Harbin, China is home to one of the four biggest Ice and Snow Festivals in the world. It is located in North-East China and the reason it can host one of the biggest ice and snow festivals is because it is sooooo darn COLD! I can't count on one hand the number of people who tried to talk us out of going, or who thought we were crazy for going because of the temperature. Puhleeeease! If you let things like weather, or distance, or whatever stop you from doing things then you would never do anything or see anything because there is aLWaYs a reason you can find to talk yourself out of it.
We were thinking that we might have to go next year because we were running out of weekends to go. But Rob surprised us by coming home from his Munich, Germany work trip a day early so we bought us some plane tickets and were OFF for a quick two-day trip to Harbin!!
The forecast...
(1*F/-22*F on Saturday)
Checking into the Hotel.
We stayed right across the street from the main pedestrian street - Zhong Yang Jie. After checking-in, we bundled up and hit the streets to see what we could find.
The kids' favorite snow sculpture...Gangnam Style!
Our favorite Chinese treat - Tanghulu
Sugar coated Chinese Hawthorn - but wait! Here they had the same candy coating on bananas, grapes, strawberries, and pineapple - yum!
The street ends at the river that runs through town. This is a monument to the many people who have died when the river used to over-flow its banks.
And yes, I do love my huge down coat! I have stayed WARM this winter!
Our first spotting of the famous ice-lanterns!
The river is packed with people and many activities to do from chair-skating and ice-biking, to kite skating and for the real crazies - swimming.
When we got cold we just ducked into the nearest store to warm our fingers and noses. Harbin has a very large Russian influence. It's actually pretty close to Russia, and a little north of Vladivostok. This is a souvenir shop that we loved!
So now the real story begins...We had originally planned to go back to the hotel after our walk up the street so I wasn't prepared for the night-time temperatures. We were prepared with adequate clothing, it's your exposed skin that feels the burn! It was getting close to dark and we were close to Zhaolin Park where some ice lanterns are so we decided to walk there. We brought those pouches that heat up and you can stick in your gloves and boots - but they are still at the hotel. In our research we found two places to go and see the ice lanterns but didn't realize one was much smaller than the other. We walked to the small one at Zhaolin Park and this is what we found - so beautiful!
Anytime you travel with kids you have to be flexible and prepared. And hardships are multiplied when it is -20*F outside :) We had one child that wouldn't walk, two others who had frozen fingers, one who wanted to go to the hotel and a Dad who was just finished with this day (granted, he was the one carrying small fry). To top it off, my fully charged camera battery was sucked dry by the frigid temperatures, and I didn't bring another battery. Good thing we had Keely's camera and our phones. Sure, we are all smiles in the pictures but when I brought up going to the "big" park that night, I got vetoed... times 5.
There's always tomorrow :)
Sometimes we luck out and find a taxi driver who will let all 6 of us squish in. I am always nervous when we have to take 2 taxi's that we will get separated and not find each other, or one will end up in the wrong place. But this guy was great so we just paid him to stick around for the day. It's arctic outside so we are all bundled up. Then we get into a taxi where the driver has the heat cranking and I'm pretty sure one kid almost dIEd because he was so hot and squished. By the end of the day they had learned to unlayer before getting in the car :) Good thing they're still small!
The official "Ice & Snow World"
Apparently this is the place to go at night when all the ice lanterns are all lit up. We only had one night but we still wanted to see the huge ice buildings so we went during the day (half price, yay!)
View from on top
The favorite parts for the kids were all these ice slides that were on some of the sculptures
Coming during the day turned out to be a blessing. There was hardly anyone there, so all the fun activities they had set up for the kids - we had all to ourselves. No lines, no crowds, only a few people staring ;) I know the lanterns are more impressive at night - but we saw the ones the night before, plus the buildings were still very impressive during the day - and that's what we came to see! I think the kids had more fun sliding down the ice over and over again. I think had we come at night they wouldn't have had the chance because of the crowds. Day 2 saved the trip :)
When Mom and Dad want a picture together this is what we get...I'll take it :)
Warming up with some hot (watered down) chocolate!
Exhausted! They played hard and had a great time!! Jake even fell asleep so I kNoW he was comfortable!
All bundled up! The kids wore thermals and fleece pants then their snow pants. They had their snow boots and never complained about being cold (except some fingers the first night). But once we had the hand warmers, it was awesome!
We had a rough start but day 2 definitely made the trip worth it! Was it cold? Yes! Was it miserable? No! Definitely worth seeing if you have the chance! I'm all ready to go again next year - Rob...not so much - been there done that, what's next?!!
