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.