Trip to Dongbei- Jilin

We all got up relatively early this morning, and with a little translation help, left our bags at the hotel and grabbed a taxi to Beidahu Ski Resort. It was just a short drive from Jilin, this is about where we were, for all of you keeping score at home. Upon arrival we noticed a significant lack of cars and almost empty ski runs. The runs looked pretty impressive (for China). We weren't really expecting much, as China's modernization and wealth accumulation have been very recent, and good ski infrastructure isn't built overnight. We went inside and fairly quickly were able to use the helpful "ski equipment rental" (or some more Chinese translation) sign to find the rental room. We figured out the system and got all the gear pretty quickly, granted there were no English speaking employees. All in all, the lift ticket and all the rentals cost ~450Y, ($65.84), which isn't bad at all. Interestingly, because credit cards haven't really caught on in save happy China, we had to leave huge cash deposits on all the items, some of the deposits were more than 5 times the price of the item (talk about collateral). I had a great time skiing, it being only my second time. I went down one of the more challenging runs with Dave and managed to slide down on my butt about 1/4 of the distance. As the run was very steep (for me), when I fell, I didn't just fall, but instead fell and slid until there was a relatively flat spot. Luckily, Dave (a native Coloradan and avid skier) was there to help me find my errant skis and poles. Nonetheless, I had a really good time, and was pretty impressed with the ski resort; not high quality from what I have seen and heard, but not bad at all, especially considering its location.

A very interesting thing was a conversation we had with one of the staff members who had helped us get our gear in the morning. As we were leaving, we saw her and asked for help in getting a taxi back to Jilin. She and her friend were able to quickly call for a driver who took us back for a good rate. As we waited we chatted with her. Much to our amazement, she had never skied. Not once. She works at a ski resort, it might take her 15 minutes to go from her chair to being in skis and on the lift. But she hasn't done it once. In the States, almost every person working at ski resorts does so explicitly for the free or discounted skiing and the great access. But in China, this girl (probably about my age) gets mediocre pay and apparently no ski benefits. Granted she does have a fairly easy job, inside and heated and most likely a free or very cheap dorm at the ski lodge. This is just a small and brief representation of what life is like in a country with a very large, willing, and competitive labor force. Even after a semester here, things like this continue to blow me away. After the ride back, we checked back into the hotel for another night, decided that the underground arcade was a little too smoky and sleazy for us, had a marathon meal at McDonald's and headed to bed after a good (but cold) day of skiing (snowboarding for Lynn).