Here is an account of an extremely short but fun trip that I took to Harbin last weekend with my girlfrind to see the world-famous Ice Lantern Festival. It's more for personal record, but you can read it if you want.
First, let me start by describing the mafan (trouble) I had to endure while trying to acquire train tickets to this subzero city in the Northeast (Dongbei). The peak season for public transportation, especially by rail, has come. The coastal cities are pumping hundreds of thousands of workers and university students to their hometowns every day in preperation for the Spring Festival, a traditonal family-oriented Chinese holiday beginning with Chinese New Year on February 7th. In China, you must buy your ticket in person in the city of departure. Many hole in the wall ticket vendors scatter the city, regconizable by the long lines that follow on the sidewalks. Usually, these vendors suffice if you arrive the same day the tickets go on sale - 7 days prior to departure. However, this time of year, tickets sell out in the matter of minutes. Because of the low expectations I've learned to bring when dealing with the Chinese railway system, our failure to purchase said tickets was not at all shocking.
FRIDAY
I was still optomistic though - every train has what you call wuzuo piao (standing tickets) that they give to basically anyone who is willing to come to the train station, stand in a long line contstantly halted by tellers with small bladders or cutters with no concept of civil order, and then squabble with the teller until he or she gives in. I had done this dozens of times in the past, and I was confident that I could easily get standing tickets for a friday night train. However, that Friday afternoon, hours before our planned departure, I was crushed to discover that all of the wuzuo piao were sold out - which didn't make sense to me at the time. After collecting myself and realizing all trian (and plane) tickets were sold out for that day, I spent two hours holding a makeshift sign that said "Harbin" in the tuipiao ting (the ticket return hall). I wasn't the only one trying to buy people's unwanted tickets. There seemed to be a mob of us and a few middlemen trying to make a buck - at one point I had three guys working for me in my desperate search. As hope faded, I made one more attempt at the ticket counter, but eventually was stuck buying standing tickets for a Saturday morning train that would roll into Harbin at around 5 pm - God, I hate Chinese train stations.
SATURDAY
The train station was absolutley packed in the wee hours of the morning. That should have been a hint that the train wasn't going to be much different. They had sold so many standing tickets that they literally had to squeeze us in like sardines (this is the first time Iv'e used this phrase and have actually meant it). We were so compressed in the train car that it was impossible to even bend your knees much less sit down on a newspaper (the normal procedure for those without seats). After a few hours of wiggling and vying for space (using my size to my advantage), we managed to sit on our bags for most of the trip. I now understand why they sell out of standing tickets, and in retrospect I am glad that I was unable to get them for the Friday night train – I’m not sure if I would have been able to keep my sanity for 11 hours crouching and suffocating throughout the night. At one point a congenial older man offered us his seat for the last 3 hour stretch, which helped ease the nerves in my lower back.
I had visited Harbin on my return to Beijing in 2006 via Vladivostok, but that was during a cool summer month. The temperature had now dropped to -30 degrees Celsius (do the conversion yourself) – but trust me when I say it was damn frigid. By the time I had walked from the train to the taxi, the insides of my nostrils were frozen, my ears were stinging, and I was wishing I had worn long johns on the train. Harbin, a city of 10 million people, was as chaotic as I had remembered it. Last time I was here, we (my father, brother, and I) had no hotel reservation and even worse, no Chinese money. This time, I was better prepared. Still, not having left Beijing for 8 months, I was initially taken back by the shadiness of the Harbin taxi drivers and their horrendous driving. On the way to the hotel and throughout the trip, our drivers would swerve around pedestrians and often slam on the brakes to ask them to jump in – a sketchy attempt to double their intake/profits.
Since we didn’t have much time left in the day, we threw on few layers (double socks, double gloves, triple everything else), grabbed a bite at a local xiaochi (Chinese diner, kinda), and headed to Zhaolin Park (the original location of the Ice Festival). Once being a boy that took pride in building massive snowmen, I was more than impressed when I saw what they had done with large blocks of ice. It felt bizarre walking up a three story building of ice and as you might have imagined, quite challenging getting down – my girlfriend is still recovering from a number of major spills. The park was covered in funky structures, bridges, and statues all made of ice but the highlight, however, was the exhibition of sculptures made by teams from different countries. Some tried to convey the artistic representation of their country while others were merely fun yet detailed dioramas. We ended the night by taking a chance on a massive ice slide (a thrilling but painful experience that we would repeat over and over again throughout the following Sunday).
SUNDAY
We started our day at the St. Sophia Cathedral. This was a Russian church left over when the Russians controlled the region more than a century ago. Russians still come into Harbin in bus loads to go shopping and do business. Throughout the city I would see many Russian signs and vodka shops, with a few locals mistaking me for a lao maozi (The name given the Russians meaning “hairy ones”). As we walked through the shopping streets of Harbin, a commercial area blending new mammoth shopping centers and architecturally preserved Russian buildings, I was taken back by the number of people not phased by the cold. My camera was malfunctioning from the cold yet many were walking around with no gloves or hats on while others chilled at the ICE BAR – an igloo type bar with everything made of ice… including the ash trays.
When we finally made it to the frozen Song Jiang (Song river), we found hundreds of people ice skating, ice sliding, carriage riding, and gliding around on chairs with blades while using ski poles to push themselves along (whatever floats their boat). There was also a section of the frozen river where a race track had been constructed, and for a nominal fee you could speed around to achieve the thrill of drifting at every turn.
On the other side of the river we found another park with snow sculptures. The size of these works of art were considerably larger than those of the previous night. I thought they were again spectacular and can’t even pretend to know how difficult it was to produce them. Some of the human figures were twenty, thirty feet tall with facial expressions so real it gave me the creeps. They park had a frozen pond full of fun activities and figure skating shows performed by Russian skaters while horses, deer, huskies, and even yaks helped in the festivites (and for a dollar you could have your picture taken with one).
After recharging the batteries at the hotel and filling up on some Harbin beer and hot fish pot (yu guo), a popuar dish in Dongbei that keeps you warm as the fire burns under the pot in front of you, we made our way to main event. This was a large amusement type park managed by a Russian company and may be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I was like Disneyland made of ice. We’re talking about close to life size ice structures of the Forbidden City, Thai temple’s, the Corinthian, the Great Wall, Stonehedge, and much more. There were ice slides, mazes, skating, skiing, snowmobiling, rope climbing, and sledding. It was cold, but the wind wasn’t bad and there was so much to do, we hardly suffered. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed feeling like a kid again.
MONDAY
The next day, we got up early and hoped into a taxi to the airport. After receiving a phone call from an important client, the driver tried told us we were going to be late and that his cab wasn’t fast enough to get to the airport on time. After failing twice in having shoving us into other taxis with passengers already in them, we hit the gas and got us there with more than enough time. To add to this tense morning, the airport employees were extremely disrespectful and very short with us. I later found out from my students that Dongbei people have a bad reputation of being generally impolite (because of the cold I guess), so much that many companies will skip over cities like Harbin on promotional tours and product exhibitions.
But all in all, it was great to get out of Beiing, even just for a weekend. I came to Harbin because of the Bing Deng Jie (Ice Lantern Festival). I now realize that the whole city takes part in this festival with no central location. And indisputably I saw some of the world’s best ice sculptures, snow structures, and undoubtedly the most amazing ice city.
I had visited Harbin on my return to Beijing in 2006 via Vladivostok, but that was during a cool summer month. The temperature had now dropped to -30 degrees Celsius (do the conversion yourself) – but trust me when I say it was damn frigid. By the time I had walked from the train to the taxi, the insides of my nostrils were frozen, my ears were stinging, and I was wishing I had worn long johns on the train. Harbin, a city of 10 million people, was as chaotic as I had remembered it. Last time I was here, we (my father, brother, and I) had no hotel reservation and even worse, no Chinese money. This time, I was better prepared. Still, not having left Beijing for 8 months, I was initially taken back by the shadiness of the Harbin taxi drivers and their horrendous driving. On the way to the hotel and throughout the trip, our drivers would swerve around pedestrians and often slam on the brakes to ask them to jump in – a sketchy attempt to double their intake/profits.
Since we didn’t have much time left in the day, we threw on few layers (double socks, double gloves, triple everything else), grabbed a bite at a local xiaochi (Chinese diner, kinda), and headed to Zhaolin Park (the original location of the Ice Festival). Once being a boy that took pride in building massive snowmen, I was more than impressed when I saw what they had done with large blocks of ice. It felt bizarre walking up a three story building of ice and as you might have imagined, quite challenging getting down – my girlfriend is still recovering from a number of major spills. The park was covered in funky structures, bridges, and statues all made of ice but the highlight, however, was the exhibition of sculptures made by teams from different countries. Some tried to convey the artistic representation of their country while others were merely fun yet detailed dioramas. We ended the night by taking a chance on a massive ice slide (a thrilling but painful experience that we would repeat over and over again throughout the following Sunday).
SUNDAY
We started our day at the St. Sophia Cathedral. This was a Russian church left over when the Russians controlled the region more than a century ago. Russians still come into Harbin in bus loads to go shopping and do business. Throughout the city I would see many Russian signs and vodka shops, with a few locals mistaking me for a lao maozi (The name given the Russians meaning “hairy ones”). As we walked through the shopping streets of Harbin, a commercial area blending new mammoth shopping centers and architecturally preserved Russian buildings, I was taken back by the number of people not phased by the cold. My camera was malfunctioning from the cold yet many were walking around with no gloves or hats on while others chilled at the ICE BAR – an igloo type bar with everything made of ice… including the ash trays.
When we finally made it to the frozen Song Jiang (Song river), we found hundreds of people ice skating, ice sliding, carriage riding, and gliding around on chairs with blades while using ski poles to push themselves along (whatever floats their boat). There was also a section of the frozen river where a race track had been constructed, and for a nominal fee you could speed around to achieve the thrill of drifting at every turn.
On the other side of the river we found another park with snow sculptures. The size of these works of art were considerably larger than those of the previous night. I thought they were again spectacular and can’t even pretend to know how difficult it was to produce them. Some of the human figures were twenty, thirty feet tall with facial expressions so real it gave me the creeps. They park had a frozen pond full of fun activities and figure skating shows performed by Russian skaters while horses, deer, huskies, and even yaks helped in the festivites (and for a dollar you could have your picture taken with one).
After recharging the batteries at the hotel and filling up on some Harbin beer and hot fish pot (yu guo), a popuar dish in Dongbei that keeps you warm as the fire burns under the pot in front of you, we made our way to main event. This was a large amusement type park managed by a Russian company and may be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I was like Disneyland made of ice. We’re talking about close to life size ice structures of the Forbidden City, Thai temple’s, the Corinthian, the Great Wall, Stonehedge, and much more. There were ice slides, mazes, skating, skiing, snowmobiling, rope climbing, and sledding. It was cold, but the wind wasn’t bad and there was so much to do, we hardly suffered. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed feeling like a kid again.
MONDAY
The next day, we got up early and hoped into a taxi to the airport. After receiving a phone call from an important client, the driver tried told us we were going to be late and that his cab wasn’t fast enough to get to the airport on time. After failing twice in having shoving us into other taxis with passengers already in them, we hit the gas and got us there with more than enough time. To add to this tense morning, the airport employees were extremely disrespectful and very short with us. I later found out from my students that Dongbei people have a bad reputation of being generally impolite (because of the cold I guess), so much that many companies will skip over cities like Harbin on promotional tours and product exhibitions.
But all in all, it was great to get out of Beiing, even just for a weekend. I came to Harbin because of the Bing Deng Jie (Ice Lantern Festival). I now realize that the whole city takes part in this festival with no central location. And indisputably I saw some of the world’s best ice sculptures, snow structures, and undoubtedly the most amazing ice city.
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