One of the greatest paradoxes in my life is my undying love for skiing and my reluctance to spend the great deal of money which it unfortunately entails. So yes, there was what was reported to be a fairly decent ski resort about 90 minutes outside of Harbin, but no we didn't decide to fork over the $80 US that it would've cost us to go skiing there for a day. What we did find however was a much smaller (much much much smaller) ski hill just on the outskirts of town that was so cheap it was almost free. Not only was it really cheap but the service was great too. They had people who would do your boots up for you! That's pretty awesome. Sadly the ski hill consisted of a single bunny run and a rope tow. On the other hand, it was Gatsby's first time ever skiing so the situation was pretty ideal for giving beginning ski lessons. It was pretty difficult trying to teach someone to ski in Chinese but eventually I figured out the right set of vocabulary and all in all it was a pretty enjoyable way to spend the morning.
After skiing we went and grabbed some noodles by the train station and then boarded our long and painful train ride home. This time we had two seats in the hard sleeper car and two seats in the regular car. The three guys took turns sleeping in the bed and sitting in the cheap seats. It is hard to imagine how painful it would be to have purchased a "standing only" ticket from Harbin to Nanjing.
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