The one where we all got really cold

So it’s two months later and I am back in the dorms with Rosie, having waved goodbye to my parents and brother, and am now desperately clinging onto my last 2 days of holiday, before we move up a class and attempt to speak that language that I am supposed to have been learning here. Since I have been up to quite a lot, I have decided to split up this blog post into several parts. However, true to form, I still can’t describe things briefly so if you are in a lecture reading this, or in the Robbo procrastinating from revision/ assignments, you should save this for later…

Harbin – the land of snow and ice

             As you may remember from my last blog post, the first part of my holiday was going to be spent in Harbin. This is the capital of Heilongjiang province which is in the North East of China. Because it borders with Russia,Harbin is quite different from other places that I have been to in China. Not only is it absolutely freezing, but it also has a lot of Russian influence particularly in its architecture and its food – and there are more Russian tourists too! I travelled there with Jack, Jessica, Rosie and Alice, and we were guided around the city and all the sites by Alice’s Chinese friends, who were the most incredible and generous hosts ever known. We also stayed in a swish hotel,which was fancy, and very upmarket and a bit expensive…

One of the main reasons we went to visit Harbin was because every January the city hosts an ice and snow festival and every year it becomes more and more outstanding. To get there we flew from Chengdu to Beijing(extremely early in the morning) and then taxied to Beijing train station where we caught a train to Harbin, which took 7 and a half hours. It’s times like that when you gain a small understanding of how massive China is, and how tiny Ellie is inside it. With so much time at our disposal we were of course incredibly productive – sleeping, napping, dozing, fidgeting, daydreaming, and snoozing were our main occupations. However, we did also play some fairly hilarious rounds of ‘Heads up’ (a team game, involving describing and guessing,which came from Jessica’s phone). As the game involved some awful and unidentifiable humming, even worse accents and some interesting impressions of a sea lion and manatee by Rosie, we did upset some people on the train with our noise, but we made peace before we left.

Our first day was also our first proper experience of the cold that makes Harbin a viable place for ice and snow sculpture festivals. The temperature was regularly between -15° and -20° and therefore liquidy things start to become more solid. I have to say, feeling icicles form inside your nose is uncomfortable and unpleasant and not something I would wish to experience again. Every day I was wearing a long sleeved top, a small jumper, a fleece, a thin coat, jeans, fleece-lined ski trousers, a huge long coat which made me look like a penguin, a scarf, hat, ski gloves and snow boots. As you can imagine, this made it difficult to walk with any kind of grace or poise(two qualities I am known to possess), but was absolutely essential for staying alive (staying alive).

The first part of the day we spent in the middle of town,looking inside St. Sophia Church, which was built in 1907, in a Byzantine architectural style (it looks European), and which now houses a photography exhibition about what Harbin looked like before 1950, when the Communists took over administration of the region. We walked down the cobbled main street,which it turns out is the longest shopping street in Asia, admiring ice sculptures which are placed at 50 metre intervals down the pavement. Most of these sculptures were business sponsored and so we had our picture taken with massive bottles of branded water and of course Harbin’s beer, made out of ice.On our travels we also came across a new Chinese phenomena; Nanbo’s – serving grilled Peri-peri chicken to the hungry people of Harbin.

Our final destination for the morning was the Songhua River which flows through Harbin, and which is extremely wide, and the fifth longest river in China. It was absolutely spectacular, and completely and utterly frozen over – the first river I have ever seen frozen over (except for pictures of the Thames market way back when). I’m sure you can imagine the fun that was had sliding around! After our larking about, we were hungry, and were taken to a restaurant which specialised in North-Eastern style food.

North Eastern food is very different to Sichuan food, and we enjoyed the break from Sichuan’s spice, sampling Lapi (glassy, sticky, stretchy yet snappy, flat, thick noodles which are made from potatoes), something similar to lemon chicken, and sticky ribs.  My first thought was that we would be expected to eat the ribs with chopsticks which would have been a nightmare (although maybe some great pictures would have been captured), but actually in Asia there is the best system – everyone is given disposable, one-size-fits-all, plastic gloves with which to hold the rib and therefore there is no mess on your fingers, only on your face (and that’s your own problem).

Our afternoon was spent at the Snow and Ice Sculpture Parks.We saw some breath-taking sculptures made from huge blocks of ice and very compact snow, some larger than houses (some in the shape of houses). In the middle of the Snow park was also a frozen over lake, and also a large slide which was built out of ice as part of one the snow sculptures, which was probably about three stories high. We of course hired a plastic dish thing, and took it in turns to go down the slide. It was quite steep and twisty, and when lying fully back, and maximising your streamlining, it was similar to how I imagine doing Bobsleigh, although without a helmet, or the fibreglass cart with wheels. Jessica went so fast her hat flew off, and Alice and Rosie’s turns were announced by loud screaming, Jack’s by a yelp.

To get to the rest of the snow sculptures we had to walk the length of the frozen pond, which also had a little ice maze – mainly for decoration, 50% of the paths led to the middle – with walls as high as my waist, which turned out to be a HUGE safety hazard. Whilst running a little too eagerly out of a dead-end, I slipped into a wall, which promptly refused to cushion my impact and I somehow landed on my side and face in another part of the maze, which even with our 7 brains combined made no sense. Suffice it to say, I had some mighty impressive bruises, and yet was I deterred from spending some more time on the floor later on? No I was not.

By the time we got  to the Ice sculpture park, the sky was completely dark, and every ice structure –all built from hefty bricks of ice, and constructed so as to include electric lighting – was lit up in stunning neon colours.

In the park Jessica and I – like magnets for fun – discovered a big, snowy crater which of course we slid down on our bums and then ran up,and rolled down. Not only did I collect most of the hill’s snow inside my coat but I came close to death whilst lying dizzy at the bottom of the crater - my head was almost taken off by a small child and dad on a sled with a sharp runner, which I was completely oblivious to, although it gave everyone else a fright.  On our way around, we passed a large stage with speakers blaring out Chinese pop music and several people in bee costumes dancing around. So naturally, we decided to join the queues of people forming conga lines and dance along. We never did get the hang of the steps but it warmed us up well.

Later we were witnesses of a very strange fashion show with Russian models but as we had no clue what was going on or how we’d stumbled into this, or why anyone would think wearing short dresses in minus degrees would be a good idea, we quickly left, and headed into the next tent which held a very happy alternative – curling and air hockey tables. Curling is actually much harder than it looks on TV. Curling rocks are INCREDIBLY heavy, and when my turn came around the momentum of the rock pulled me off balance, onto my face (again). I don’t even think my rock crossed the second line.

            The next day we spent large amounts of time in the car driving to and from Alice’s friend’s home town, 齐齐哈尔  - Qiqiha’er (Chi chi har) which is famous for the ‘Red headed crane Hot Springs’. We arrived at about 4pm, by which point the sun had set and the temperature outside was -30°!!! The biggest experience of all was the changing room, where people of all ages (although the older were better represented), demonstrated their open and indiscriminate natures, and stood around chatting with their friends with absolutely no clothes on. 

It’s moments like that when being awkward and reserved and British is of no use to anyone.

We changed into our swimming costumes with appropriate haste and headed into the main complex which was like a fancy leisure centre with lots of different pools, of different depths, size, temperature, and type of water….(intriguing, no?)

Once we had warmed up in a fairly hot pool, we decided to brave the outdoor pool. The Outdoor pool. (outside = -30°) We absolutely legged it across the snow, with wet hair and costumes, and plunged into a hot pool,which was very briefly miraculously warm and then outrageously hot (over 40°).We never fully adjusted to it and had to keep getting out and sitting on ice covered rocks on the side to cool down. Because of this, our hair which was tied up but wet by our necks turned into icicles, which you could crack in half. Jack, who’d got his entire head wet, styled it in spikes and it froze that way. Our eyelashes also froze. Back inside, we tried out one-person wooden hot tubs, a medicine water pool, and also a pool filled with tea. (It was slightly disconcerting to see a huge teabag tied under the hot water tap, constantly brewing.)

            On my last day we visited an Aquarium-type place, which I won’t describe in detail because it was quite sad. Except for her adoration and care for pandas, China still has a long way to go in terms of the treatment of animals and the use of them in entertainment venues. (Not that we are perfect in the UK by any means, but there would certainly be outcry against a place like this, which there doesn’t seem to be in China.)

We also visited the old town, which is the few original European-style streets of Harbin, left in a decrepit state. One of the roads we walked down –with beautiful cobbled pavements and red brick buildings (albeit in desperate need of a hose down, and new windows) is soon to be demolished to make way for something sad and modern, probably a row of clothes shops or something. In the next street however, there remains a famous Chinese bun restaurant which is 100 years old. We went there for dinner and had a veritable feast, with the largest steamed buns I have ever known. My last evening in Harbin was spent at KTV, which is the extremely popular Chinese karaoke bar found everywhere in China. Most KTVs have a range of songs in English as well as the Chinese – our personal favourites include: The Proclaimers, Jackson’s ‘Man in the Mirror’ (a Rosie and Ellie duet) and ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, as well as ‘Xiaopingguo’ which is just strange despite being one of the most famous Chinese pop songs out there.You’d have to watch the music video to see for yourself.

When we got back to the hotel, it turned out there had been a power cut, and so naturally we were each given a candle and a teddy bear in compensation.

The next day I left Harbin behind, and headed off to Japan….

TO BE CONTINUED