Ice and Snow in Harbin

Harbin! We were joined on our adventure by our good friend Ruby who is from England and is living and teaching in Beijing. Before we came to China we got to talk to my cousin Dusty, who speaks Mandarin, and one of the things he said was "Get to Harbin, they are the nicest people." He was right! We made it to Harbin and we rented an apartment for the days that we where there.

View from our apartment that we rented

Looking down at the snow

We helped make dinner by stuffing the dumplings...it takes skill and lots of practice.

The landlord, Yong, and his family were great. They helped us with directions and even fed us one night!

Zhu, Susan, Yuebing, Yong, Ruby and Jami at a great dinner!

The boys with Yongs dad. They were loving the food!

Harbin is in north eastern China. Almost to Russia. In fact there is a lot of Russian influence. It was cold as well. BUT the cold was one of the reasons we were there. Harbin is home to the world famous Ice and Snow festival. It is quite the experience to stand by these gigantic masterpieces of ice and snow! Then at night the lights come on and it takes your breath away...not just 'cause of the cold! We spent a solid 4-5 hours at the festival. They had shows, bicycle skating, chair skating, ice slides and the Snow sledding was soooooo much fun! Not to mention a lot to look at.

Outside the Ice Festival!

Waiting in line for the fish ice slide...stairs were ice blocks!

Me going down the fish ice slide

Outside the biggest steel carp sculpture in the world! (so they say)

Ev coming out of the Fish ice slide

Jami in front of the Ice Maze

Lij on ice bike

Ethan on Ice bike

Massive snow sculptures of fish and mer-people

THe lights of the festival...Pictures do it no justice

A giant castle of ice

Some smaller ice sculptures

An ice Ferris wheel

An ice windmill

Ev ice chairing?

A 4-5 story tall building of ice representing Big Ben

Last picture of the night after hours and hours of playing on the snow and ice!

We got to walk across the frozen river, Songhua. The ice was so thick that a bus could drive on it.  The city was beautiful. We went to a Russian church, Saint Sophia's. We met up with another member of our Church branch here in China and his girlfriend, Ruben (from Mexico) and Aliona ( from Russia). We went to have an authentic Russian meal! It was delicious! We then went for a popular street desert that is only made in Harbin...a special Ice Cream bar! (What else do you have for desert in the frozen tundra of China?)

A panoramic of Harbin across the river

Harbin and the frozen Songhua river

A bunch of boys acting goofy!

Blocks of ice from the river

Trekking across the river

The river ice we were walking on.

An Authentic Russian meal! Delicious!

YUM!!! Ice cream on a crisp, cold spring day with Aliona, Ruben and Ruby!!

In front of Sophia's Church

Boarding the plan for the south...HONG KONG!

We made some good friends in Harbin and we will keep in touch with them. We had a great time. What an unforgettable trip!  At this time we were done with the cold and it was time for us to fly south....next stop Hong Kong.