Frosty Harbin

Tiffany and I visited Harbin last weekend, one of China’s northernmost cities and very near the Russian border. It is famous for the annual snow and ice festival, and famous for its freezing temperatures. The snow and ice festivals were monumental displays of precision sculpture, and distinctly Chinese. That is, the Chinese seem to have a flair for the melodramatic, or tacky, to someone less generous. Tiffany and I were hugely entertained, in fact, the gaudier and more outrageous the better. After all, what’s the fun in experiencing a different culture if there are no differences? Suffice to say, we were not disappointed.






We started with the snow festival, where some famous sculptures were remade in snow, like “Crane Kick Squirrel” and “Mao the Mouse”, or whatever that animal is. Buddhas showed up everywhere, of course.

















Even on the streets the Harbin locals got into the spirit of the festival.






One motto of the city seemed to be, “We get one tourist event a year, so milk those lao wai (foreigners) for all they’re worth.” Everywhere we went there were opportunities to spend money. This beautiful snow castle had inner tube slides that you could pay to ride down. Here’s Tiffany flying down a similar slide. I have to say, the speed and lack of any safety equipment whatsoever made for quite an exhilarating ride!




You could rent an ice sled to push yourself around, or even bikes on ice.











Of course, Tiffany’s favorite was the dog sled ride. This 6 minute lap around the ice rink cost us $25. And with a dog that cute, how could we refuse?


Here I am taking a nice nap in a snowy hammock.

There was an entire “main street” carved in snow, with little shops you could actually enter and buy hot tea and souvenirs.














We randomly saw this Harbin local taking his daily backward walk, wearing an Oakland A’s cap. I tried to ask him what he thought about this year’s team, but there was some disconnect. Either that, or he was just too disgusted by their draft to comment.




After the snow festival we were hounded by a street salesman to come into his restaurant and have some tea. So we ended up making a nice contribution to the Harbin Street Sellers after receiving the bill of $15 for our tea and peanuts. We knew we’d been ripped off, but this poor guy was standing out in the cold all day, and his restaurant was empty, so we didn’t feel so bad.

We stopped for lunch at Pizza Hut and witnessed the Crafty Chinese Woman at her finest. Apparently taking time off from constructing snow and ice sculptures, this woman literally spent 20 minutes at the “One serving only” salad bar, piling coleslaw in layers, and using cucumber slices to stabilize her structure. Like I said, everywhere we went we saw very impressive building creations.




As night fell, Harbin turned into a disco. Or at least it felt like it. Colored lights flashed across the city and lit our way like a Chinese kaleidoscope.











A quick stop at Starbucks, oh wait, no that’s “USAbucks”. Knockoff coffee?









We got to the ice festival and it was spectacular, a rainbow spectrum of neon, backed by bass-thumping techno music blaring throughout the park. Believe it or not, all these fluorescent monuments were constructed with blocks of ice, and carved to a meticulous finish.










After taking a horse drawn carriage tour of the festival to get our bearings, and handing over the required tip to our driver (actually he asked in Chinese for a “toll” charge), we wandered around the mammoth ice structures.

Ice mazes, ice tunnels, ice cathedrals, ice replicas of the Forbidden City, there was something for everyone.










I even found a tank sitting in the courtyard.










Of course, Tiffany found some dog/fox-like creature that she paid to cuddle with. She had to return the animal, but got to keep the fleas.
The next day, before we had to leave, we got to take a nice long stroll through Harbin. It is a vast, snowy, frozen tundra of a city, and we had a great time experiencing it!