Finally We Go Beijing: Day 5, More Snowboarding, Gubei Water Town

We stuck to the plan - Daddy Lim and the kids would do snowboarding on their own for a few hours while I would pack up the rooms. While they workout on the snow (later), I started my day with a kickboxing HiiT in the tiny hotel room. Can is can. Hoho.

Our hotel provided bfast. I saw the host in the kitchen getting busy and microwaving ready-made buns and duno what. Lol. It is ok, they all taste about the same to us. 

It was traditional bfast stuff, which also meant that we weren’t exactly the biggest fans. 

The 烧饼 were quite bland that I have no idea what were the fillings. We were also served some yellow grains 小米粥, that went well with the 酸菜. Our instant coffee and tea saved the day. Lol. 

We decided not to be carrot head this time and intended to loan everything from the ski resort to save some money. While walking to the resort, we were stopped by so many rental shops staff. We did stop at the last one bcos the owner said that their ski suits are at RMB30 per set! Plus they looked the same as the RMB150 ones that we have loaned the day before. Zzzzzzz. The helmet and googles were at RMB35 per set and gloves at RMB5 per pair. We paid RMB70/ pax, compared with the previous day’s RMB220. Ouch! Daddy Lim and the kids said that there were no difference between the 2 suits. Now as I am typing, I felt like a big fool. 

While almost at the gate, we were stopped by several men, who asked if we had bought the entrance tickets. They said that if we buy at the door, it would have cost us RMB360 for a half day ticket. To get discounted price of RMB190 (I saw online), we had to book the night before. I duno how true, but bought from those men anyway. The tickets came in the form of QR code. 

To utilize these, we get them scanned at the counter at the ski resort in exchange for the ski lift pass and we had to place a RMB400 deposit for the equipment. 小祝 helped us the previous day with the logistics. No sweat, all done. I sent them off and headed back to the 民宿. I passed by the same men, who were still busily selling their tickets. 

I got some laundry hand-washed and dried with our trusted mini dryer. I tried to blog and check some emails. I went to the kids’ room to check that nothing was left behind and saw that they had nice views from the 2nd floor, just that nobody in the right mind would sit out in the cold. 

There is a nice back yard with a mini playground. 

I duno why time passed so quickly. Soon, it was time to checkout. I got all the luggage out and walked back to the resort, bumping into Daddy Lim and kids at the rental place. They were all changed and ready to go. They raved about the great time they had, even without an instructor. Zaky was sort of their instructor. He didn’t go up the ski lift but still had fun. 

We didn’t have time for lunch. They each had a 烤肠 and the car arrived shortly after we got back to the 民宿. We loaded up and were soon on the way. It was more email checking, blogging and napping for the tired people. 

The 民宿 owner was telling us that there isn’t much around the area other than the ski resort. We really saw nothing on the way down. Lol. 

It was another hour ride to 古北水镇. I think this is like a man made tourist resort and I read that it is beautiful, plus we are tourists. The ride took us about 1.5 hour but cost us RMB1,100. That is over S$200. What to do when we have to travel from one ulu place to another ulu place? The driver had to drop us at the main entrance and told us to go in the main gate then try to see if there is a free “Baidu” car to the hotel. Huh? 

We went along like 3 blind mice. I lost count of the number of times that we had to ask for information/ direction. We were told to go to the inner hall to checkin, then to deposit the luggage, which would be transported directly to the hotel. 

Finally, we enter the water town proper after the logistics.

Studying the map to figure out where we were.

Such great blooms in winter! No ah, hanging lights. Lol. 

That is the Great Wall from afar! 

I was somewhat reminded of Mt Fuji, that was also viewed from afar. 

We have no idea what to expect from Gubei. We only thought to find our hotel 1st. Speaking of which, I received an email from Trip.com, the website that I used to book the China hotel, a week before our trip. I was informed that the Riverside Inn, which I booked for 2 nights, would be closed for upgrading work and asked if I would accept to be transferred to the Wangta Inn. Then, the email came from “do not reply” email address. Zzzz.. I was wondering if it was a scam. A few days after the email, there was a call from an unknown overseas number. Usually, I wouldn’t pick it up but I am glad that I did bcos the call was from Trip.com, confirming the same. Heng ah. 

I had thought that our hotel is the “王他” Inn. It is actually “望塔”. Lol. Same, same yet different. We explored Gubei and looked for our hotel at the same time. 

Snowed?!? No ah, man-made. Chey..

Zaky tried to touch and grab some. 

We didn’t manage to find our hotel, but found snacks. 

Then lunch. Hoho. 

We all agreed again that these 私房菜 tasted like Popo’s cooking. We even joked that maybe Popo was in the kitchen. We figured out that all 私房菜 all tasted like Popo’s cooking. We asked for 1 bowl of rice. While the bowl is small, the rice was overflowing. 

More walking and exploring. 

The town was very quiet and no crowd. Many of the shops seemed to be closed and I started suspecting if I had made the right choice to stay 2 nights in Gubei. It was too late to change the plan anyway. 

We wandered and we stopped for some lousy coffee, cake and this expensive 旺仔 milk that Nana said tasted like condensed milk. 

We did find our hotel eventually or would have burst our tummy snacking or died of cold. We had 2 beds and I spent both nights with Nana on the smaller one. 

We had a balcony too but it was too cold to enjoy it.

Our hotel gave us free access to the hot spring resort, which we utilised. It wasn’t anything fantastic, there were a few pools to soak in the men and women combined area. What we really liked was the shower area. It was warm and nice and we didn’t have to take turns like in the hotel. 

Right when we exited the hot spring resort, the famous drone show started. 

I think it was quite impressive. I am not sure bcos we are not drone fans and didn’t even bother to catch the entire show. Dinner was more important and we were eyeing the western food restaurant that we saw on the way. We ordered this super big burger to share. 

Oh, we finally figured out what is the”Baidu” car. It is the 24 hours shuttle bus that ran throughout the town - 摆渡车. 

Back at the hotel, I checked on the milk and cherry tomatoes that I left in the balcony. Not frozen leh. Lol. 

Sleep was easy. Good night! 

Mummy Lim

Finally We Go Beijing: Day 4, Nanshan Ski Resort

To change hotel every day is actually very tiring but it also meant that we get to enjoy different bfast spread every morning. 

Look at what we wore to bfast. Hoho. 

It was an exciting day bcos we weee heading to the Nanahan ski resort. Unlike last year where we spent 3 days in the mountain, we only have 1.5 days this round. Zaky particularly was excited. We booked a car through B, that was picking us up at 7.30am. The ride was about 1 hour long, just nice for some urgent work checking.. and napping for the tired people.

The car ride cost us RMB700, which is about S$140. I read that there is public transport to the ski resort but reckoned that we should pay for comfort and convenience. It is too painful to run after buses with 3 luggage. 

The journey was surprisingly fast. I thought the driver was stopping for toilet break but we had already arrived. The driver also helped to call the 民宿, to ensure that we were sent to the right place. Luckily he did bcos there are a few branches of the same 民宿 and we eventually got to the right one. It feels very cosy already.

The rooms weren’t ready and we opted to go to the ski resort 1st. The 民宿 staff brought us to one of the rental places, which I supposed they had a tied-up. We rented the ski suit for RMB150 each, helmet, googles and gloves for RMB70 each, an instructor who taught us for 2 hours at RMB1,600 and the entrance tickets (inclusive of equipment and ski lift) at RMB350 per pax. All in all, we paid RMB3,380 (or about S$780) for a day’s of snowboarding. I only realised how expensive it was after making payment. Zzzz… 

All suited up.

Oh ya, I also paid an extra RMB50 for these protections. I feel very loved. Lol. 

I was constantly “hugged” so tightly. These bears proved to be really useful. 

Our instructor, 小祝, helped us with the entry and then the renting of the equipment. We were then brought onto the snow. The snow was man made given that it hasn’t really snowed. This also meant that any falls would be a lot more painful, since artificial snow is compacted.

Unlike the previous ski resorts that we had been to, where the learning slopes are usually just some gentle slope somewhere, there were multiple learning slopes in this resort and each one comes with its own magic carpet. 

小祝 given us the basic instructions and sort of guided us down the beginner slope. All of us, including Nana, who last snowboard several years back, remembered the basics and sort of snowboard down the slope. We went a few more runs and we recalled how to slow down and stopped. I was the weakest link, which explained the extra protection needed. 

It was a lot less tiring compared with the previous sessions, all thanks to the magic carpet.

After a while, Zaky got bored. The baby slope was too easy for him and he had to learn at our pace. I asked 小祝 to help Zaky recall how to snowboard from front to back and to front, something that he had learnt the last trip but forgotten. We were just happy practicing the same thing. Ended up, the instructor brought Zaky up the ski lift to properly snowboard. He was with Zaky for a good 40 mins and did a total of 3 runs. By the time they were done, it also marked the end of the lesson. 小祝 left and we happily stopped for lunch. 

Anything that is hot is good for this winter. 

We went back to the snow and tried a different beginner slope that is longer. We tried a few runs before Nana decided that she would join Zaky on the ski lift to one of the slopes. We were pointed to the most beginner trail that didn’t look so beginner to me. Daddy Lim said that he would be happy with the leaning slopes; we tasked Zaky to look after jiejie. 

The kids took a while to come back. Nana said that she wasn’t allowed to carry the snowboard onto the ski lift but had to have one foot locked in, then slide off the snow lift. The slope off the ski lift is often super steep and damn scary. Anyway, they survived the slope! Nana was also quite traumatised by the jumping off of the ski lift that she declined to go a 2nd time. Zaky didn’t want to go alone too. Thus, the 4 of us just went up and down the learning slopes and we were getting better. We took another break in the afternoon. 

We had coffee in a Starbucks cup but not from a Starbucks shop. I duno how this works. Lol. 

Then, we hit the slopes again. The magic carpet was closed at about 5.30pm, which also signals the end of our session and the soon to start night ski session. I was too tired to go on. I didn’t ask if Daddy Lim or the kids wanted to continue and quickly bundled everybody off. 

The sun set very quickly. The ski was darkening when we were done returning the equipment. 

The 民宿 staff walked us to the rental place and 小祝 drove us to the ski resort. All thanks to Baidu, we managed to find our way back to the rental place and then to the 民宿.

Our room was ready. The 民宿 was able to arrange dinner for us, either hotpot, American-style BBQ or 私房菜. We originally opted for the BBQ but had to wait and we’re recommended the 私房菜 instead. Sure, anything for the hungry tummies. The food came very shortly and I regret to inform that I have still not learned how to 点外卖. While waiting, we snacked. These were so nice. 

The food was good and there was a lot! We all agreed that it tasted like popo’s cooking. 

We had to plan for the following day. I kept thinking that what we paid today was super expensive and I was right. I think we were absolute carrot heads. This was the price list for instructor by the Center. 

For 4 pax during the weekend for 2 hours, it is RMB340/ pax. We paid RMB400/ pax. The instructor at the resort also told me that the ski suit only cost RMB70 per set. Zzzzz.

It was decided that Daddy Lim and the kids would do a couple of hours of snowboarding while I packed the room to be ready for checking out at 12pm. I offered the kids to book an instructor but was rejected. Ok lah. We also arranged for the driver to pick us up at 12.30pm. 

Daddy Lim and I shared a room for the night. 

The kids took another room that was right above ours. The room comes with projector TV. 

Good night! 

Mummy Lim