"Hard Sleep" is a bit like sleep away camp. In one car you have about a dozen compartments consisting of 2 bunk-beds with 3 beds each, so 6 beds per compartment. There are no doors so it's a very communal traveling experience. There are a few small tables around which every eats their meals, usually ramen noodle bowls because the train provides boiled water. At about 10:30 the over head lights go off and everyone goes to sleep. I had ear plugs and an eye mask to help me sleep, which I was incredibly grateful for because of the man next to me. Through out the entire 22 hour trip he dozed, waking himself up by making the loudest coughs/snores/congestion-type noises I have ever heard. Luckily, my earplugs blocked out all the noise and left me to sleep, rocked by the motion of the train. I woke the next morning, ate my breakfast, did some grading, and tried to convince myself that another 6 hours on the train was nothing. About 2pm we rolled into Harbin, quickly got off the train, and hopped into a taxi to our hostel.The hostel, while not in the best location for a tourist and limited in the amount of english spoken by the staff was comfortable enough once you got used to the dingy, mildewed and musty smell of the room. We checked in, unpacked and then headed off to the main tourist street in Harbin, Zhongyang Dajie, for some sight seeing and the first of 3 snow & ice attractions. Harbin, having been founded as a Russian city, retains much of its European charm, and Zhongyang Dajie is a perfect example of it. A cobblestoned pedestrian street, it is lined with shops selling "Russian Goods" like air guns, binoculars, vodka and matryoshka nesting dolls, Chinese shoe and clothing stores, and a number of high end Western retailers like Emporio Armani. There were also a number of ice sculptures in front of which chinese tourists posed.
After walking around for a bit we went to a Russian cafe that our Lonely Planet guide had recommended. Unfortunately it didn't leave up to our expectations as it lacked almost every item on the menu at the time we ordered. We ended up each have a small bowl of basic cabbage, tomato and beef soup, bread and some Harbin sausage, which is a bit like kielbasa.After dinner we decided to head to Zaolin Park, home of the ice lantern festival. This attraction was the smallest of the 3, but we enjoyed it thoroughly. Disney themed this year, the festival included structures and sculptures of varying size all related to disney.
There was Cinderella's castle, rocket ships form Toy Story, Aladdin's palace, and a pirate ship among other buildings. One even had a 4 story elevator! On all of these you could climb and interact-and hope you wouldn't fall. In addition to the ice buildings there were sculptures made of ice and snow. The atmosphere was amazing with both children and adults enjoying the space with the same enthusiasm. 
Having had a wonderful time, but slightly frozen we headed back to the hostel, tired from our long day of traveling and sight seeing.The next morning we woke about 8:30, had a "western" breakfast at the hostel consisting of 5 slices of (untoasted) toast, a fried egg, tomato and cucumber, Harbin/russian sausage and nescafe. Not great, but satisfying, the meal filled us as we prepared our plan for the day. This day was our favorite of the trip, though each was spectacular in its own way. First we headed to the train station where we bought train return train tickets, though either through miscommunication or unavailability we could not get hard sleepers home and end up with hard seats. Glad to know we had a way home with at least seats, we jumped into a taxi, crossed the Songhua river and headed to Sun Island to see the Siberian Tiger Park. Siberian Tigers are an endangered species with only abotu 400 living in the wild in all of the world. The park looks to breed and then release into the wild enough tigers to sustain and rebuild the population, though I'm not quite sure how many they've actually released. At the park we boarded a bus that took us through the various areas of the park. We saw hundreds of tigers (and ligers) all very close to the bus. Being a Chinese tourist park, visitors have the ability to buy live chickens to feed to the tickers for about $6 or even a whole cow for about $200. We chose not to but still saw one chewing away on something. It was incredible to see these beautiful animals, and Olivia and I have decided that we want one as a pet. The tiger park was a lot of fun, though also a bit sad as we thought about what type of life these animals lived.
After the Siberian Tiger park we headed to the second of the 3 snow and ice attractions. This one was all snow sculptures and was absolutely incredible. Though the some of the largest sculptures weren't entirely completed, the afternoon was great. The sun was beginning to set and the light on the snow was beautiful. It was interesting too to see the sculptures being created and the simple tools that they used. The theme this year was Finland, which meant that half of the sculptures were Santa Clauses and Christmas themed, and the other half nordic myths. Unfortunately my camera battery died after the tigers and my extra was back at the hostel. Nick and Olivia got some great pictures which I'll steal from later and post here so check back in a bit. The sculptures, their individual scale and the scale of the park in general, were unlike anything I had seen before. Perhaps at a ski resort you might see one or two, but nothing that compared to the size and detail. On the largest of the sculptures that was still being completed, the workers looked like ants in comparison to the mound of snow they were sculpting.
After the park we headed back to Zhongyang Dajie and stopped into a western coffee shop/bar type place called USAcoffeebuck for something to warm us up and hold us over until dinner later. I had a delicous caramel latte and we split a plate of onion rings-delicious. We then walked around a bit, admiring the beautiful street and window shopping. We even happened upon a Sophora which Olivia and I forced Nick into. It smelled and looked exactly like ones in the US which was a strange, but welcome reminder of home. Finally, we headed to Pizza Hut, the activity that day that perhaps we had been anticipating the most. It had been 3 months since I had last had pizza and we were excited. We drank our fountain soda, ate garlic bread, pasta bolognese and a pizza and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we splurged. It was a great day filled with things I had never seen before, comforts I missed from home, and very little difficulties in navigating our way around.
The next day some how became our "religion day." After our breakfast we went to see the Church of St. Sophia, supposedly the most photographed building in all of Harbin. It is a Russian church and very beautiful, set on its own plaza. In 2004 it was converted into a museum with pictures from its settlement and development in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I found it most interesting to see just how Western and Russian it was. So many pictures were entirely of Russians with not even one Chinese person clearly visible. Though there still is a small Russian population in Harbin and the Russian influence is undeniable, it has truly become a Chinese city with only memories of its past.
We then headed to the Temple of Heavenly Bliss, an active Buddhist community in Harbin. Surprisingly, it was the first Buddhist site that I have visited in China. It was quite and relaxing compound with a number of temples and shrines. People came and went, burning incense and leaving offerings. The incredible colors, beautiful colors, and amazing images really made me wish I new more about the religion. The area included a seven-tiered pagoda and a large buddha (with a ferris wheel in the background).
We then went back to Zhongyang Dajie, this time to the end of the street to see the Flood Control Monument and look at the frozen Songhua river. The monument was interesting, but nothing really remarkable. Behind it the was an incredible amount of activity on the river. Because of the long cold winters in Harbin, the river can freeze up to a few meters thick and becomes a center of amusement. Tubbing, skating, dog sledding, and horse drawn carriages are all available on the river. We chose simply to walk to the middle and marvel at the stability of the ice, the amount of activity, and just how cold the winters are in Harbin.
Finally, that night we headed to the largest of the all the snow and ice locations. The theme that year happened to be religious buildings and so fit nicely into our own, accidental theme for the day. Large ice structures colorfully lit from with in force you to marvel at their size and details. There really isn't much to say about the Snow and Ice world because being there really takes your breath away. The pictures don't quite capture the experience but here you go.
The next morning we lingered in the Hostel until check out. We had seen almost all of Harbin had to offer and simply had to kill time until our train that evening at 7. After checking out at noon we took a bus towards the train station where there also happened to be a Carrefour. The bus we took happened to be the worlds most crowded bus and we struggled to stay upright with our bags as people pushed to get on and off. From our hostel buses run to just about every tourist spot that you would want to see. However, unless you know the name of the stop you want to get off at and how far away it is, traveling by bus is rather difficult. Because of the extreme cold, all the windows of the bus-except the front-ice over making it impossible to see what you are approaching and then passing. If you are lucky enough to have a seat next to the window you might scratch yourself a little window which helps you to see a bit, but because we were standing in the middle of the bus we really had no idea when or where to get off. After about 30 minutes of being pushed about, we decided that overheating in our many layers and bodies hurting from holding our bags we better get off and hope for the best. We wandered a bit asking for directions and eventually found Carrefour. Exhausted and overheated we stuff our bags and jackets into some of the lockers and shuffled through Carrefour for 2 hours. We bough food for the train and then headed over to the train station. It was incredibly crowded but we found seats and attempted to kill time for another 4 hours. Finally our train arrived and we boarded. The hard seats weren't unbearable but I wouldn't say they were comfortable either. Imagine an airplane seat in coach with less cushion that doesn't recline and you have a "hard seat." Sleeping was nearly impossible though I dozed for about an hour and half at 4:30am. I figure if I can handle that, I can handle just about anything traveling here and the plane ride will be a breeze when I go home this summer. Despite the train home, Harbin was fantastic. I saw things I had never seen before, had a great time, and managed not to slip and fall once the whole time-unlike my travel companions.
1 comment:
HOW GORGEOUS!! I can't imagine what this must've looked like in person!! So jealous!!
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