After being told how difficult it is to get around Harbin without understanding Mandarin we are feeling quite proud of ourselves for achieving such a hassle free trip. As soon as we got to Harbin the use of English to repeat directions and shop signs etc just dropped off and Chinese characters aren’t that easy to recognise. So our Harbin guide bought return tickets for us and we did manage to notice that we arrived and departed from different train stations. The hotel was really really warm in fact I had to open the window to sleep, heat was coming from the floor, walls who knows from where but there was no thermostat so as soon as you entered the room, you had to frantically tear off your clothes and as soon as you thought about leaving the hotel you had to layer, layer, layer. It’s quite time consuming but I believe it burns up the calories. As soon as we entered the ski hall we realise we were in the Club Med end of the resort and everything catered to them. Luckily some random’s took pity on us and helped us organise lift passes and gear and Nick got a ski instructor for 2 hours who was lovely and spoke quite good English, somehow I ended up with an instructor so I got a tour of the mountain. Nick really enjoyed the skiing and I could see he was quickly improving. The weather was insanely good, sunny, very very cold which is why we are wearing masks but I didn’t think it was as bad as Harbin. The slopes were very well groomed – a bit over groomed for my liking but I guess I was being shown only the easier stuff, a couple of purpose built mongels and no fresh snow – again different to Harbin. That night we totalled up how much it cost and decided not to buy a full day pass (1000 RMB each $150) the next day so we explored in the morning and skied in the afternoon. This time we took the gondala all the way to the top – Nicks first time, he was great – could usually stop about where he wanted to and only expressed surprise once when I explained that the particular slope was the ‘easier’ route. He did manage to give me a couple of laughs (stacks) which is the whole point of skiing with someone else – so I was happy and free to ski at my own pace. So we stuck to the top half of the mountain and had a late lunch up the top, then skied down to return all the gear and catch a shuttle bus to the train station. We are tired but happy, only have to catch a taxi in Harbin then our little side adventure will be over.
P.S. That was easy to.
