Beijing Station, while smaller than the mammoth Beijing West Station, is still enormous, and it is the main hub for trains heading to China’s northeast. My ticket that night was for a seat on the express train, which makes the 650 mile journey in just eight hours. Because it was Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) season, the train station was packed with thousands upon thousands of travelers. I stopped into a café in the station and had a cup of rose flavored milk tea while waiting for the train to board. On the way to the gate, a rather friendly homeless man chatted me up and asked where I was headed. When I told him I was catching a train to Harbin, he replied with shock and disapproval: “No! Don’t go! It’s way too cold!!” I’d see what he meant by the next morning.
The train trip up to Harbin was pleasant enough: comfortable reclining seats, foot rests, and great views. The views of the countryside gradually changed from slightly frosty to an endless sea of snow, snow covered pines, snow covered fields, and snow covered cottages. The scenery was actually quite lovely. Once in Harbin, I caught a cab to the hostel. The hostel was set in a quaint courtyard in an area with some universities and a military base. I explored the area and found several cheap restaurants with delicious food, lots of stores for shopping, and of course the red 3-wheeled “beng beng” cars which are ubiquitous both near the train station and way out in the southwestern part of the city where the hostel was. For 5 yuan, the beng beng cars can take you almost anywhere in the area. They’re also warm and a lot of fun.
After checking in, I caught a bus to Main Street 中央大街, a pedestrian-only 2 mile long strip of shops, cafes, restaurants, shoppers, strolling couples, and turn of the century Russian architecture which looked absolutely lovely in the snow. I tried one café located in a building which used to be a café back in the 1930’s and had milk tea and Chinese snacks. From here, I went to the snow and ice festival!
Harbin is extremely cold, and that makes it the perfect place for artists to have a massive exhibition showing off masterpieces carved in snow and ice. It was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life (negative 20 to negative 30 every day), but I managed to survive and saw some amazing snow sculptures along the way. To ford the Songhua River, I paid (got ripped off) to take a horse carriage across. It was a lot of fun and when I reached Sun Island on the other side, I took a nice long stroll through the old lanes, pine trees, turn of the century houses, and snow covered hills before arriving at Sun Island’s portion of the festival. I was blown away by the majestic sculptures depicting everything from unique buildings to historical figures, and animals, and mythological creatures. It was so beautiful and so breathtaking that I forgot about how cold it was.
The next day I slept late, ate delicious and hand-warming corn on the cob and sweet potatoes from street peddlers, ate with other people in my hostel, and emailed my family, girlfriend, and friends. I also bought a Harbin phone card. Finally, I paid a visit to Li Yanqiu, who works for CET Harbin. I dropped off my luggage, chatted about life in Harbin, and met another student, Vivian, who ended up staying in Harbin over winter break. We ended up meeting up the next day for dinner at a Korean restaurant near campus (which would later become one of my favorite restaurants in the area). Vivian talked about spending nine months in Harbin, school, life here, and gave me a quick tour of the campus and surrounding area. Eventually we made our way to a local pub where I tried Harbin beer, China’s oldest and one of its best. I headed back to my hostel to pack for my next destination. For no real reason, I decided to visit Qiqihar, a small city west of Harbin.
The train trip up to Harbin was pleasant enough: comfortable reclining seats, foot rests, and great views. The views of the countryside gradually changed from slightly frosty to an endless sea of snow, snow covered pines, snow covered fields, and snow covered cottages. The scenery was actually quite lovely. Once in Harbin, I caught a cab to the hostel. The hostel was set in a quaint courtyard in an area with some universities and a military base. I explored the area and found several cheap restaurants with delicious food, lots of stores for shopping, and of course the red 3-wheeled “beng beng” cars which are ubiquitous both near the train station and way out in the southwestern part of the city where the hostel was. For 5 yuan, the beng beng cars can take you almost anywhere in the area. They’re also warm and a lot of fun.
After checking in, I caught a bus to Main Street 中央大街, a pedestrian-only 2 mile long strip of shops, cafes, restaurants, shoppers, strolling couples, and turn of the century Russian architecture which looked absolutely lovely in the snow. I tried one café located in a building which used to be a café back in the 1930’s and had milk tea and Chinese snacks. From here, I went to the snow and ice festival!
Harbin is extremely cold, and that makes it the perfect place for artists to have a massive exhibition showing off masterpieces carved in snow and ice. It was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life (negative 20 to negative 30 every day), but I managed to survive and saw some amazing snow sculptures along the way. To ford the Songhua River, I paid (got ripped off) to take a horse carriage across. It was a lot of fun and when I reached Sun Island on the other side, I took a nice long stroll through the old lanes, pine trees, turn of the century houses, and snow covered hills before arriving at Sun Island’s portion of the festival. I was blown away by the majestic sculptures depicting everything from unique buildings to historical figures, and animals, and mythological creatures. It was so beautiful and so breathtaking that I forgot about how cold it was.
The next day I slept late, ate delicious and hand-warming corn on the cob and sweet potatoes from street peddlers, ate with other people in my hostel, and emailed my family, girlfriend, and friends. I also bought a Harbin phone card. Finally, I paid a visit to Li Yanqiu, who works for CET Harbin. I dropped off my luggage, chatted about life in Harbin, and met another student, Vivian, who ended up staying in Harbin over winter break. We ended up meeting up the next day for dinner at a Korean restaurant near campus (which would later become one of my favorite restaurants in the area). Vivian talked about spending nine months in Harbin, school, life here, and gave me a quick tour of the campus and surrounding area. Eventually we made our way to a local pub where I tried Harbin beer, China’s oldest and one of its best. I headed back to my hostel to pack for my next destination. For no real reason, I decided to visit Qiqihar, a small city west of Harbin.
