seats, which led to people making one of two decisions:
1) Leaning against one of the seats in the middle of the car, and slowly getting to know the people around you, until they gradually move over and let you squeeze onto the seat next to them. People are pretty good about letting you sit in their seat when they get up to use the bathroom or go to the snack car. Speaking of the snack car, the other choice you can make when faced with three hours of standing on the train is...
2) Go and get drunk in the snack car (This is not the choice I made, but was v. popular among some (all) of the boys). There also apparently was a drinking competition between two of the guys and an older Chinese man, who made disparaging remarks about the ability of Americans to hold their liquor. Given the state the guys were in when they got off the train, the older guy was remarkably prescient. Fortunately, all 23 of us made it off the train and back to campus. It was a very long, very busy day, but all in all, very fun! In contrast, Sunday was very boring... for me, it was mostly a very long, much needed nap. So in sum: I would not travel all the way to China just to go skiing - but if you're in China, and are within striking range of Yabuli, you should definitely go! It has all the character that modern American alpine areas are missing with all their glitz and high-speed quads (at Yabuli, the roof of the rental shop was leaking onto the rental counter, and none of the lights were working - using a squat toilet in the dark while wearing ski boots was an adventure indeed...!) - if you want to find the true roots of skiing, I think the true roots can still be found in China - if what you're looking for is the pure joy of falling speed and mountains, then you can definitely find it here!
