Impressions from China - Winter Fun

It's been snowing & snowing & snowing in the central, eastern & southern parts of China. And up here in Beijing, where it is notoriously cold in the winter? Nada - Zero - Zilch. Not a single snowflake. Apart from that one snowfall we had in the beginning of Dec, we haven't seen a sprinkling of H2o in any form since. Dry as a doorknob.

Lots of ice though. On the lakes, that is.

Above: This is Qianhai Lake, frozen over. The building on the left is the Gulou (Drum Tower) which has been around since the days of Kublai Khan.

You can bike-skate.

You can ice skate.

And you can chair-skate. Yes, you heard me, chair-skate. One thing about the Chinese is: they are innovative. Strap some flat blades on the bottom of some chairs, add a couple of poles that act as ski poles & there you have it - a nifty little contraption you can use to slide on the ice with.

And, if you really feel up to it, how about an invigorating dip in the icy cold waters in minus 2 degrees weather? This Polar Bear Club member did it. I don't know which was a bigger turn off: the frigid cold, or the filthy polluted water. To each his own...