Today we planned to drive outside of Beijing city heading north to visit Angie’s Uncles factory and go skiing. Angie’s parents picked me up in the morning from the hotel. We had had some bao buns in the car on the way to the factory. We drove from the south of Beijing where my hotel is, through the city centre of Beijing to the north and into the countryside. I now understand how massive Beijing city is as you can drive for quite a long time and still be surrounded by the concrete jungle. We drove passed the famous CCTV building, which is colloquially called the underpants building, and the tallest tower in Beijing.

Factory tour

After driving for around 1 hour, we reached Angie’s uncle’s factory. We met with her uncle’s family for a tour around the new factory where they are building specialized modified vehicles, especially ambulances. Angie’s uncle showed us all corporate office areas and then the factory floor production lines which were covered in vans at different stages of production being made into ambulances. This was an interesting unique experience. We ended the tour by playing table tennis on the ground floor of the apartment building behind the factory.

Skiing

After the factory tour, we drove to the Nanshan (南山) Ski resort. This ski resort was a little different from the ski resorts I have been to in Australia, where you usually must spend quite a bit of time driving up the mountain and renting equipment before you start skiing. Here the resort is at ground level, and you can simply park the car, walk through the gate, and pick up your ski clothes and skis (I opted for a snowboard since I am more confident with snowboarding), and then you walk over to the area of the skiing. The whole process was much more efficient, and we were on the snow skiing roughly 15 minutes after we parked the car. Angie and her cousins had a ski instructor as they had not skied much before and were learning to ski in the beginner’s area with the magic carpets. I joined them for a little while, whilst getting used to the snowboard again. After a short time, I felt confident enough to go up to the intermediate area on the ski lift. I enjoyed going down this run a few times feeling very confident and controlled, not losing any ability despite not snowboarding for several years.

After a few hours of skiing, we met up for lunch before heading back out to do some more skiing. This time, their ski lesson was over, so I went with them in the beginner’s area taking some videos of them skiing whilst I took the opportunity to practice snowboarding with my opposite foot forward in the reverse direction.

Dinner and heading to Angie’s Auntie and Uncle’s countryside house

After tiring ourselves out skiing, we left the ski resort and headed for some dinner at a countryside restaurant. This restaurant was situated near a large reservoir and specialized in a famous Beijing dish called 灶台鱼 (zaotaiyu) which is a hotpot with fish from the reservoir. It was quite an interesting restaurant and felt very authentic and local. The food itself was delicious. I had some baijiu with Angie’s dad at dinner.

After dinner, we headed to Angie’s Auntie and Uncle’s countryside house where we would all be staying the night. When we arrived, we played mahjong, which I had no idea how to play. Angie’s dad was helping me play by explaining to me what to do in Chinese (I still don’t know how it works). I didn’t win but it was very fun and interesting. After this, I had some Moutai with Angie’s dad and uncle and ate some 大闸蟹 (dazhexie) which is crab from a specific lake in China (阳澄湖) that is famous for having delicious crabs. It was quite delicious and fancy. It was fun spending time with Angie’s family in the evening. I am grateful for their hospitality and eagerness to introduce me to many different parts of Chinese culture.