Warm up to the cold by having some winter fun

Beijing's favorite playground on ice is not just for kids. Grownups outnumbered the children at Houhai on Saturday afternoon, circling the famous city tourist attraction's frozen lake on ice skates and - my new favorite - ice-bikes.

Not all of us are graceful on skates or daredevils on skis on the slopes come winter. But on an ice-bicycle, I mastered it in one minute. So did a group of 5-year-old children piled on one in front of me. That did not stop me from later bragging about my ice-bike skills to friends.

Admittedly, it's almost impossible to fall over on an ice-bike. These are converted bicycles with the front wheels removed. The front wheels have been replaced with runners, and runners also are attached to metal pipes placed squarely over the back wheels, which makes them boxy enough to remain stable on ice.