After trying for 45min (no joke) to flag down a cab one finally picked us up as a double fare. Double fares are ALWAYS a rip-off but when you are desperate and freezing who cares. I had a basic idea of the direction we needed to go but I soon realized that was not the direction we were headed. Thanks to Bonnie’s level head we remained calmed and sat back to enjoy the rather lengthy confused tour through Harbin.

When we finally approached the Festival I was overwhelmed with the sheer size of the sculptures or should I correctly say, ice buildings. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

11th AnnualHarbin Snow and Ice World

Buddhist temple

The lights just made everything magical

After a 20 min I couldn’t keep quiet about my freezing condition. I admitted my hands were about to fall off, Bonnie agreed and suggested sticking my hands in my mouth. I asked her to repeat the instructions, she laughed and promised it would work. Sure enough, I was a sight to see with double gloved hands crammed in my mouth but soon they didn’t feel like Popsicles about to snap in two.

Looking into the park was just fantastic.

Hindu God

Hindu Goddess

St. Basil's and the Great Wall

The Sphinx - those are ice slides descending from his shoulders

Chinese Pagoda

I've no idea how she got this icy but it was probably one of my favorite pics!

A steaming cup of hot chocolate!

We decided to warm up in one of the class boxes they had strategically placed around the park. My Camera fogged over when I pulled in out after freezing in the outside weather! As we were warming up we both admitted how cold we both were although we’d been afraid to admit it to the other. Haha. Some how our bodies did adjust to the cold and we stuck it out to the end.

Another Cathedral facade

Skyscrapers a must in China

No matter how many sculptures we went to the size never ceased to amaze me.

Bonnie got her picture with an arctic fox!

Bonnie’s mom had shared an article withher about the Harbin Ice Festival, in which a prominent picture was of visitors posing with an arctic fox. Bonnie was determined to get her picture and we were thrilled when we found the booth.

 

 

Looking out over the Park

It wouldn't be a Chinese Party without back up dancers!

In the center of the park was a large ice rink.

A Northern European Church

Nothing like walking on ice!

Angkor Wat

The Colosseum

A view from the top.

Can you recognize the bundle?

Our final stop was a larger than life Chess board.

We stuck it out to the end and both felt the fight with the coldwas worth it. We found a taxi driver at the exit who was looking for passengers and bargained our way down to 40 kuai for a return trip. It wasn’t until we got to the taxi that we realized yet again we were a double cab.

Once in town we stopped by a local resturant for a little piece of home.

We'd spotted this restaurant during the day.

Our list included:

• Saint Sophia (Eastern Orthodox Church)
• Snow Park
• International Ice Festival
• Pedestrian Shopping Street
• an authentic Russian Meal

The top half consisted of 6 layers!

Before leaving the hotel we had to put on just about everything we had brought. We quickly learned once you start getting dressed the clock starts, you have about 10 min to get dressed then outside to avoid heatstroke in all your layers. There was a drop of about 90* between the 70* hotel and the -20* outside!

I had brought just about every thermal item I owned!

The bottom half was five layers - two pairs of fleece lined stockings, thermals, track pants and last but not least jeans.

Our Hotel was close to downtown so we decided to walk to the Church first. As it was still early the view was breathtaking. The church was constructed in the corner of a large plaza. The snow was fresh and untouched, light flakes still dusting the ground.

Saint Sophia - Eastern Orthodox Cathedral

How could someone do such a horrific thing?

Not too many shots of us together, downside to traveling with only one other person.

After the church we headed for the Pedestrian Street and breakfast. We soon found both and enjoyed a hour of pastries and souvenir browsing.

Yumm...nothing gets you going on a cold morning like Hot Chocolate and an warm pastry.

Yes, I'm aware I'm the Christmas edition of the Michelin Man! Main Pedestrian Street.

Привет из России - Hello from Russia! Can anyone beat that mamuska doll?

Harbin Flood Monument

The steps down to the river become the bleachers for the community ice rink in the winter!

The main river in town turns into another road during the winter. INSANE!

Some times as a tourist you have to be a tourist.

Total tourists we payed Y100 to take a horse carriage across the frozen river. Although we had to have been the 1000th carriage this river I was still not completely comfortable crossing the river in a 1000lb buggy.

After getting completely ripped off at least the driver allowed us to take a picture together on the top of the carriage.

On the other side of the river we entered the Snow Park. The snow park is on an island in the middle of the river. Teams from all over the world come to construct HUGE snow sculptures. The annual winner get’s their sculpture immortalized in white concrete.

I was shocked by the smooth texture of the sculptures.

I love the fact you could climb on the statues.

How would the park be complete without the triple emperial arch?

The sheer size of these sculptures were amazing and the craftsmanship was stunning.

The details were just incredible. The face alone is about 9ft.

Beijing Olympics?

Traditional Dragon

Did you know your eyeballs can get cold? Yep its true, mine did.

This year's contestants.

Work in Progress, yes that's a tractor on a river of ice.

Pirates of the Caribbean

When in China, do as the Chinese!

Sorry Canada that's just weird

The crowning achievment for this year! Look at the size of this one!

We decided to save money and walk back.

After two falls in the park I wasn't about to chance these icy steps. Hey at least I provide the locals with entertainment!

One of the past times is ski chairs!

I pulled my Thermos out at lunch to find the hot water I'd poured in that morning had turned to ice after a few hours outside!

For lunch we had a hearty Russian meal, borsch and mashed spinach soup.

These are our stern Russian faces.

After 7 straight hours outside we decided to head back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to the Ice Festival in the evening. I’ve never appriciated heating like I did upon our return to the hotel.

Bonnie was more than happy for a travel buddy so we began planning. Harbin is in the northern most province of China and is known for its Russian influence and its World Renown Ice Festival. Some how I managed to block out the weather warning on all the travel websites, winters annually reach 40* below zero which is were the Fahrenheit and Celsius scale’s meet by the way!

As we are both English teachers with a limit salary we decided to take the cheap route and call it an adventure. We got prices for the Hard Sleeper Trains, ¥620 round trip – what’s 26 hours on a train? Everyone has to do a long distance train trip at least once in China right?

To keep from rambling, purchasing our tickets turned into a fiasco! You can purchase tickets 10 days prior to departure, we waited to long. 6 days before, the hard sleepers to Harbin were sold out and we had to purchase soft sleepers which were about double the cost. Thanks to Wendy we got the whole mess worked out and tickets bought. We would have been in deep trouble if Bonnie and I had tried to figure all that out on our own.

So Sunday night we set out. I had a backpack, Purse, and Bag of food! We met up at the Train station and joined the masses waiting in the hall, we of course were the only foreigners and got all the stares.

And the Adventure Begins.

With found our compartment and to our surprise were the only ones in it at the Weifang Station. We figured we’d be joined at the coming station. Well we could easily tell why the tickets went from ¥300 for a hard sleeper to ¥600 for the Soft Sleeper. The Compartments are amazing.

Home-sweet-home for the next 26 hours!

There are four to a room. The bottom bunk is the communal bench during the day for two. The Compartment is closed to the hall which makes the room warm and private (Later on this was not an upside to the soft sleeper. )

I had the top bunk and Bonnie the bottom. I was surprised at the storage room too. The beds were your average Chinese bunk, and the duvets were to die for.

We stayed up and chatted until about 11pm then hit the sack. I was a little restless wondering at each stop if someone would come in at the next stop. I was quite relieved in the morning to find the other two bunks still empty.

okay so after 20 hours in a cramped cabin what were you expecting, prom night?

We spread out in the morning as it didn’t seem like anyone would be joining us! We settled in for a long day. I decided to go comfy rather than flattering, wrong choice it would turn out.

Around lunch time we had gotten too warm and had opened the hall door. Soon a stranger wandered in wanting to talk to the foreigners. We soon realized our Chinese was better than his English. Most Chinese will give it an honest shot but give up as soon as they realize the pointlessness of trying to converse with Foreigners who don’t speak Chinese. This guy only seemed encouraged by the lack of communication and before we knew it he had invited his friend to come join us for lunch.

Before we could say ‘不要 we had two Chinese Guys drinking Baijiu and eating Chicken Feet in our compartment, not the most appealing situation. There are those situations in life which make you eternally grateful for choosing an Alcohol-free life, this was one of them. As true Chinese, they were not picking up on the hints we were throwing at them by the time 3 hours had passed, that we would prefer lunch to be over. So we fell back on the Chinese love of nap taking and said we would like to sleep.

One of them seemed rather keen on Bonnie which was not reciprocated! We had a good laugh at that thought once they left and decided to take naps to kill time. Half way through my nap I heard Bonnie calling my name, when I turned over in my bunk one of the Chinese guys was back and standing right next to my head. Turns out he was really keen on Bonnie and had come back for a chat. Not what anyone wants to wake up to. After a rather interesting 15mins we got him to leave and decided to look the door rather than just close it.

Front of the Train station, this is kids stuff compared to the Festival.

As we stepped off the train in Harbin it was like hitting an ice wall. Warm lungs don’t like icy air! My lungs ached at first as they adjusted to cold. Instead of jumping straight into a cab we walked around the front of the station where small ice sculptures were arranged. The ground was complete ICE. I had opted for warmth rather than traction but soon began to question my footwear choice.

Lights are frozen inside and the color illuminates the entire block.

If I don’t start catching up on Friday, I’ve frozen to death in the northern regions of China. So in the Spring thaws the frozen foreigner clutching the hot water bottle in the Red Michelin Man Jacket is me. Will someone please make sure my cremated remains make it back to the mantle in Tulare.

I’m not kidding, Harbin this week was in the -30*F.