China

With tank-like treads attached to your boots, you can whizz down a grassy slope much like skiers whizz down snowy mountains. This is grass skiing.

I’ll admit that I thought this was a little crazy at first. However, once the giddy newness of watching someone find a new way to zoom down a mountain wears off, I began to see honest potential in those plastic shoes. Grass skiing could be as cool as downhill skateboarding, or the undeniably ballsy street luge.

Some of the videos I found on youtube are actually quite a testament to the possibilities of this nascent sport. People can get going pretty fast and still actually turn.

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I personally love the Olympics. With a battery of drug tests and a flurry of trumpets a sizable amount of pomp is kicked up into all sorts of circumstances. Fun.

However, even if you think “the butterfly” is a type of pastry, Beijing has a lot to offer you. In the last few thousand years it has been able to accumulate a lot more than just the uneven bars. Here are three sights you shouldn’t miss on your next visit to the city formally known as Peking.

The Forbidden City

Creative Commons picture by r_neches.

In the category of “places that display the might of an empire” the forbidden city is arguably cooler than the death star. Visitors are allowed to see about 2/5 ths of this incredible palace complex. You can marvel at the beautiful yellow roofs (the color of the emperor) and vast courtyards secure in the knowledge that Darth Vader never ordered this complex to destroy a planet.
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