Harbin, China

Wimpy Jeff "did not sign up for winter" when he moved to HK, so I joined an AWA tour last weekend to Harbin along with my friend, Barbara.  Harbin is WAY north - just south of the Siberian border.  Every winter, Harbin hosts an international ice festival, and being the hardy Canuck that I am, I just had to see it!  You can tell from the photo what a fashionista I've become - don't the ski gloves with the U.S. flags just complete the outfit?  I bought the "down" coat in the Stanley market for $22CDN.  Surprisingly, it kept me toasty warm, but it did shed feathers all over my sweaters and pants.  The gloves were a parting gift from Joan a few months ago - not sure if she thought I would have the nerve to wear them!  My Tilley hat was perfect - most of the weekend I even wore it with the flaps down over my ears, and the Holt Renfrew cashmere scarf worked wonders around my neck and face.  In addition to the layers of thermal underwear (a big thank you to Ursula for lending me hers), turtle necks, and cashmere sweaters, I had hand warmers in my gloves and boots.  Everything was necessary, since the highs only reached -15 C, and the lows at night were between -25 and -30 C.  (While I was in Harbin, the temperatures were even colder in Montreal, so I got no sympathy from family and friends back home)
The group met at the central post office in HK at 9 a.m. on Friday morning.  From there, we were taken by minivan to the Shenzhen airport across the border.  Flying out of Shenzhen is quite a chaotic experience.  Picture an airport that's basically a free-for-all-push-everyone-out-of-your-way place.  T.I.C. became the motto of the trip - THIS IS CHINA.  Once we all finally found the correct check-in line, we got our boarding cards and made our way to our Shenzhen Airlines plane.  Barbara has a sore knee, so I switched my aisle seat with her, and sat in the back row with Alison and Mike.  When Alison got up to allow me to use the WC, she discovered that her seat cushion was soaking wet!  There wasn't an empty seat on the flight, so the flight crew quickly put down some newspaper and covered it with some blankets, and Alison sat very tentatively throughout the four-hour trip.

About half-an-hour before landing, the stewardesses led the passengers in stretching exercises.  I was quite oblivious to what was going on, since I had my nose in my book (Dissolution by CJ Sansom - a very good mystery series), and all of the instructions being shouted out were in Mandarin.  So when I looked up and saw arms and fingers waving around, I laughed out loud!  What a great idea - limbering people up after a long, tightly packed, flight.  Kind of reminded me of singing "hands up, baby hands up" at Club Med 30 years ago.  The exercises  also warmed up our muscles to prepare us for the bitter cold that greeted us when we disembarked down the staircase and onto the ice-cold tarmac.  (As we taxied to a stop along the runway, we passed scarecrows on the side dressed in parkas - I kid you not!)  By the way, the translated motto of Shenzhen airlines is "feel easy and considerate on Shenzhen Airlines".
Traffic on Friday afternoon in Harbin (or anytime, as we soon discovered) doesn't move at all.  Our 45 minute drive to the Shangri La Hotel turned into an hour and a half, but during that time, our guide, Susan, introduced herself and told us a lot about Harbin.  The city was a small fishing village until Russia bullied its way into China at the turn of the last century, and built the Trans Siberian Railroad from Moscow to Vladivostok, passing through Harbin.  Today, Harbin (pronounced Ha-er-bin) is a city of 9 million!  After unpacking, we quickly layered-up and set out for Zhao Lin Park to see the illuminated ice sculptures (photo at the top was taken there).  I decided to protect my camera and its batteries, and used a disposable camera outdoors.   Our guide warned us that this park was not the main attraction in Harbin - she described it as a small park with "cute" sculptures.  My first reaction was to compare it to Quebec City's Carnaval, which Jeff and I had visited many times with Julie and Andrew.  Zhao Lin Park didn't come close.  After half an hour, we were all freezing, so we ducked into a lovely tea shop for some jasmine and warmth.

After tea, we headed to one of Harbin's restaurants for a dumpling dinner.  Cold weather makes you hungry (and in frequent need of the WC), so we dug into the feast before us.  Not only were we served more than 20 different kinds of dumplings, but there were also other Chinese dishes and Russian cabbage soup!  The soup was almost as good as my Bubby Zimmer's (and Mary-Ann's), and although it didn't really "go" with Chinese food, none of us complained.

After a good night's sleep in our over-heated rooms, we set out early on Saturday morning to watch the winter swimmers at the Songhua River.  These crazy seniors (all over 50 and 60) sashay out of a small hut in their skimpy Speedo suits, wave to the crowd, climb onto a one- or three-metre diving board (made of blocks of ice), dive head first into the pool, and swim 20 metres to the exit ladder.  Without so much as wrapping themselves in a towel or parka, they wave to the crowd and amble back into the hut.  Most of the swimmers were local Chinese, but at the end, a group of Russians came out and really hammed it up with the crowd before taking a dip!  Good thing our kids grew up competing in indoor pools - I can't imagine sitting in the viewing stands outside in the freezing cold!

Everywhere we went, hawkers were selling snacks.  The favourites were candied fruit on sticks (which took hours to thaw before we could bite into them), and baked yams.  The yams smelled wonderful, but I didn't want to take my gloves off to rummage for some money to buy them.

After watching the swimmers, we went to Stalin Park to see the Flood Control Monument.  There was a huge flood in Harbin in 1932, and the Russians rescued the city, hence the tribute.  There were cute ice sculptures of bunnies - in celebration of Chinese New Year - the year of the rabbit.  In fact, beautiful ice sculptures decorated most street corners in Harbin.  Across the street from the park we spotted a Sheraton hotel, and most of us dashed in to use the Western loo.

Then it was off to the Central Street - now a pedestrian promenade lined with shops and restaurants, all in the classic Russian style.  Our guide, Susan, pointed out the former Jewish hospital (now a regular Chinese hospital), a large hotel also built by the Jews of Harbin, and the Jewish bank.  At its peak in the 1930s, the Russian Jewish community numbered 25,000.  Susan pointed to a famous ice cream parlor, so Mamie, Seema, and I high-tailed it to buy a yummy milk-flavoured (it tasted somewhat like vanilla)  ice cream.  In the cold, the ice cream lasted a long time.

Lunch was superb - a Chinese feast.  The piece-de-resistence was a dish of sweet and sticky purple yams (my fuzzy photo doesn't do them justice).  All of the dishes came out piping hot, and we ate a lot to fortify us for the rest of our outdoor activities.

After lunch we visited the Siberian Tiger Park.  There are about 1,000 tigers in the park, and I was happy to see that they were not drugged (they appeared to be frisky), and that they had enough room to wander about.  We toured the park in caged buses.  Visitors are encouraged to buy live animals to feed the tigers.  Luckily, we only saw the animals tearing up a chicken (50 yuan=7.50CDN).  Barbara mentioned that she had actually watched a YouTube video where the tigers were eating a live cow.  T.I.C.  Unfortunately, a visit to the Tiger Park ends with a trip to an old-fashioned inhumane zoo, where ligers (cross between a lion and a tiger), snow leopards and lions pace up and down in their tiny cages.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent marvelling at the jaw-dropping magnificence of the snow and ice sculptures.  Some of the snow sculptures are as large as a city block.  Not only are they intricate and interesting, but they are all so different:  some have a very serious theme, while others represent cartoons or fairy tales.  When the sun set about 5 o'clock, we headed to Ice and Snow World.  I do not know enough superlatives to describe what I saw, but it surely took my breath away, especially illuminated in multi-coloured lights.  Needless to say, Quebec City's Carnaval doesn't hold a candle to Harbin's festival.

More food!  Hot pot dinner (Chinese version of fondue) - rather bland (our table forgot to ask for chillies) but filling.  We finally got back to the hotel after 9 p.m.  We had numerous glasses of wine/beer/vodka while rehashing our exciting day!

On Sunday, we visited the Harbin Synagogue (1918).  The synagogue is now a museum which chronicles the lives of the Jewish citizens of Harbin from 1900-1949.  There was so much information, yet we had so little time to really absorb it all.  Not only were the photographs and memorabilia interesting, but the building itself is beautifully restored and maintained.  The main sanctuary is on the ground floor, and there are two women's galleries - one on the second floor, and one on the third.  The women's galleries now house the exhibits.  I will definitely revisit the synagogue if and when Jeff and I travel to northern China again.

The final stop on our whirlwind tour was at the St. Sophia Russian Orthodox Church, the architectural symbol of Harbin.  The church was completed in the early 1930s, but was severely damaged during Civil War in China.  The interior has not been restored to its original magnificence, and it looks like the ruins of a Medieval church.  It is unheated and cavernous inside, so it was only the warmth of hundreds of tourists that prevented us from feeling too frozen.

Before heading off to the airport for our return flight to Shenzhen, we had one more large meal, this time at Portman's, a famous 4-storey Russian restaurant.  Unfortunately, the meal was disgusting - pickles with horseradish, smelly and tepid cabbage soup made with mutton, soggy breaded fish, mystery meat with purple sauce ... Guillaume saved the day by ordering bottles of vodka!
Our 36 hours in Harbin (New York Times travel section hasn't yet featured this city) were amazing, and, in spite of the cold, or perhaps because of it, I would highly recommend this trip to everyone.

Penang - Selamat Datang!

Jeff and I spent five days in George Town, the capital of Penang, during the Xmas holidays.  Normally, we are very organized when we travel: we have read about our destination, and we have planned what we want to see and do.  This time, we got on the plane to Malaysia with some printed articles and a few items of clothing in our carry-on bags.  We hadn't bothered to check if the flight was non-stop, nor had we checked the length of the flight.  Luckily, we were bumped up to business class, because the flight turned out to be a long one, with a stop in KL!  (btw - unlike North America, we are always fed on short-haul flights in Asia).

George Town was added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 2008.  It is an example of a multicultural British colonial trading port, replete with domestic and religious architecture representing the Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities that have inhabited it for over two hundred years.  I personally feel that Unesco selected it because of its food!  The yummy nyonya dishes that have resulted from combining the best of the three ethnicities are a foodie's delight.  Imagine visiting a place where the most popular brochure is the one listing the food specialities of the region, as well as the addresses of all the food hawker stalls in the city.

Our culinary experience began at lunch on our first day.  We headed to a restaurant famous for assam laksa, a tasty noodle soup with a mackerel base.  What makes this dish special are its tamarind, lemongrass, and mint flavours.  While we were seated in our own booth (a rarity in such a crowded place where people share tables as a rule), we looked around at the crowd:  locals of every ethnicity, lots of Chinese tourists (we later discovered that Penang is a popular spot for Singaporean Chinese to visit), and us - the only Caucasians in the place.

I always like to see what other people are eating, so as we were shlurping our soup, I noticed a mouth-watering dessert being shared by some people at the next table.  They told us it was called ABC.  Its proper name is ais kacang, but that's too much of a mouthful - pardon the pun - to say.  We just had to have one!  As we have discovered during our travels, local food is made with readily available cheap ingredients which are often combined in the most unusual ways.  I never would have thought that piling sweet red beans, dried fruits, toasted peanuts, creamed corn and strips of jelly on top of a mound of refreshing shaved ice would taste so good!  Penang cooking uses the "shit arayn" method - throw a little bit of this, a little bit of that, into a pan, mix it up, and it comes out delicious.

Our feasting continued that evening at Mama's Nyonya Cuisine, a restaurant run by four sisters who serve their mother's famous dishes, including fish head curry and fried eggplant.  We were stuffed, and decided to walk off our dinner before heading back to the hotel.  Lo and behold, we found a modern mall with a Starbucks, shops, and lots of holiday decorations.

Food featured prominently during the rest of our stay.  One evening, we decided to walk to Ocean Green, a highly-praised Chinese seafood restaurant on the beach.  The map we were following deceived us - the address looked so close, however ....  We set out from the hotel as the light was fading, and 45 minutes later, in total darkness, we realized that we were "sort of" lost!  Food is never far away, though, and we found the Northam Beach Cafe, a superb eatery with more than 30 food stalls.  Once we found a table, we went around the stalls ordering different dishes.  The vendors bring the food to your table.  Beer waiters roam around taking your orders, too.  In addition to Asian delights, there were also Western food stands, and I even found French crepes filled with apple compote and drizzled with chocolate for dessert. All this for about $10CDN for two!

We did manage to get to Ocean Green the next evening, but safely by taxi.  This was much more upscale than most places in Penang - white tablecloths, fine service, and more expensive dishes.  Although our steamed fish was delicious, we decided that it was a lot more fun eating in the large hawker bazaars.

Many of our friends and family tell us that we are very adventurous when it comes to eating street food in HK and the rest of Asia.  So far, our constitutions have not failed us, but when I saw the fellow "cleaning" the chickens in a back alley, I almost decided then and there to go vegetarian for the duration of our visit!  (To our future visitors - this is not a sight we have seen in HK.  There are very strict sanitary laws here, especially since 2003 and the SARS epidemic).

Our hotel was centrally located, so we were able to walk to most of the architectural wonders of the city.  The old town has a unique type of architecture - street after street of two-storey shoplots.  The small stores are on the ground floor with apartments upstairs.  A few buildings have been renovated, but there does not seem to be an overall plan as yet to restore entire neighbourhoods.  There are several streets of these dilapidated houses that are being used as cheap accommodations for backpackers.  It surprises me that there are many people of my generation who appear to have been on the road all their lives (the long Rasta hairdos give them away).  You can certainly do Penang on $10 a day!

The Chinese, Indian, and Muslim communities settled in separate neighbourhoods, with signs, smells, and music illuminating which area you are walking through.  Because the city is so compact, there are mosques, churches, Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu temples on almost every street.  The Chinese in Penang came from many different cities in China, and each group built a clan house - like a Landsmanshaft - to serve its community.  We were very impressed with the Keling Mosque, the (Chinese) Goddess of Mercy Temple, and the (Hindu) Sri Mariammam Temple, as well as an assortment of Christian churches, too.  After four days, we were "churched out"!

Although there are no synagogues in Penang, I did notice these windows on the Keling Mosque!  One hot afternoon, we decided to cool off in the State Museum, which tells the history of Penang.  The very first information panel mentioned that, in addition to the British, Chinese, and Indian people who came to seek their fortunes, there were also Armenians (e.g. the Sarkie brothers who built the fancy hotels in South Asia) and Jews.  Nowhere else in our guidebooks or brochures were Jews mentioned.  We also found a reference to the Jewish cemetery on Jalan Zailin Abidal - formerly Yahudi Street, which naturally became our next destination!

As we were walking down "Yahudi", a vicious-looking dog suddenly darted out at us.  After snarling and barking, he turned and led us to the gate of the cemetery.  An old Indian caretaker welcomed us, and began to show us around.  The grounds are meticulously groomed - we assume that there is a world-wide Jewish organization that funds the preservation and maintenance of remote places like this.  The cemetery dates back to 1835.  The last burial took place in 1978.  Cohens and Levis are buried in a separate, roped-off section.

The Jewish cemetery was in stark contrast to the Protestant cemetery, where the British founders of Penang are buried.  The place reminded me of a Tim Burton horror movie - overgrown, creepy, and laden with garbage.  The grave of Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang, looked ransacked - the wrought iron fencing around the grave has been stripped (probably by the Japanese during WWII), and there is no plaque denoting his significance.  Even the trees look lifeless.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were many Chinese businessmen in Penang who were as rich as Rockefeller.  Two of their homes are now museums - the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion, and the Pinang Peranakan mansion.  These houses are filled with treasures.  We were assured by the guides that they are both excellent examples of fung shui.  Both houses have central open atria - almost like ancient Roman villas.  Gorgeously carved wooden staircases lead up to the second floor which hangs over the main floor like a Spanish hacienda.  

A trip to Penang wouldn't be complete without a visit to Fort Cornwallis.  There wasn't much to see, but the view of the Straight of Malacca was quite lovely!
We also enjoyed our walk along the water to the Chinese clan jetties which reminded us of the fishing villages in HK that are built on stilts.

Penang is still very much third world.  After three days, I started to reorganize it - e.g. the tourist offices in George Town are almost inaccessible.  One is on the 52nd floor of the only skyscraper - we needed a special pass to enter the elevator!  The passes were obtained at a government office, where no one spoke English, and there were only Malay signs.  I also wanted to fix the bus service.  We waited at the main terminal for a bus to the botanical gardens.  After an hour and a half, we were told that the bus was late.  Duh!  Needless to say, we never did visit the gardens, nor Penang Hill.  Penang Hill used to have a funicular similar to the Peak Tram in HK.  The funicular broke down in 2008.  Although the tourist brochures announced the reopening on December 10th, 2010, we were informed (Dec. 27th) that it hadn't yet been repaired!  On our last full day in Penang, the water was turned off in the city of George Town from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  When I stepped into the shower at 6 p.m., I forgot to run the water beforehand.  Brown, rusty gunk gushed from the tap for five minutes.  Yuck!

All in all, another fascinating Asian holiday - good food, interesting sights, and just the right amount of frustration.