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| This kind of says it all. First sign is the British Swimming National Sprint Team, the other a swimming team from China. I guess this isn't just for slackers like me! |
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| 500m track, that kicked my butt! |
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| Unbelievable 50m pool with the mountains in the background. Highly motivating! |
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| They literally have to hose down the pool at night to keep the temps cool. |
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| Cool view near sunset |
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| Time for the morning swim... |
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| Nope not a simple set at all! |
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| On the morning of Valentine's Day one of the Pro Women brought roses for all the coaches before the ride. |
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| Rest stop and time for some refueling of fruits, pastries and caffeine during our 110k ride in the heat! |
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| Post workout, not much is better than a fresh mango/banana smoothy! |
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| I loved the options the hotel had in case of a fire. |
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| Great flowers and landscaping around the resort as is expected given it it Thailand. |
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| A smoothy and this little pad was great for some afternoon sleep. |
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| More hotel decorations |
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| I saw this rare "double rainbow" one evening and went searching for the pot of gold. Had I found it, I doubt I would have left Thailand, but alas no luck. |
| Overall I absolutely loved it and learned a lot. There were the hiccups of course. Day one I had a bike malfunction when my pedal came off the crank, thanks to the crank being stripped out. I was about 45k from the hotel and had to find a taxi to take me back. Another time I was involved in a crash with another person from Shanghai ironically. However that ended much better for me than for her. I didn't hit the ground but she did as she hit me from the back on a turn and skidded to a stop. Other than that it was all a fun pain and suffering. |
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| My opening speech, translated by Paul Tang my GM |
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| Games are always played. Some more fun than others. In this one we had people competing in a Gangnam Style dance off, with the winner taking home an iPhone 5. |
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| Gangnam Style. These two finalists put their all into it, with the woman on the left winning. |
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| Recipients of our 5 year employment recognition. They all got a certificate singed by myself and the owner in the NY along with a 5 year mug and 500rmb. |
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| Enjoying cake on one of the last working days of the year. Cake was paid for by our US salespeople. |
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| Watching them cut cake is always quite amusing, obviously chopsticks are simply not practical. |
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| This old man is cleaning the pool the old fashioned way, with a small tool. But he isn't cleaning leaves and other debris, rather he is cleaning it of the rapidly forming ice... |
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| Up for a swim anyone? |
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| About 30 people took part in the event with hundreds more watching on with camera's to see these crazy folks go for a quick dip in the pool made in the middle of the river. |
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| The first snow sculpture we saw give you a bit of an idea of the size. |
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| Complete with a dance/show for a little bit. |
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| This young Chinese kid was my favorite! It took him maybe 3 minutes to take this photo. Why? Because he had to get everyone lined up perfectly. He kept giving directions, checking the sun, moving people this way and that. |
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| More frozen fruit on a stick anyone? |
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| Our customer who was riding the tractor. |
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| One of my local colleagues taking it all in. |
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| If you can figure out how this was built please let me know. I doubt it was done with a full ball of snow and then the insides were removed...but if not, then how? |
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| Enormous! |
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| Someone is always watching you! |
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| And someone is probably laughing at you too! |
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| Cinderella... |
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| A view of a few adventuresome folks on the river, ends our time at the snow sculpture park. Now on to a different sort of park. |
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| The aptly named Tiger park, home to about 1,000 tigers. |
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| A little play time for two of them and a little business being done by the one in the back! |
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| Lunch time! |
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| You were able to buy live chickens, goats and even cows to feed the tigers. Unfortunately thanks to a communication error, our van didn't get this opportunity. |
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| I guess this is where they sell the tourist crap but I just enjoyed the sign... |
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| And this one. Two spelling mistakes in one sentence. Gotta love the "Chinglish". |
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| The end of the day brings some rest and cocktail hour. At the ice bar no less! |
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| More from the ice bar |
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| This sums it up well...ice, ice bar, great hat on myself and the tiger! |
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| The temperature INSIDE the ice bar!!!!!! |
