Cold. Beautiful. Cold and Cold.

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A 3 Hour Tour

We loaded the bus early on Saturday Morning. I guess I should say that we boarded the bus after the driver spent 20 minutes banging on the door, so that it would open. I figured rubber seals freeze in this extreme cold. Anyway, we were anxious to begin our trip and happy to get out of the cold. It was about 10 below Saturday morning. It was suppose to be a 3 hour tour, I mean a 3 hour drive. A quick stop to pick up our last tour member and we were off for Harbin and the famous snow festivals and tiger park. There was some difficulty closing the door, but it ended up closing so we could go. As we started down the highway the fun began. Our driver was prepared, he brought some CD's. You might be thinking....oh great some crazy Chinese music. No Chinese windshield defroster. It just so happens that this 30 passenger bus was the discount model. In cost cutting during production that switched out the bus size heating system for 5 candles. So as we drive down the icy highway our driver periodically scrapes the window with a CD, about every 2 minutes. It reminded me of many morning trips to high school in the Old Pontiac with my brother. According to international windshield scrapping protocol he cleared only a small area right in front of his face. If you aren't not familar with the international protocol, imagine a hotel room peep hole and you are on the right track. It was comforting really, I felt that if we died in an icy crash, at least we would not see it coming.

Pit Stop #1: 2 important lessons

Lesson 1 Be careful what you eat before you take a 3 hour drive through the Chinese country side. Bathroom does not mean toilet.

Lesson 2 If a door is hard to open it can be hard to close. Luckily our tour guide had good arm strength. He managed to hold the door closed the remaining 2 hours of the trip to Harbin. However, it felt like 4 of the 5 candles in the heating system blew out, and now there was a little breeze through the crack in the door.


After a quick lunch we checked into the hotel, warmed up, and reloaded the bus for the nights amusement, the Snow and Ice Palace.

Snow and Ice Palace

Think of a county fair constructed completely of ice. You might be thinking "How long is it open?" From what I gather at least 2 months. Yes, that is right. It is below freezing continuously for at least 2 months. Check out the pictures, pay special attention to the people you see in the bottom of pictures. They are not midgets, many of these buildings were over 30 feet tall

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Photos

Ice Church
There were ice slides down from the top.

Comments

[Mom]

WOW
And we thought the ice sculptures on the cruise were amazing, this is incredible. When you come home you may have to take some warmer clothing back with you. Love, Mom