Super TR: ATL skiing, Cat Meadows, China

[skiatlanta]

So it's been a while since I've been able to post this, as there is way too much to post. Since february, I had a trip to China,

design competition (very time consuming...Lost by one vote and essentially lost 8k..still got $2k though), final graduate research and urban design studio, job search, graduation from grad school, and then I accepted a job in utah and moved out here.



So here's a bunch of stuff that I would have posted to TR's but never had time:



Early-mid feb- snow in ATL



did some sick stair skiing around Tech's campus





yeah, i got two turns out of this





center of campus, dont have pics, but i hit a small jump and had some fun







Next, I walked to Piedmont park (about 2 miles or so) I had a bunch of people take pictures of me...I guess people arent used to someone with skis on a backpack on Peachtreee Street...





There were some jumps off this wall near the staircase.









There is a popular sledding hill people go to. I made some turns. Unfortunately, by this time, my crappy plastic marker bindings had broken, and my boot wouldnt stay in my ski with any pressure.





I still got some switch runs in. Some dude from the Weather Channel interviewed my and filmed me for a run, but I never saw it aired.





view of midtown







So that wasn't that cool, but whatever. I figured people would like to see snow.



Anyways, here's some stuff from Cat in feb when the meadows opened. Went up with swamphox. Sorry if some of these pics have already been posted.



on the way in. Should be good













swamphox killin it





meadows





top

[skiatlanta]

A month later I went to China for a trip for school for my urban design studio. We went to Guangzhou, then Maoming (small city of 5 million people 4 hours southwest of Guangzhou) and then Hong Kong.



Sorry there is no post processing on all of the pictures. I barely had time to sort the 1,000s of pictures I took.



Leaving Atlanta. Ready for 24 hours of travelling fun





we had a connection in Detroit









We flew straight north. Pretty sure this is James Bay





Baffin Island











We flew to about the 88th parallel. This is the coast of the Artic Ocean in Siberia





Siberian mountains are sweet.









0































Mongolia (I think)





Our flight never left daylight, which was pretty sweet.





After our 14 hour flight, we had a connection in Beijing.

Beijing looks really crappy and smoggy





yup





A380







We left Friday morning. It was Saturday Night around midnight when we got into Guangzhou.





Guangzhou is located about 2 hours NW of HongKong. It has about 13 million people in its administrative area, but 45 million in its Built-Up area (what we would consider as a metro area, but bigger)

view from hotel





Freeways have tons of ivy and plants on them. You can see smog and dust that accumulates on the plants by the roads like a trace of snow









We toured around in a bus a lot and visited several villages and areas in guangzhou to get an understanding of our project









There is a very big contrast between villages and new developments. Villagers can cash out and sell off the village and new developments are built.













same area as in the above picture:





Streets are narrow and busy. Tons of small shops and people selling things on the street.





we went into a small alleyway. Still tons of small shops. Convienient shops here are like super walmarts compared to them





looking up

[skiatlanta]

They have PBR





and ******bag parkers







more villages and stuff





new developments are way different





We went to the historic center.



















Central Downtown of Guangzhou.





Canton Tower, over 2,000 ft tall





























Canton Tower...the smog is terrible. You get a sore throat by the end of the day





























Opera House designed by Zaha Hadid

















KFC is huge in China. Its the same, but different. Its absolutely still delicious, but uses dark meat more. There are no biscuits or potatoe wedges.

[skiatlanta]

Yeah, the smog is bad





Most of the meals we had were pretty good. It was all cantonese food. But late at night, it was time for some MacDo. They were playing jingle bells on the radio in the mcdonalds. It was late March.





Nighttime is super busy. There are tons of people selling everything from tennis shoes(made right there, your choice of nike, adidas, etc), clothes, drinks, food, dentist offices.





We left the next day for Maoming, where our project was located near.



This is the goverment building. The officials that planned and funded it are all in jail









This view in this photo goes to the beach, but they built a giant wall and painted a beach scene on it.





they were building hotels in the shapes of cars...





random places in China put up stuff for the olympics even though they weren't part of, affiliated with, or even near the Beijing olympics





these are the toilets





they have red bull





We went on several walking and biking tours around the penninsula that we would be designing for (200k+ people will be moving to it). We were supposed to basically design a new city.



Going through the villages was pretty cool. No one speaks english, but everyone understands "hello," a wave, and a smile.





Houses are typically 3-6 stories, with additions to the homes made as families expand. Some of them have really nice cars outside too.





gum trees









mangroves on the north side of the penninsula





more villages



















The Penninsula was supposed to be a tourist-beach town. Many huge roads were built, but many properties are abandoned and run down

[skiatlanta]

We also went to the central city of Maoming (Our project was about 40 minutes away) to see the planning gallery which was complete with a huge room sized model (100'x80' or so), 3d movie and tons of other stuff to showcase their plans for the city to developers. We rode around the city in our bus. we saw lots of stuff like this:





and this





and this baby chillin













Policemen too







5 was the greatest amount of people we saw on a scooter. Unfortunately, I only got pics of 4 people on a scooter.































we did get to go to the beach





not safe to swim, for many reasons, especially polluted water





there was a cool mountain too





graves right by the beach





view of the mountain from the beach





their trails have stairs









made me think of the silverton logo













view of the next town over





on our way out from the mountain back to some of the villages, we had to go through this area:





They just leave all their trash on the side of the road.





right next to graves

[skiatlanta]

after an all nighter, we presented our design to the city officials with translators. No pics though. We were able to return to Guangzhou for the night and then a train ride to HOng Kong.



On the way back to Guangzhou













Guangzhou stock exchange. terrible building.





bad buildings across the river too





not as smoggy this day













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train to hong kong





Schenzhen











HOng Kong from Kowloon

















Streets are busy





yeah...













The 6th tallest building in the world...The International Commerce Center





from over a 1000ft up





















Bank of China Tower

[skiatlanta]

We went up the Peak Tram to Victoria Peak. Hong Kong is awesome, as 40% of the land is county parks and other natural areas. There are tons of trails and hikes around, with one of the world's biggest cities right near by.



















Looking to south china sea





Paths













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Last night in Hong Kong. We went to some night markets (sorry, no pics) and they are pretty awesome, with cool knock off stuff for sale.





We flew back the next morning



leaving hong kong









Taiwain







We had a connection in Tokyo

Not many pics though.

Leaving the island







Unfortunately, when we flew over alaska, it was nightime. The sun came up on the northern canadian rockies.













Then we arrived home.



It was a good (mostly free) trip. Sorry I havent added much text or context to the pictures. This already took a ton of time. feel free to ask questions and stuff.



Now on to post pics of the skiing ive done the last three weeks.

[Ski Bunny]

This is an awesome trip report! Thanks for taking time to share your pics. So great that you got to experience China and the culture.

[RMacSki]

Dude that's awesome. You got to see parts of the world lots will never have the chance to

[ROYMERCER]

AWESOME report !!!!!