BF and TF went to Harbin China on January 25th with a work collegue and his wife for a weekend trip to visit the world famous ice and snow sculptures. We traveled from Beijing to Harbin in around two hours by plane.
Harbin is another one of those populous Chinese cities I had never heard of before living in China. The population is anywhere from 5MM to 10MM people depending on the definition. Harbin is the capital of the Heilongjiang province near the Russian border in northeast China. The city has some Russian influences which make it quite unique.
We stayed at the Milky Way Hotel (not the hotel we were hoping for but again we had logistic issues). It was a decent 4 star Chinese hotel. The suite was very nice and included an automatic shuffling mahjong table. I had never heard of such a thing. If you are interested check this video out: mahjong.
First on our itinerary was the 2oth annual Harbin Snow Sculpture Expo on Sun Island Park. The theme of the expo was France and China. The entrance began with a replica of the Arc de Triomphe. There were many huge snow sculptures along this theme. There was also a competition between international college students. There was a nice ice ice house complete with bed. There were all sorts of recreational activities at this exhibit including dog sled rides, tubing, ice sleds, 4-wheelers, etc. BF and CC took a snow tube ride on the steps of a replica of the Forbidden City. BF and TF took a ride inside a large ball down a snow chute.
We then went to the Polar Land (which was inside, nice relief from the cold) to see polar bears, whales, penguins, artic fox, etc.
Next we visited St. Sophia Church built in 1907. It is the largest eastern orthodox church in the far east. It no longer has services and is now a museum. St Sophia
Then it was off to the Siberian Tiger Park to see hundreds of tigers. On the way to the park we saw hundreds of army soldiers clearning the road of snow and ice. Once at the park you pay to ride a bus through the gated preserve. You can also buy chickens, goats, and/or a cow to feed to the tigers. We met up with a group who bought 3 chickens. On the bus we watched as a 4x4 came up to us, the driver opened the window slightly and through a live chicken up on the roof of the truck. The next thing you knew there was a tiger leaping on top of the truck to snatch the chicken.
Then it was off to see the 9th Annual Harbin Ice and Snow World Festival. The theme was olympics. It was really too incredible to describe all of these extremely large ice models of different building and monuments from Olympic cities (Beijing, Athens, London to name a few). The lights turned on around 4:30pm and we stayed for about 2 hours. It was quite an experience.
The third ice sculpture exhibit we visited was a classic one that dates back to 1968. It is called the Ice Lantern Festival and is held in Zhaolin Park in the city. It was the 34th (the math does not work because it was terminated during the Cultural Revolution and then restarted). This exhibit had ice buildings as well as classic ice sculptures. Countries competed at this exhibit as well.
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