Blogs from Harbin, Dongbei, China, Asia

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Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin June 5th 2007

Heilongjiang province is the most northeastern province in China with a population of 39 million, about 4 million in Harbin. Some interesting tidbits about Harbin: it has the tallest free-standing tower in Asia; Harbin Industrial University is the 6th largest in China and has many Russian students; the first department store was built in 1901; public schools are named by number, and usually don't have names; it costs about 100 Yuan to attend public school, about 5000 to 18,000 for private school. Ginseng, mink fur and deer antler are known as “three treasures of northeast China”. Some people called frog fat from a kind of frog the fourth treasure. The Chinese name of this frog is LingWa (literally translated as Bell Frog) because the croaking sounds it makes. It migrates from the mountains to the ... read more
Tallest tower in Asia
First department store in Harbin 1901
Sun Island Park

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin June 4th 2007

This morning we cruised around Jinbro Lake. It's 46km long, the second largest volcanic crater lake in the world. The largest is somewhere in Switzerland. The rich and powerful have villas around the lake. Some universities also have cottages here for summer retreats. Some of the highlights include crocodile islands and a mountain that looks like a supine chairman Mao from a certain angle. Afterwards we got on the bus again, this time heading for Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province (literally translated as Black Dragon Province). Harbin is about 200km from the Chinese-Russian border. Heilongjiang is the 3rd longest river in China, after the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. It originates in Mongolia, flows through China and Russia. 1/3 of it courses through China. Ethnically Harbin is a bit like the other cities close to ... read more
Jinbro Lake
Jinbro Lake
Jinbro Lake

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin February 6th 2007

The Ice Festival is probably the main reason why many tourists visit Harbin in winter - it may be the only reason to visit Harbin all year round. A 2.5 hour flight from Shanghai will get you there. Upon arrival, some guys from Beijing were hovering around in the -10 cold, deliberating about taxis. 'These guys here are major rip offs' they warned. My companion and I hopped on the bus for 20 yuan into town and to the main railway station. Some other friends caught a taxi and it cost 100 yuan which is the going rate. It's difficult travelling sometimes when you aren't sure of what's what. I know of a few people first-hand who have been conned in China (including myself - more on that later). Of course it happens everywhere, all I'm ... read more
Ice Ice Baby
Ice Ice Baby
Ice Ice Baby

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin February 3rd 2007

We logeerden in het Xiangjiang shiji dajiudian (Hong Kong Century Hotel) Adres: Songzhi dajie 212, Daoliu district, 150010 Harbin Tel: 0451 - 8677 5777 en 5666; kamers reserveren (in het chinees) via: 0451 - 8677 5688 Ligging: Tegenover het het Zhaolin park, en vlakbij de Zhongyang dajie en het Stalin park. Prijs en wat inbegrepen: Tijdens het festival betaalden we 268Y voor een tweepersoonskamer met dubbel bed (Chinezen noemen dit een eenpersoonskamer), in de zomer van 2005 betaalden we 198Y voor een dergelijke kamer. De officiele prijs is 286Y. Een goed uitgeruste kamer met verwarming, airco, TV, telefoon, ijskast, waterkoker en badkamer. 24h/24 warm water, propere handdoeken. Ook inclusief zijn een uitgebreid warm chinees ontbijt, met ook brood, confituur en koffie. 's Avonds gratis fruit op de kamer en de weersvoorspelling voor de volgende dag, 's ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin August 14th 2006

I am pleased to to bring into the spot light the 2 cheapest, last minute purchases that have served me so well on this trip. First I would like to introduce my $20 running shoes that I picked up at SAAN right before I left. They have not only aided me to climb the great wall etc for the last 2 months but have kept my feet in less pain then any of my other shoes, hands down. Secondly i would like to bring into the lime light my watch, I picked it up on the way out of Overweighty grocery store for $10 bucks. Dispite the dust gathering under the face & the patially broken strap, apparently it looks like a very valuable watch to the Chinese. I've had various people comment on how ... read more
Harbin
Harbin
Harbin

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin July 1st 2006

So I got on the train no problem, everything was smooth in Beijing. The ride out to Harbin was quiet, a nice sleeper car, so caught up on rest, a little reading and a little looking at the countryside. I was going to be purchasing a ticket to Suifenhe once I arrived and then deciding in Suifenhe whether I would take the bus or train into Russia. I arrived in Harbin very early, so early that I was wondering why the agent that was in Harbin would not sell me a ticket to Vlad, there was no problem with time to connect. As soon as I entered the train station in Harbin, I knew I was in trouble. In Beijing, where there was my alphabet to use for chinese words, only their characters existed here. Dead. ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin June 11th 2006

Harbin, normally best known for its Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival which takes place in January, appeared on television sets around the world last November as the water supply of the city's 3.8 million inhabitants was cut off for several days. An accident at a chemical plant in a city upstream from Harbin had polluted the city's main water source, the Songhua river, with a 80-km long benzene slick. Since then, with the water supply back to normal, the city has once again retreated from the world stage, and it will probably remain largely forgotten in Europe until the next Ice Festival... We arrived in Harbin on Friday morning from Beijing. Perhaps it was not one of the most logical places to visit. Except for the winter months, the city's sights are largely restricted to some ... read more
Church of St Sophia

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin April 1st 2006

Hey, hab hier so viele Eindruecke das ich gar nicht weiss was ich zu erst schreiben soll. Deshalb auch noch ein Nachtrag. Einfach unglaublich dieses Land. Besonders das Essen. War heute Mittag zu Gast bei einem Geschaeftsessen (mein russischer Zugnachbar hat mich da mitgeschleift). Da gab es wirklich alles. Es war eine Suppe mit 35 Zutaten. Nun, als erstes war da nur die Suppe, quasi Wasser mit Gewuerzen und alle (8) sassen um den Topf. Dazu gab es Tee aus Pilzen. Diese wurden dann auch in die Suppe gegeben. Das war aber das letzte was ich von den 35 Koestlichkeiten kannte. Es kam Fleisch, und wieder Gemuese (irgendwann hoerte ich auch das Wort Sabaka aber war sicherlich nur Einbildung...). Weiterhin wohl Tran usw... Der Hoehepunkt des Ganzen war eine Schildkroete welche der Suppe beigegeben wurde. Und ... read more
In China essen sie Hunde...2
In China essen sie Hunde...3
In China essen sie Hunde...4

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin April 1st 2006

Hey, es ist kein Aprilscherz, der Kerl ist in China angekommen. Und es geht ihm gut! Doch ersteinmal noch ein paar worte zu Russland. Vladivostok ist eine echt tolle stadt. Vielleicht ein wenig rauh, doch alles in allem hat mir das dort gut gefallen. Ich habe die zwei Tage welche ich dort war gut genutzt. Museum, Uboot Besichtigung, und eine Fahrt mit der Faehre zur Insel vor Vladivostok. War besonders aufregend, da besonders kalt. Ueberall lagen noch eisschollen herum und der Faehrmann ist da einfach nur so durchgebrettert. Im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Es hat geprasselt und gekracht. und der ganze Spass hat mich nichtmal 1,5 Euro gekostet, fuer zwei Stunden. Super cool. Dann habe ich meinen Waggon gebucht, es gab nur das teure Abteil, und dort waren wir auch nur zu dritt. Dabei ist zu ... read more
Vladivostok II
Vladivostok III
Vladivostok IV

Asia » China » Dongbei » Harbin March 16th 2006

It is a twilight time now. A time of soft light from the sky between sunset and the full darkness, a time of long shadows that follow you to where ever you are going, it is a time of vagueness - of being in between, a time for a mood to be setting in, a period of decline - of stretching a tired body and a searching soul, a time of travels and of dreams, a time when East meets West. It is a time for us. A weekly date between you and me… just us, alone and together. My name is Dan. My very best and close friends call me Dindan. I come to you from far away land, from other culture and traditions. I am a writer, a journalist. I have written books and ... read more




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