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Published: February 28th 2014
Dream Comes True!
This is the big moment right before we entered the Ice World. Jarek's excitement is covered by the darkness, but I promise it's there!Harbin!
Welcome to a city of blue skies, stackable dolls, and borsch. Oh, and a huge world made from ice and snow - we can’t forget that! Our trip to Harbin was so wonderful. It was great to get away from Xi’an for a little while and enjoy somewhat-smogless air and forks. Yay forks! It makes so much more sense to twirl the noodles with your fork rather than use the shovel-with-a-stick method, but that isn’t what I am here to talk about. I will divide our trip into locations to make it a bit easier to follow.
Tigers!
Our first big destination was to the famed Siberian Tiger Park! Apparently there are 1,400 tigers there, but only 400 were on display at the time… pick and choose the facts you believe. I choose to believe that fact in the hopes that they are doing a fabulous job bringing back the endangered Siberian tigers! They are absolutely gorgeous. And huge. Giant. I had no idea they were that massive. It is an interesting feeling wanting so badly to cuddle up next to one while knowing it can bite your head off in a single
chomp. Speaking of chomps, Jarek fed one lucky tiger a piece of delicious raw meat! You have the option of feeding them a live cow, a live chicken, or a strip of meet. We chose the cheaper option because a cow is a little much and we couldn’t find the chickens. Anyways, it was quite the feeling to have an enormously beautiful tiger in your face with its big teeth gnashing against the gate. Well, Jarek knows better, I was just taking the picture. It sure was awesome, though! Some other awesome things we saw were panthers, cheetahs, lions, a liger (yes, a tiger and lion mix), and white tigers. The liger took huge to a new level. I didn’t want to cuddle with that one at all!
When we entered the park, we got on a bus that took us through the tigers’ living areas. Of course, the Chinese bus driver treated the tigers just like any other pedestrian: honk until they move and drive until you almost run them over. (I’m sure if those tigers got the chance, they would eat the bus drivers for dessert.) It was great to see all the tigers walking around the
Rawr.
Jarek feeding the big, scary tiger! park and coming right up to the bus. There was also a section of lions that we drove through. After the bus ride, we walked through the rest of the park and had to ignore how small the cages are for such big animals. It really is a wonder they don’t fight each other all the time.
Mini ice world!
This was one of my favorite places! Mostly because it was like a big playground made of ice! It is located at Zhaolin Park and should not be confused with the bigger world-renowned Ice and Snow World. Before I describe what was on the inside, I will tell you our adventure of getting in:
We are extremely lucky because we have student IDs and everywhere we went offered a student discount. Well, when looking for the entrance to this park, we came across a bunch of sketchy teenage looking guys in a car selling tickets. They were in front of a locked gate. We said we were students and they offered the student price, but they sold tickets that were already used so we ran the other direction. The other direction was the wrong way
so we walked around the entire circumference of the park and finally found the real ticket office. We got in the extremely long line and not soon after did a man who looked somewhat more official than the kids in the car come up to us and ask if we wanted student tickets. He told us to go with him really fast; we hesitated but he insisted and it seemed legit so we ran with it. He took us to the side where there was another young couple. He gave us all tickets and Jarek got out his money, but the guy just pushed us toward the gate without taking any money or giving any explanation. We were so confused, but two other official guys came and pushed us through the gate. Suddenly we realized that we got in for free!! Do you know how much better things are when they are free? It takes away any possibility of disappointment because nothing is lost! 160 Yuan saved.
Inside the gate awaited beautiful icehouses, gazebos, and towers. All free to climb on and slide down. (I wonder how many legs are broken from falling on ice each year in this
ice playground.) It was around 0 degrees Fahrenheit that night so we were able to explore for a couple hours. By the end of the night my toes and fingers were frozen, but it was totally worth it! We also got to hold an arctic fox! It was so cuddly – much more cuddly than a tiger. It’s sometimes so surprising the way Chinese people do things compared to Americans. For example, when we went to hold the arctic fox, we went up to the guy, paid him, and he basically threw the fox into my arms and walked away. I could have run off with that little friend! It was awesome! We cuddled for as long as we wanted, well I guess for as long as I wanted, then I passed him off to Jarek. After all, the guy left us so we were just going to keep playing with him! It was so great. We also witnessed a hilarious Chinese ice dance party. There was some concert going on and there were a bunch of dancing girls on the ice stage dressed in bunny ears. Totally normal. Then the crowd broke out into a conga line led by
one of these Rabbit Girls. We had a blast exploring the park and didn’t get too cold. I would totally go back to that one, especially if it’s free again…
Snow Isla… I mean Sun Island
Okay, I guess Sun Island is the name of the whole island, but it is covered with snow and it is the home of the wonderful and sometimes strange snow sculptures. This park we did not get in for free, but it was still fun!! We went during the daytime because they are not lit at night. Luckily, there were blue skies and not very many people! Chinese people don’t like to wake up early to go to places. This park had hundreds of snow sculptures ranging from the Hulk’s behind to giant elephants as long as a football field.
St. Sophia Church
If you don’t know, Harbin used to be part of Russia so that’s why the architecture is so different and why you can find Russian food. One building that was left from when it was part of Russia is the St. Sophia Church. They restored the outside of the church and it is
gorgeous during the day and at night with all the lights. They didn’t restore the inside, but instead made it a museum of Harbin. Some people don’t like that the inside isn’t restored, but I thought it was really cool and fit with the theme of the history museum. This was one of Jarek’s favorite places to visit because it is a little piece of European architecture in a country of high-rise apartment buildings!
Unit 731 Museum
This isn’t your average museum. This is a museum about what the Japanese did to the Chinese when they invaded. Unit 731 was an area where the Japanese did germ warfare and other inhumane tests on the Chinese people. This museum is not for the weak stomached, which means I was extremely nauseated by the end of the tour. We both left feeling sick, but understanding more how complicated the entire situation is. For the Chinese, “forgive and forget” is the best way to move on and for the Japanese “remember then repent” should be good words to live by.
Volga Manor
Happy Valentine’s Day! This was our Valentine’s Day excursion. It is an area
about two hours away from the city, but it is totally worth it and I would make the trip again. We were there on a national holiday, the day that marks the end of the Spring Festival and the day when everyone goes home to eat Tang Yuan, slimy dough balls filled with various surprises, with their families. Because of that, we were the only ones at this giant manor. It was a very eerie feeling being the only ones in a place; we haven’t felt that since we went to Lake Powell back in August. We walked around looking for a place to eat. We were worried because it seemed like the whole thing was closed, which would have been lame because we paid a lot to get into the place. We finally found this gorgeous restaurant without a single person inside. The waitress was so kind, maybe because we kept her from dying of boredom, and the food was incredible. Probably the best meal we ate during the whole trip. Again, it was so strange to be the only ones in a place, yet now that I am back in the big city, I would go back there
in a heartbeat. We felt like royalty – using forks and knives, delicious cheese and cream laid out in front of us. After eating we explored more of the manor. In the summertime it must be beautiful as there are many trees, everything is spread out, and there is a lake. We saw it all covered with lots of snow, which was beautiful as well. It began to snow so we decided we should start making our way back to avoid missing the last bus and being stranded out in the middle of nowhere. We waited on the small road and finally a little car came by offering us a ride to the next bus station (we had to take three buses to get to the manor). We accepted the offer and on the way he picked up more people than his car could carry so we all squished in and enjoyed the ride. I was sitting on the door handle with my face right next to a Chinese lady’s face and she was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. They thought we were Russian, as most Chinese do in Harbin, but we corrected them and they were
thrilled to talk with us. All the discomfort was made worth it to get to know more delightful Chinese people!
Jarek’s dream: Ice and Snow World!
When Jarek was on his mission, his great friend Lee sent him letters, one of which contained pictures of this incredible world made from ice! Since seeing those pictures, Jarek has dreamt of going to see the Ice World in Harbin. We saved the best for last and made this one of the last things we did in Harbin. It was incredible! There were pagodas, the Empire State Building, castles, the Coliseum, slides, tunnels, towers, and more! It was incredible. These are the moments when humanity astounds me. There were also loads of ice carvings that were all beautiful. We went to the top of one huge building that had two slides to get down. Of course, waiting in line is not something a Chinese person chooses to do well so they all went down the slide at once, hardly moving at all, just scooching inch by inch on their bums! It was hilarious! Everyone was having a great time though so we decided to join them. We chose the
Life Lesson
Sometimes all you can see is the snow you are crushing under your feet to make a cube to carve. But if you step back and see what it can become, you'll be amazed. slide that had less people so there was a big section that you could actually slide down. Jarek got pummeled by a lady once we got halfway down and were stopped by a line of people. It was hilarious so we had to do it again before we left! The next slide we went down together and it was later so we got the slide to ourselves the whole way down! We had a blast! Again, by the end of the night my toes were frozen. We were lucky, however, because the temperature was only around 3 degrees Fahrenheit. It was much colder last year at this time. You can tell by the pictures that my face is frozen, but again, it was completely worth it!
Well, that’s not everything that we did in Harbin, but it covered the big stuff! It’s a lot to read, I apologize, but I hope you enjoy the pictures!
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