Joe and I had an opportunity to go to Harbin, China this past weekend. It was on my list of places I wanted to see while we were here in China. It is known for it's ice and snow sculptures in the winter and we were not disappointed.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and immediately got out to see the city. We went down to Central Street which is the longest walking street in China. It is full of shopping and restaurants. There is a strong Russian influence in Harbin and it is present in the shops along the walking street. At the end of Central Street is the river. The river is frozen and there are all kinds of activities: snow mobiles, horse drawn carriages, slides, dog drawn seats. It's quite a sight.
Saturday night we met up with friends from Shanghai and headed off to see the Ice Sculpture park. It's amazing to see what can be made from blocks of ice! If you have ever seen the ice sculptures at the Gaylord Texan then you'll know what I mean. Just put that on a MUCH, MUCH larger scale. There were ice slides, ice sculptures of Chines sites like the Xi'an warriors, Chinese temples and pagodas, the Great Wall, as well as sculptures of the Egyptian Sphinx and Disney characters. You name it, it was probably in ice. The sculptures and lighting was amazing. Photos don't quite capture the magnitude, scale and beauty of these pieces of art. We also saw a beautiful white fox and I even got a picture of Joe on a yak (which we dubbed a Chinese Longhorn)! We also slid down ice slides. The temperature dips below 0 degrees when the sun goes down and you better be bundled up! There were plenty of coffee houses to go into when you needed to warm up.
I also had my first experience with Russian food. Quite an adventure for me. Not sure what all we ate but overall it was enjoyable. Add some Russian vodka and enough said.
Sunday morning we went to see the snow sculpture park. It's on Sun Island and you have to walk across a bridge over the frozen river to get to it. Again, here the snow sculptures were amazing. I guess anything can be carved out of a large enough piece of frozen snow! There was also a section where teams from all over the world came to compete with their snow designs. There were more activities on a frozen lake, including driving dune buggies on the ice. Joe got a big kick out of doing donuts on the ice! There were more snow slides, tubing and dogs pulling seats across the ice. It was a beautiful sunny day, not toooooo cold and we had a great time.
After the snow sculpture park we had lunch at a dumpling house (very good) and saw a Russian Orthodox Church in the heart of the city. It is said to be the largest Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia. Today it is an art museum containing photos of the history of the city of Harbin.
Sunday night we had dinner at our hotel and had our first experience in an ice bar. The Shangri-La Hotel where we stayed had a restaurant and bar made out of ice adjoining the hotel. It was a fun experience having drinks in the ice bar. Joe said it was the coldest beer he's had in China! Me on the other hand chose a Bailey's Coffee and it stayed warm maybe a minute! I wonder why??
Our trip home was long due to flight delays and we didn't get home until 10 hours after we were scheduled. For reasons we still don't know our flight was delayed. Due to language barriers we weren't sure what our options were. Joe happened to meet a government official from Chengdu that was on our flight. He was gracious enough to keep us informed of what was going on. We also met another couple from the US that was even more lost than we were. We were taken to the Airport Hotel by bus about five minutes from the airport. We were given rooms and told they would come to get us when it was time to go back to the airport. The official from Chengdu invited us and the other US couple to join him for lunch. That in itself was quite an experience. He was very nice, limited English, but very friendly. Our rooms were less than desirable. Our new friends from the US were in a room that someone had kicked the door in so there was a huge 12 inch crack in the bottom portion of the door. We were probably in our rooms for about four hours. We had a radiator but the room was freezing and we sat in our coats and gloves most of the time. The only TV channel we could understand was a fashion channel. I was leery of laying on the bed and I sure didn't want to take off my shoes! A travel tip: if you select a Chinese hotel, be sure you know what you are getting and don't be fooled by the star ratings! By about 6:30 that evening we headed back to the airport and were on our way back to Chengdu by 9:30. Despite our airport delay and hotel adventure, the trip to Harbin was well worth it. One more thing to check off my China bucket list.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and immediately got out to see the city. We went down to Central Street which is the longest walking street in China. It is full of shopping and restaurants. There is a strong Russian influence in Harbin and it is present in the shops along the walking street. At the end of Central Street is the river. The river is frozen and there are all kinds of activities: snow mobiles, horse drawn carriages, slides, dog drawn seats. It's quite a sight.
Saturday night we met up with friends from Shanghai and headed off to see the Ice Sculpture park. It's amazing to see what can be made from blocks of ice! If you have ever seen the ice sculptures at the Gaylord Texan then you'll know what I mean. Just put that on a MUCH, MUCH larger scale. There were ice slides, ice sculptures of Chines sites like the Xi'an warriors, Chinese temples and pagodas, the Great Wall, as well as sculptures of the Egyptian Sphinx and Disney characters. You name it, it was probably in ice. The sculptures and lighting was amazing. Photos don't quite capture the magnitude, scale and beauty of these pieces of art. We also saw a beautiful white fox and I even got a picture of Joe on a yak (which we dubbed a Chinese Longhorn)! We also slid down ice slides. The temperature dips below 0 degrees when the sun goes down and you better be bundled up! There were plenty of coffee houses to go into when you needed to warm up.
I also had my first experience with Russian food. Quite an adventure for me. Not sure what all we ate but overall it was enjoyable. Add some Russian vodka and enough said.
Sunday morning we went to see the snow sculpture park. It's on Sun Island and you have to walk across a bridge over the frozen river to get to it. Again, here the snow sculptures were amazing. I guess anything can be carved out of a large enough piece of frozen snow! There was also a section where teams from all over the world came to compete with their snow designs. There were more activities on a frozen lake, including driving dune buggies on the ice. Joe got a big kick out of doing donuts on the ice! There were more snow slides, tubing and dogs pulling seats across the ice. It was a beautiful sunny day, not toooooo cold and we had a great time.
After the snow sculpture park we had lunch at a dumpling house (very good) and saw a Russian Orthodox Church in the heart of the city. It is said to be the largest Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia. Today it is an art museum containing photos of the history of the city of Harbin.
Sunday night we had dinner at our hotel and had our first experience in an ice bar. The Shangri-La Hotel where we stayed had a restaurant and bar made out of ice adjoining the hotel. It was a fun experience having drinks in the ice bar. Joe said it was the coldest beer he's had in China! Me on the other hand chose a Bailey's Coffee and it stayed warm maybe a minute! I wonder why??
Our trip home was long due to flight delays and we didn't get home until 10 hours after we were scheduled. For reasons we still don't know our flight was delayed. Due to language barriers we weren't sure what our options were. Joe happened to meet a government official from Chengdu that was on our flight. He was gracious enough to keep us informed of what was going on. We also met another couple from the US that was even more lost than we were. We were taken to the Airport Hotel by bus about five minutes from the airport. We were given rooms and told they would come to get us when it was time to go back to the airport. The official from Chengdu invited us and the other US couple to join him for lunch. That in itself was quite an experience. He was very nice, limited English, but very friendly. Our rooms were less than desirable. Our new friends from the US were in a room that someone had kicked the door in so there was a huge 12 inch crack in the bottom portion of the door. We were probably in our rooms for about four hours. We had a radiator but the room was freezing and we sat in our coats and gloves most of the time. The only TV channel we could understand was a fashion channel. I was leery of laying on the bed and I sure didn't want to take off my shoes! A travel tip: if you select a Chinese hotel, be sure you know what you are getting and don't be fooled by the star ratings! By about 6:30 that evening we headed back to the airport and were on our way back to Chengdu by 9:30. Despite our airport delay and hotel adventure, the trip to Harbin was well worth it. One more thing to check off my China bucket list.
Love to all! Jay and Ashley come in two weeks for Chinese New Year! Can't wait!
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