I've always been whimpy when it comes to +30C/90F heat and 100% humidity. Since returning from Finland I think I have lost all the tolerance that I had built up during our stay in Shanghai. So last weekend when the forecast was predicting another boiler in the works, we decided to take drastic measures.

Go skiing. In Shanghai.

 

Yes, you can also ski in August in Shanghai. In fact, the indoor complex can accommodate up to 3,000 skiers, but since the activity doesn't seem to have caught on with the locals, we were practially alone. Well, there were perhaps 500-600 other people on the hill but in Shanghai that's considered "roomy".

So after purchasing out tickets, we were led into changing rooms with duffle bags that had our "sking clothes" in. I had no idea that the place provided us with clothes so I had packed jackets, hats and gloves for the kids (you should have seen our ayi's face when I was shoving all the winter gear into a bag and heading out into the heat). It was a good thing because all clothes in the duffle bag were "one-size-fits-all". The kids clothes were made for a ten year old and would have been WAY too big. I also would have felt a bit funny wearing clothes that other people had already worn so it was a good call to bring out own. And it help us to spot each other in the sea of "one-size-fits-all" skiers.

Then we were off to the equipment rental. You could choose between downhill skis or snowboards and staff was quickly picking out all the necessary accessories to go with your "ski size" (A shoe size "8" also equaled ski lenght "8" and pole lenght "8". Another fine example of the one size must fit all.

Finally it was off to the hill. It was perhaps a 100m walk from the entrace to the ski lift which took us to the first plateau of the hill. Some people had put their gear on at the door and were desperately trying to push themselves uphill towards the lift with little progress. We hauled our gear all the way to the lift just to realize it was not a ski lift but an escalator - there was no way you could walk in skis anyways.

Once we were on top of the first hill, we put the gear on and kids were roaring to go. We came down together a couple of times and then they both insited on being let go. To my amazement, they both made it down a couple of times without falling over. They were naturals! Must be all those good Nordic genes... :)  

Kai spotted a big snow pile on the side of the hill and went sliding while Raili came down the hill on her own a few more times. In the end, we ran out of time and decided we could definitely do this again but perhaps next time in real snow.