Advertisement
Published: September 7th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Because the train to was leaving Harbin at 8:17, we (I traveled together with my Peruvian classmate Giuseppe) decided to leave the campus at 7:30. Because the night before was the night of Peking duck and bowling, it was not that easy to get up. I actually tried the Peking duck, but after a bite with the pancake and the sauce, I also took a bite without adding any flavour. I turns out that it doesn't really have a taste, so I decided to stick to the veggie options for the rest of the night...
Arriving at Harbin train station was a different than expected. It was incredibly crowded and much less organized compared to the other train stations I've been in China. But, we made it on time and slept for most of the 2 1/4 hours. At arrival in
Qiqihar, we tried to find a bus to the nature reserve we wanted to visit. The taxi drivers told us that there was no bus, but we didn't really believe them. After having looked around and after a while also with a number of a bus to - we thought - the nature reserve, we decided just to get
a taxi to the reserve anyway. When we went back to the taxi drivers, within 10 seconds there were over twenty men around us. They of course wanted far too much money, but after some bargaining, there was a taxi driver who wanted to take us.
With a stop for the taxi driver to get some food for himself, we arrived at
Zhalong Nature Reserve. And of course, there was a bus waiting. This was what we kind of expected and it was nice to know that we could take a bus back to the city. The Nature Reserve itself was everything what the rest of China is not; Quiet. It was very peaceful and relaxed. There were only a hand full of people, the sun was shining and the cold wind was so strong that it made the leaves of the trees and the cane produce the sounds I am so used to. It actually reminded me of the Netherlands. The landscape of the Zhalong Nature Reserve is completely flat and there is not much more to see than the crane and some water surrounding it.
After some relaxing in the sun, we walked the only road
of the Reserve and it turned out that it is really small! Zhalong is known for the
red crowned cranes and other cranes that live there. However, we only saw one bird in the wild. All the other cranes were kept in cages, without any room to fly. When we decided to eat something, the amount of people suddenly increased. So we decided to ask at what time the birds would be released. As that was 30 minutes later, we decided to look at that happening first.
It turned out that the birds where released and than people with a very long stick tried to make the birds fly even more, so that the tourists can make pictures of them. It is so obviously the Chinese way of nature protecting, similar as the Siberian Tiger Park; in the end it is all for the tourists and not really about the animals, I have the feeling.
The food we ate in the restaurant was delicious. The fish was fresh (the cook went to the little reservoir to get the fishes) and very soft. Also the vegetables were differently cooked than we had before.
Around 16:30 we decided to
head back with the bus this time. I was very funny to see that the ladies who collected the bus money counted some part of it and put the rest of the money in the special box. The counted part, they took with them when they left the bus. We were really wondering if that procedure was normal or whether this is a too obvious form of taking money that doesn't belong to you....
Back in Qiqihar, we found a hotel. Because we and the hotel receptionist did not have a common language, we just pointed at the lowest price. When another lady showed us the room, it turned out to be a very small room without toilet etc. After she showed us the dirty toilets (and no shower), she showed us another room which was much larger and did have a clean toilet and a shower. For 20 yuan more we could have that room. So the decision was quickly made and we paid 10 euro in total for that room!
That evening we walked to the city center. Except for many places where people where dancing on the street with music, there was nobody on the
street. We also couldn't find many restaurants and all the shops were closed. But the atmosphere was really relaxed (perhaps also because of this). Finally, we found a market, which was closing, and a restaurant. After having asked many people, we found a club in the end. This club,
Coco, was a huge dark club with people only hanging on their table and a girl performing without much interaction from the audience. The whole scene was very strange. But suddenly, when she left, the whole dance floor was filled within a minute! It was really funny to see all the Chinese dance! When we left at 00:30, there were less than 50 people left in the whole club. It seems that Chinese people in Qiqihar don't go out until late... which was fine by us, having just one more day in the city.
The next morning, we woke up several times by
fireworks. Later, we found out that it was for the marriage in the hotel. So next time, I rather not stay in a hotel that hosts a marriage... We tried to find some breakfast, but it really seemed that people in Qiqihar do not like eating as
much as the people in Harbin, where there are restaurants and food stalls everywhere. After having found some breakfast, we went to the Dacheng temple. Also this was very peaceful.
We took the bus back and went to the city center. What I hadn't seen before in a non-touristy place were the big terraces outside where they serve beer (like those in Europe which are packed the moment the sun is shining), so we had to visit one of them. Then, we entered a park,
Longsha Park, which again was some combination between a relaxing park, an amusement park and a zoo. The park was beautiful, but the zoo was horrible. The cages too small for the animals and people just climbed over the first fence to get to the animals and feed them through the bars of their cage. Shouting, throwing things.... it all seems so normal for the people. It seems that the Chinese society handles animals completely different than at least in the Netherlands.
When it was time to get the train back, we took a bus to the train station and prepared for a big change again. Qiqihar being very relaxed and laid-back is
a large contrast with the life in Harbin (outside the campus). Although we really liked Qiqihar, probably Harbin is more suitable to live in as a student because of the many options for things like restaurants, bars and clubs. But Qiqihar is a wonderful place to spend a
relaxing weekend and escape the hustle and bustle of Harbin!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.15s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 52; dbt: 0.056s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb