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Public Zone 公開區 => Travelogues 遊記相薄 => Topic started by: chin on 23 December 2011, 23:50:51
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I am now in Club Med Yabuli. We chose this place for the ski, and this is the first time I go to any Club Med.
Before the trip, I did not expected it to be any different from any resort. But it turned out it's a very interesting. In the first few days, we saw that seems quite a large number of customers are repeated visitors, especially many Singaporeans. Some staff saw us and right away guessed that we are first time visiting Club Med.
Today, after talking to the entertainment chief, I found out some interesting concepts about how they run their business.
On the advertisement, all Club Meds are all expenses included - all food, drinks, entertainment, ski lessons, etc... What I did not know about Club Med that's different from other hotel resort is that the individual property's management change by the season. For example in Yabuli, the current General Manager is an American named Ryan. Ryan has a core team of maybe 10 people who would move around different Club Med properties with him. Before coming to Yabuli, he and his team was in Maldives. The Yabuli resort is really just for skiing with the season ends in March. After March, the Ryan team may move to management another Club Med resort. When the next ski season comes, the Yabuli resort may or may not be managed by the Ryan team.
The core team would share the profit for the season from the resort they managed during that season. There are should be enough incentive for the team to create fun and memorable experiences for the guests, such that some of the guests would follow the team when they moved to manage another Club Med.
That's right, they created the system to allow or encourage customers to follow the team. In other words, the Village Chief (Club Med's label for the General Manager) and his team is a traveling party hosts.
I wonder how many customers really follow the team, but surely some do as far as we have observed.
In fact, I was told that on the Club Med web site, you can choose resort by location, activities, or the village chief!
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It is interesting to know the village chief stuff.
All I know about Club Med is just the all inclusive concept.
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I am back and I will post some pictures soon.
Anyway, my Sony A900 & A550 worked fine in the outdoor in -20c (probably -30c with wind chill) but the cheaper Canon camcorder could not work.
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First two pictures of the ski slopes and a diagram showing the slopes at the Sun Mountain Yabuli. The ski lift is right outside the Club Med.
The the height of the slopes is about 600m. The most difficult is A5 which is about 45 degree most of the time. I took the A1 which is easier but for about 500m the slope was about 30 degree. I think A1 total length is more than 2km, and it took me 20 min or more to come down from A1.
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In the first picture you can see the ski lift is right outside the hotel building. The building is very big, and was built as a large result complex under another name. I think Club Med took over the hotel only two years ago, and at the time of our visit, Club Med only perhaps used 2/3 of the space available. It looks to me the project had grand planning to start, but may not have pulled it off as planned. I will show more later about the empty villas.
Any, with ski lift maybe only 100 meters away, and multiple slopes for different ski levels, it's a very good place to learn and to play.
The 2nd picture show the ski lift, and the most difficult slope next to the lift line, at about 45 degree! In the same picture on the left is a conveyor belt that they called Magic Carpet. This part is mainly for beginners, or for warming up before going up the hill.
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One of the interesting attraction right outside the ski lift is this sled pulling big dog. He's very friendly, and accompanied by another sled pulling horse. In the morning, the horse would be pulling the driver and the dog to the front of the ski lift, waiting for customers.
The driver would take tourists around for RMB100 per head. He's paid by Club Med for RMB3,000 per month, plus tips. But he has to provide the horse, dog, and the sleds. For him, this is already a very good deal, as otherwise he has to compete with other horse sled drivers in the Yabuli town.
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Near the ski lift is where the beginner's classes are held. One of the good things about going with Club Med is that ski or snowboard classes for different level are arranged and offered daily. Every night around dinner time, guests can sign up for the classes for the next day. I did not take any class and just freely ski on my own, so I don't know how good the classes are, but from the feedback of the kids, they like most of the classes.
The Club Med instructors are the ones in bright orange outfit. Besides the Club Med instructors, any one (including other tourists who come by bus just to visit the ski range) can hire private instructors in red outfit.
I found it very funny that many times instructors would pick up and carry the kids around. Maybe the kids fell and whined?!
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From my observation, many Club Med instructors are non-Chinese from France, Korea, etc... They generally lead classes of around or more than 10 students. I think there are private lessons also, but not sure...
The private instructors with red outfit are not Club Med related. There must by 50 or more. They station and get business at the ground level of the building which serve the Sun Mountain ski range, but just Club Med. Many of them not just provide ski instruction, but would provide assistance helping clients getting on/off the ski shoes, carrying the ski equipments, etc... almost like a personal escort.
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This is my 3rd morning in Yabuli, and perhaps the coldest day during my stay. I was told that the temperature was about -20c, but with the wind chill, I think it was easily feel like -30c. I decided to just take the ski lift up mountain to take some pictures.
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These pictures were taken inside the enclosed ski lift, thus the color is tainted by the glass enclosure.
About 200m from the hotel is a large number of empty villas for sale. If you are interested in buying one, you can call the numbers on the bill board. I wonder who would buy property here?! I have been to Niseko in Japan and Aspen in US where people would buy property for investment and earn rental income from renting out to skiers. But how do they get the momentum going in the first place? In place like Yabuli, who would want to be the first to buy property in the middle of no-where, hoping that in the future there would be a vibrant ski holidaying community?
Anyway, the 2nd picture show the mid-station of the ski lift. This station is probably less than 100m higher than the base station, and the first step for those skillful enough to start going up mountain. This section maybe has a grading of 20 degree, then quickly flatten to a long gentle slope back down to the base station.
The 3rd picture is taken almost at the top of the mountain, looking down. The villas and the Club Med building is barely visible.
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These pictures were taken inside the enclosed ski lift, thus the color is tainted by the glass enclosure.
The first picture shows the most difficult lane - A5, which I think is 45 degree most of the way. I will show a picture later taken on the top of A5.
The 2nd picture shows another fun device on the hill. It's a luge on metal rail, with cover, where you can "ski" down hill year around. Of course it's not a real ski since you are confined to a fixed path. The whole trip is more than 2.4km long with 42 turns! For me it's too long, and get a bit boring about half of the way. But my kids had load of fun playing there.
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On top of the mountain is this small hotel and cafe. I was hoping to find hot chocolate in the cafe, but it was not on offer!
The building is called 沐雲樓 which means "Cloud Bathing House". Since it has an outdoor pool that was filled with snow at the time of my visit, I imagine the building was mainly used in the summer. Otherwise who would want to stay overnight in the cold mountain!
In this picture, it looks peaceful and serene, but it was actually damn cold there. I had my hat and neck cover, but my cheek was not covered and it felt like my skin was being cut away by the wind. It was very painful and I really felt for the people who work at the hill top station!
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A view of the hill top area. On the left of the map board is the down hill lanes.
Before the real downhill ski lanes, there is also a magic carpet for practice and warm up. This is also where the beginners snowboard class is.
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This Club Med snowboard instructor was directing students, then snowboard down hill, then he did something that looks pretty amazing to me. In the middle of the downhill, he turned right to the little bump, then jumped up and landed on the magic carpet, right behind one of his students. The whole motion was very smooth and graceful. It simply looked very cool, and no wonder so many kids wants to learn snowboarding. Even I wanted to learn.
The last picture was taken on another day, and not the same guy. I am just throwing in the picture here for the hack of it...
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These pictures were taken on another day, at the bottom of the magic carpet on the hill top.
The first picture was looking up toward the top of the hill and the Cloud Bathing House. The 2nd picture is taken in the same position, but looking the other direction. Toward the right side is the A1 lane for intermediate skiers, and on the left is the A5 lane that is about 45 degree all the way down.
The 3rd picture is staring down A5, where I could not even see the skiing lane beyond the first 50 meters. I was afraid to go further out, just in case I would not hold on to the ground and slide down. I imagine skiing down from here is like falling off a cliff!
The Club Med building with blue roofs is clearly visible in the 3rd picture. Beyond that you can see other hotels and much smaller ski facilities.
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This is the steepest part of the A1 lane. One of the private instructor told me this part is about 30 degree. Before this trip, my last ski was 12 years ago, and I must be a bit crazy to ski down this by myself. On my first attempt, I fell twice and had to over come quick a bit of fear to continue. (Well, not like there is any alternative but to ski down.) By the time I reached downhill 25 min later, my legs were shaking. My second try was much better - only tired but not shaking any more. My third trial was even easier...
One of the kids in my party really wanted to ski down this lane before the end of the holiday. He declined to hire a private instructor to help, and just followed me. He fell 5 times in this part, twice with one of the skis off, but he did it and earned his bragging right!
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These pictures were not taken by me. There are photographers in different spot taking pictures of any one pass by, and they sell the pictures the service area and inside Club Med.
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Again, pictures not taken by me.
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Some cool guys, huh... ;D
Again, pictures not taken by me.
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Exterior, and views from the lobby & the Forest Bar of Club Med Yabuli.
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A friend of mine is thinking of going to Club Med Yabuli, and he asked my to take pictures of the hotel. So here are some pictures of our suite.
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The bath room is very big with heated floor, and view of the ski slopes.
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On the way to the airport, we passed the city of Harbin. The city is preparing for the upcoming Ice Sculpture Festival in January. Many street corners has ice blocks piled up, at different stages of finishing.
The structures in these pictures are the very large sculptures. Quality is not too good since it's taken inside a moving bus. But still you can see the scale.
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The journey to this Club Med takes about 1 whole day. First is the flight from Hong Kong to Harbin, which took about 4 hours. Then about another 4 hours by highway to reach the town of Yabuli.
The food in Club Med is mainly served in the dinning hall in buffet style. Everyday either Mudan (hotpot) or Bianco (Italian) would be opened for booking, but you have to book in the morning of the day before to secure a table. All food are paid for so there is no additional cost. In terms of good quality I would rank Italian > hotpot > buffet.
Inside Club Med is a spa with the L'Occitane brand. We went for message everyday after skiing. The most logic time, thus the hardest to book time, is 16:30 because the ski lift closes at 16:00 and everyone would return to the hotel and waiting for dinner. A 90-min session cost RMB1,100. At the time of our visit, there is a buy-6-get-1-free promotion. The rooms are clean and good but very noisy because of the air ventilation system. If you want a quiet room, ask for a room in the upstairs. I think only 2 or 3 of the 9 rooms are upstairs.
Every other night or so they would have a dance in the Star Bar. Many of their G.O. staff would attend the dance. I think it's a good way for their own staff to relax and mingle. After all, where is there to do in the cool mountain with nothing else in walking distance. There are two types of staff there - the basis service staff (house keeping or restaurant) with uniform, and the GOs who direct activities and co-mingle with guests. GOs do not seem to have uniform but only wearing a badge to identify themselves. The GOs are all young people, friendly, from different countries, and probably all likes to party. (The entertainment chief told me that when they come for job interview, the first question is whether they like to party, and if yes, then they are hired. It's most likely just a joke, but may have some truth in it.)
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thanks for sharing....
by the way, how cold it could be...-50C ??? ??? ???
so freezing....
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thanks for sharing....
by the way, how cold it could be...-50C ??? ??? ???
so freezing....
-20c.
but with the wind chill, it felt a lot colder...