Paintball, Beijing style

This past weekend, a couple friends rallied a crew to check out the one and only paintball venue in Beijing. We had been chatting over dinner a few nights earlier about "warfare games," and before we knew it, we were all grabbing for our fresh new copies of the November issue of That's Beijing magazine to see what could possibly satiate our appetites for a battle-filled Sunday afternoon. An email went out the following day, and a squad was born.

We met up on Sunday afternoon and suited up as we downed a round of beers from the shop around the corner (the people running the place had no qualms about us mixing alcohol and guns on their grounds). Being a paintball virgin, I wasn't sure what to expect, but my competetive spirit is always up for a little battle-simulation. The place looked a bit like an overgrown, deserted playground. There were a few towers and "forts," lots of foliage and tree cover, a few odd-looking and larger-than-life-sized fiberglass animals and, as I later discovered, a very fat cat roaming the grounds. Hmmm.

the path leading into the battle-zone

We split into two teams, decided on a "capture the flag"-style game, and headed into the bush. After much running around, yelling and shooting, the yellow team (who, I must say, had an unfair advantage by wearing pinneys that blended into the foliage) got the flag. We headed back to the area outside the playing field, had another beer or two, and reloaded the guns for round two.

paintball "carnage" on my face mask

Mal puts on her game face before heading out for round 2

After refueling, we headed out for another round, this time opting to use the entire grounds of the facility, rather than just an isolated area. The yellow team won yet again, and I promptly proposed the idea of "anarchy warfare" as a means of using all remaining paintballs. Little did I know that I was soon destined to sustain two paintball-inflicted bruises thanks to the brilliant warfare idea...

the crew, post-paintball extravaganza