Hello from Bai Shan, China! We are in a Holiday Inn room in a China Ski resort names Chang Bai Shan. It is in Northeast China – east of Beijing – about 10 miles from the North Korea border. I guess this will be the closest I will ever come to the forbidden kingdom!
The boys whine every winter about not seeing snow….the 55 degree, rainy winter in Guangzhou does not do it for them. So we decided to really take an adventure as the 5 of us headed north in a 5 hour plane ride to this ski resort.
No one here speaks English. We were left waiting in the airport to see a Holiday Inn bus near the terminal – until the terminal emptied out from our flight and no Holiday Bus was to be seen. A young lady urged us to go on one of the unmarked buses parked in the parking lot; we did, reluctantly, and we were taken to the resort. The resort is about 20 buildings with 8 or 9 hotels around a village. We saw a sign for the “Holiday Inn Suites” – and drove right past it… .Um, I think that was our stop.
Today was our first day on the slopes…I told Mom and Dad about this trip; my Mom said “Um, I didn’t know you skied….”, I don’t. The last skiing I did was in 1994 on the big slopes of Mansfield, OH. I haven’t even made it to Perfect North near Cincinnati yet! So we got a late start this morning, as I 1) don’t’ know the right skiing protocol of getting the electronic “pass” first, and (2) not knowing Mandarin. We did line up a private instructor for Freddie and Warren , and a separate one for Martin. Not sure what the cost will be just yet.
About 10 minutes into the lesson, I saw that Fredie and Warren didn’t have their skis on yet. I tried to tell Freddie to put the toe in first, and the instructor yelled at ME. “NO! I am teacher!” They were doing stretching. Ok, Ok, I will leave you guys alone.
An hour later all three of them appeared on the slopes; Freddie got off the “moving walkway” first , with the instructor near Warren; Freddie took a couple of strokes with the poles to get moving, and then started down the slope. He looked like he knew what he was doing……until he never slowed down. There was a crash landing at the bottom. “I accidentally went down the hill!” he explained to me later. Yeah, sure.
Warren got the hang of it near the end; there were a couple of falls along the way near the fence, like his dad 20 years ago – but did well on his last 2 runs. And Martin seemed to love it, although he was going extremely slow the whole way down with the instructor right in front of him, going backwards. No way in hell can I go backwards yet.
After lunch, we did some sledding where Martin went flying over his first “bump” down the hill, and here we are in the room, at 3:20 pm local time as the sun is setting. A pool run is coming up later, and then Freddie and I may go night skiing. We head back New Year’s Eve night, ladning 1 hour before 2014 comes to China.
I don’t understand the allure of skiing at all –too much prep time to get ready for such little payout on the slopes, where it is -15C and breezy – but maybe the bug will hit the kids. We shall see.
Not much to say about the Browns. I can’t believe this team is 4-11, and yet we have 5 Pro Bowlers. It was party time a year ago when Phil Dawson finally got recognized for excellence by going to the Pro Bowl. Maybe we are this year’s version of the 2012 Chiefs – loads of talent, but just needs a new QB…and that new QB will be coming for us next year.
On to the games:
Car 27, Atl 17. Still a lot of motivation for the Pantehs.
Bal 23, Cin 20. I do believe the Ravens will fight back after last week.
Ind 27, Jax 14. I’ve had it with picking the Jags!
Mia 24, NYJ 10. I watched almost all of that Browns-Jets game last week. The Jets aren’t that good. Our defense was horrid.
Min 31, Det 20. Count me among those that thinks the Lions have packed it in.
NYG 27, Was 16. The Skins are done after last week.
Ten 24, Hou 13. Talking about teams that are done…..
Chi 37, GB 23. I know Rodgers is back, but that Packers defense is horrible.
NE 31, Buf 20. I think NE has to win to keep the 2 seed, correct?
NO 27, TB 17. It would be nice to see the Bucs somehow win this to knock the Saints out…but it won’t happen.
Az 20, SF 13. See above.
Den 30, Oak 20. Is Pryor really the answer for the 2014 Raiders?
SD 20, KC 17. I can’t believe that Andy Reid will have a second straight bad outing before the playoffs.
Sea 27, StL 10. The Seahawks still need this, and will roll over the Rams who have nothing to play for.
Phi 31, Dal 28. How can this game NOT be a field goal?
Best bets: 17 of them. Last week: 12-6; overall: 119-113-6
Car -6
Bal +6 1/2
Mia -6
NYJ/Mia under 41 1/2
Min -2 1/2
NYG -3 1/2
Hou/Ten under 44
NE -7 1/2
KC/SD under 44 1/2
The boys whine every winter about not seeing snow….the 55 degree, rainy winter in Guangzhou does not do it for them. So we decided to really take an adventure as the 5 of us headed north in a 5 hour plane ride to this ski resort.
No one here speaks English. We were left waiting in the airport to see a Holiday Inn bus near the terminal – until the terminal emptied out from our flight and no Holiday Bus was to be seen. A young lady urged us to go on one of the unmarked buses parked in the parking lot; we did, reluctantly, and we were taken to the resort. The resort is about 20 buildings with 8 or 9 hotels around a village. We saw a sign for the “Holiday Inn Suites” – and drove right past it… .Um, I think that was our stop.
Today was our first day on the slopes…I told Mom and Dad about this trip; my Mom said “Um, I didn’t know you skied….”, I don’t. The last skiing I did was in 1994 on the big slopes of Mansfield, OH. I haven’t even made it to Perfect North near Cincinnati yet! So we got a late start this morning, as I 1) don’t’ know the right skiing protocol of getting the electronic “pass” first, and (2) not knowing Mandarin. We did line up a private instructor for Freddie and Warren , and a separate one for Martin. Not sure what the cost will be just yet.
About 10 minutes into the lesson, I saw that Fredie and Warren didn’t have their skis on yet. I tried to tell Freddie to put the toe in first, and the instructor yelled at ME. “NO! I am teacher!” They were doing stretching. Ok, Ok, I will leave you guys alone.
An hour later all three of them appeared on the slopes; Freddie got off the “moving walkway” first , with the instructor near Warren; Freddie took a couple of strokes with the poles to get moving, and then started down the slope. He looked like he knew what he was doing……until he never slowed down. There was a crash landing at the bottom. “I accidentally went down the hill!” he explained to me later. Yeah, sure.
Warren got the hang of it near the end; there were a couple of falls along the way near the fence, like his dad 20 years ago – but did well on his last 2 runs. And Martin seemed to love it, although he was going extremely slow the whole way down with the instructor right in front of him, going backwards. No way in hell can I go backwards yet.
After lunch, we did some sledding where Martin went flying over his first “bump” down the hill, and here we are in the room, at 3:20 pm local time as the sun is setting. A pool run is coming up later, and then Freddie and I may go night skiing. We head back New Year’s Eve night, ladning 1 hour before 2014 comes to China.
I don’t understand the allure of skiing at all –too much prep time to get ready for such little payout on the slopes, where it is -15C and breezy – but maybe the bug will hit the kids. We shall see.
Not much to say about the Browns. I can’t believe this team is 4-11, and yet we have 5 Pro Bowlers. It was party time a year ago when Phil Dawson finally got recognized for excellence by going to the Pro Bowl. Maybe we are this year’s version of the 2012 Chiefs – loads of talent, but just needs a new QB…and that new QB will be coming for us next year.
On to the games:
Car 27, Atl 17. Still a lot of motivation for the Pantehs.
Bal 23, Cin 20. I do believe the Ravens will fight back after last week.
Ind 27, Jax 14. I’ve had it with picking the Jags!
Mia 24, NYJ 10. I watched almost all of that Browns-Jets game last week. The Jets aren’t that good. Our defense was horrid.
Min 31, Det 20. Count me among those that thinks the Lions have packed it in.
NYG 27, Was 16. The Skins are done after last week.
Ten 24, Hou 13. Talking about teams that are done…..
Chi 37, GB 23. I know Rodgers is back, but that Packers defense is horrible.
NE 31, Buf 20. I think NE has to win to keep the 2 seed, correct?
NO 27, TB 17. It would be nice to see the Bucs somehow win this to knock the Saints out…but it won’t happen.
Az 20, SF 13. See above.
Den 30, Oak 20. Is Pryor really the answer for the 2014 Raiders?
SD 20, KC 17. I can’t believe that Andy Reid will have a second straight bad outing before the playoffs.
Sea 27, StL 10. The Seahawks still need this, and will roll over the Rams who have nothing to play for.
Phi 31, Dal 28. How can this game NOT be a field goal?
Best bets: 17 of them. Last week: 12-6; overall: 119-113-6
Car -6
Bal +6 1/2
Mia -6
NYJ/Mia under 41 1/2
Min -2 1/2
NYG -3 1/2
Ten -7
Hou/Ten under 44
Chi +3
GB/Chi over 52
NE -7 1/2
Az +1 KC +9 1/2
KC/SD under 44 1/2
Sea -11 1/2
Dal +7
Supercontest selections: last week: 3-2; overall: 40-36-4
Bal +6
Min -3
GB +4 1/2
KC +9 1/2
Sea -10 1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment