It was so cold… I couldn’t be bothered to sing my personal rendition of Vanilla Ice’s hit, “Ice Ice Baby”. It’d have been so appropriate.
Harbin in one night & one day.
Beginning of the night… Central Street中央大街
[Russian shops, glazed fruit sticks & harbin sausage 红肠 are good things to find here]
Middle of the night… Ice & Snow World国际冰雪节
[290 RMB entry]
The low temperatures will kill your phone battery after about 2 minutes, so either bring a real camera or take advantage of the photographers that will hassle you for a 30 minute photo shoot. [We bargained our photos down to 50rmb for 10 — they’re print copies, btw]
There are actually 3 parks for the festival:
- Ice & Snow World – see at night
- Ice Lantern Park – see at night
- Sun Island – see in day
Late night… Russian disco club俄罗斯酒吧
Dance-off against the students I met at HeiLong University 黑龙大学. Pretty much the spot for foreigners to dance at — good variety of music — hiphop starts around 1am
Early morning… Saint Sophia Cathedral 生索菲亞教堂
[20 RMB entry]
All of the writings inside the cathedral are written in Chinese, so unless you can read Chinese, you’re better off taking photos in the main area & admiring beneath the “Last Supper” painting.
Afternoon… Siberian Tiger Park 东北虎林园🐯
The African lions were in snow. And yes, I know it snows in North Africa, but I feel like these particular lions weren’t from that part. They looked kinda cold. Maybe it was just me. 😦
And then… Bye bye Harbin! Off to Guilin in Yunan Province, China — mountain climbing — beautiful scenery!