{"id":346,"date":"2010-01-23T15:49:10","date_gmt":"2010-01-23T07:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/?p=346"},"modified":"2010-01-23T15:49:10","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T07:49:10","slug":"haerbin-%e5%93%88%e5%b0%94%e6%bb%a8-the-oriental-moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/?p=346","title":{"rendered":"Haerbin \u54c8\u5c14\u6ee8: The Oriental Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"

All is well in chilly Beijing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I finished teaching on Saturday of last week to begin six (yes, six) weeks of vacation.\u00a0 I’ve never had this much time off when it wasn’t summer.\u00a0 I’m looking forward to the rest and relaxation that a vacation should bring.\u00a0 My vacation started with a massage after school that night.\u00a0 It was awesome!\u00a0 Then it was a movie with a few ladies before hitting the sack.\u00a0 Sunday was the usual stuff with the group and some time getting ready for my trip to\u00a0Haerbin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next morning began fairly early with a subway ride to the Beijing Railway\u00a0Station.\u00a0 A friend from Yinchuan was going to be traveling with us.\u00a0 Our train ride was at 7:15 and we wanted to meet a little before that so we\u00a0wouldn’t miss the train.\u00a0 We took the fast train (dubbed the “D” train by some FOCers because the number starts with D).\u00a0 This method of transportation landed us in Haerbin, China at 3:30 pm the same day. Much better than a 19-hour overnight train ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When we arrived, we decided to find our hotel by walking.\u00a0 We knew it was fairly close to the train station so we just kept walking and asking people where the street was and finally stumbled upon it.\u00a0 It was fairly nice and reasonably priced.\u00a0 After checking in and getting situated, we found a restaurant that serves jiaozi.\u00a0 This is basically a dumpling-like food that has a variety of things inside of it. I had jiaozi with pork and leeks! Yum…<\/p>\n

We went back to the hotel and got into our minibus that would eventually drop us off at the snow and ice world.\u00a0 The lady who was organizing this whole thing was very concerned about us and if we would find her when we were done.\u00a0 It was all quite hilarious. The ride to the ice\/snow world was pretty cool.\u00a0 The city is dotted with ice sculptures as if to advertize for the large scale festival.\u00a0 The funniest thing that I saw around the city (and they were everywhere!) were the little ice sculptures of PacMan.\u00a0 I half expected there to be ghosts nearby but was disappointed when I saw none.\u00a0 My goal was to capture a pacman in a photo but we were always in a car when we saw them.\u00a0 So I will only have a mental photo of them…sorry.<\/p>\n

We finally arrived at the ice and snow world and was in awe.\u00a0 It was so large.\u00a0 I did my best to capture the magnanimity of it all but I do not think the photos do it justice. You will have to take a look for yourself.\u00a0 Pay attention to the silhouettes in the photos.\u00a0 This will give you some idea as to how large the ice buildings are.\u00a0 It was sort of like being in a fantasy world, and in a way, it feels like it was a dream.\u00a0 I imagine that is how my memories of my year in China will be to me when I come back to the states.\u00a0 I hope it remains very real but I have heard from others that it feels like a dream.\u00a0\u00a0Below are pictures from the Haerbin Ice and Snow World.\u00a0\u00a0If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is my longest entry. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"The

The front gate was HUGE! It also changed colors every minute or so.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We

We were there on one of the warmer nights. <\/p><\/div>\n

I tried not to think about what it would be like when the spring hits and all of this ice melts.\u00a0 What do they do with it?\u00a0 Where does the water go?\u00a0 And along those lines…where do they get all of the ice to make the sculptures?\u00a0 I also thought to myself that this sort of activity probably wouldn’t fly in the states.\u00a0 There would probably be some issue with walking up and down stairs that were made of ice and the thoughts of impending lawsuits because of it.\u00a0 Some of the staircases had red carpets on them but they were all covered in snow and just as slippery as the ice beneath them.\u00a0 Thankfully I had my awesome made-in-China boots that had decent traction on the bottoms.\u00a0That is one thing that astounds me about some Chinese women is that they are not willing to sacrifice fashion for safety or comfort.\u00a0 Many, many women were wearing boots with heels.\u00a0 Seriously?!?<\/p>\n

\"Most

Most of the 'structures' could be ascended using the stairs that were made out of ice. <\/p><\/div>\n

\"A

A piece of Egypt right in China! <\/p><\/div>\n

Along the side of the Sphinx were slides that anyone could slide down.\u00a0 I chose to refrain from this activity for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 If I would have had snowpants I might have thought differently about it. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 The Sphinx was one of the smaller structures.\u00a0 You can see it in a later picture.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A

A day wouldn't be complete without beer that tastes like water. I imagine that this particular beer would be no different. \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

Harbin beer, the local\u00a0brew (actually, I’m pretty sure it isn’t locally brewed at all)\u00a0tastes just like Qingdao beer.\u00a0 This is one thing China does not\u00a0do as well as\u00a0America…and\u00a0America doesn’t even do it that well.\u00a0 Sad…\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Here

Here is the "Great Wall of Ice". Down one side of it was a slide. Down the other was a ripcord. Oh, the options!<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition to the ice madness, every single tree in the park was covered with lights.\u00a0 There were these willow-looking trees that had lights on them and it reminded me of the movie Avatar.\u00a0 If only the ground beneath my feet would light up when I took steps. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"The

The trees that reminded me of Avatar<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The

The ruins of St. Paul College Cathedral in Macau. It was the largest Chr**tian Church in Asia at its time. It was built from 1582 to 1602.<\/p><\/div>\n

Even now, when I look back at pictures, I am in awe of how large the ice structures are.\u00a0 This one from Macau was especially exciting for a member of our traveling group who will be going there at the end of February.\u00a0 Macau is the location of the highest bungee jumping in the world.\u00a0 I think he’s crazy.<\/p>\n

\"A

A Russian-type building on top of the Great Wall of Ice.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A

A shot from on top of the Great Wall<\/p><\/div>\n

I like this shot a lot because you can kind of see the general splendor of the park and compare the building heights.\u00a0 On the left side of the picture you can see the beer bottle.\u00a0 Near it is the Sphinx.\u00a0 At first, it was annoying for me to have the little silhouetts of people in the pictures but I am glad I have a reference point for the size of things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"One

One of the many slides that you could ride. This was a shorter one. It also helped if you were wearing snow pants or another type of slippery pants. Jeans just didn't cut it.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The

The Colosseum. It was really funny to see the colosseum with Chinese writing on it.<\/p><\/div>\n

It was neat to see other parts of the world represented in ice.\u00a0 Most of it was from around China but there were a few other ‘notable’ structures scattered throughout.\u00a0 One of my least favorite ones was Hollywood.\u00a0 It was basically a pile of snow with the Hollywood sign on top of it.\u00a0 There were ice busts of some ‘famous’ American actors in front of this pile of snow but only one name was recognizable to me.\u00a0 All-in-all, a disappointing representation of America.\u00a0 I mean,\u00a0The Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, The Arch,\u00a0The Golden Gate Bridge…\u00a0 Come on, Haerbin!\u00a0 I would have loved to see those things created in ice.\u00a0 I kept telling myself that maybe they were featured at previous\u00a0ice\/snow world events.\u00a0 Let’s hope… It would be sad to think that this is the view of America.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Tian'anmen

Tian'anmen\/Forbidden City<\/p><\/div>\n

This one could very well be any type of building like this in China.\u00a0 I just called it\u00a0Tian’anmen and the Forbidden City because I live in Beijing.\u00a0 There are many buildings throughout the country that have this appearance.\u00a0 This\u00a0one was cool because of its size also, but not its height.\u00a0 It was very spread out.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"This

This was probably my favorite ice building. It was just really beautiful in person. <\/p><\/div>\n

I loved the white pagodas.\u00a0 I don’t really know why this one was my favorite but it was just simply beautiful.\u00a0 Notice the horse-drawn carriage in the foreground of the picture.\u00a0 We didn’t even ask how much that cost.\u00a0 There were many other things you could do throughout the park.\u00a0 One of our group members held a very much sedated white arctic fox.\u00a0 The fox was\u00a0pretty cute.\u00a0 I kind of wanted to drape him around my neck.\u00a0 Pretty\u00a0sure that also wouldn’t fly in the states.\u00a0 PETA would find you.\u00a0 You could also sit on a yak.\u00a0 I took a picture of one as the guy was telling me not to take a picture. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/p>\n

\""I

"I triple dog dare you!" (He thought it would be really funny to stick his tongue to the ice. I thought it would be really funny if it got stuck!)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A

A piece of Xi'an in Haerbin. I wonder if all the ice warriors are different...<\/p><\/div>\n

So, I got to see the ice representation of the terracotta warriors before\u00a0seeing the actual warriors.\u00a0 I recently found out that there will be chocolate sculptures of famous sites throughout China right here in Beijing next week!\u00a0 I will have to get a picture of those to add to my collection.<\/p>\n

\"They

They made the maze way too easy! \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

This was pretty cool…except that it\u00a0was very easy.\u00a0\u00a0The reason it was so easy was that you could see over the walls.\u00a0 I don’t think they\u00a0thought this one out fully. Oh well.\u00a0 In the background of the photo is the main entrance to the ice world.\u00a0 WOW!\u00a0 My camera battery died before the night was over.\u00a0 I don’t think that it likes to be cold.\u00a0 So, I missed parts of the park.\u00a0 One structure worth noting was the giant chessboard.\u00a0\u00a0A traveling companion took a picture of me with a few of the chess pieces.\u00a0 I will share them with you when I get them from him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the appointed time, actually about 15 minutes early (we\u00a0were very cold), we found our minibus driver and we waited for a while for the Chinese members of our group to get to the vehicle.\u00a0 The did not show up and off we were!\u00a0 Hmm…\u00a0 We made it\u00a0back to the\u00a0hotel and met a student of mine for a snack before bed.<\/p>\n

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************<\/p>\n

The next morning we grabbed some noodles for breakfast.\u00a0 (Never thought I would say that…) After breakfast we decided we wanted to visit St. Sophia Church, and as it was a bit of a hike, we wanted to grab a cab to get there.\u00a0 Traveling with five people is sort of an inconvenience.\u00a0 You always have to take two cabs.\u00a0 So I said, “why don’t we just flag down the guy in the van.”\u00a0 I didn’t actually think it would work or be possible but he pulled over and offered to take us for Y15.\u00a0 This was a great price because it would have been that much or more for us to take two taxis.\u00a0 We climbed into his van and immediately there were cops everywhere!\u00a0 WHAT?!?\u00a0 They got the guy out of his van and took him aside to question him.\u00a0 In the meantime, another one came and talked to the person in our group whose Chinese is the best.\u00a0 He asked her if we had given him any money.\u00a0 Her answer was that we had not given him any money.\u00a0 It was truthful for the moment.\u00a0\u00a0A few minutes later, they let him back into his van and we were on our way.\u00a0 Apparently the cops watch the illegal cab activity near that hotel.\u00a0 I imagine that as soon as he dropped us off he went to find a place to throw up.\u00a0 He informed us on the ride to the church that the fine for this sort of thing is Y20,000.\u00a0 Needless to say, we gave him a little extra for his trouble.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After that little episode, we were at St. Sophia Church.\u00a0 There was a big square with many people doing exactly what we were doing…taking pictures.\u00a0 We heard multiple times that the inside of a church didn’t look like the inside of a church at all.\u00a0 So, we didn’t go inside the church but stayed outside around the church and in the square next to the church.\u00a0 A couple of things that I witnessed as I was hanging out by the church:\u00a0 many, many pigeons that would fly around the church at a whistle command, a group of four women who were obviously traveling together (I knew this because of their matching red boots.\u00a0 Why one would wear matching red boots is beyond me.\u00a0 This, however, happens very often in China. Not necessarily matching boots, but matching in general.), and another group of women traveling together. (They were wearing white boots. Where are our brains people?!?)<\/p>\n

\"A

A dreary day at St. Sophia Church<\/p><\/div>\n

This is one view of the church.\u00a0 We didn’t spend too much time there and afterward we were off to meet my student for lunch.\u00a0 He was in Haerbin on business and asked us to meet him at his ‘company.’\u00a0 Well, we were unaware that his ‘company’ rents an apartment because there are only four people there and it also provides housing for them.\u00a0 We met him there and after a cup of coffee we were off to lunch.\u00a0 What business lunch would be complete without baijiu? Not ours!\u00a0 Baijiu is literally ‘white alcohol’.\u00a0 Some Chinese people call it white wine.\u00a0 It is not wine, it is pretty potent, and it is not at all good tasting.\u00a0 I could not even finish my half-a-miniature-Chinese-glass of baijiu.\u00a0 Yuck!\u00a0 It would have been impolite to not finish it so while they weren’t looking, one of the others drank the rest of it for me. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

After lunch my student was able to hang out with us the rest of the day.\u00a0 We went to a pedestrian street near the center of town.\u00a0 Many ice sculptures adorned the streets.\u00a0 We tried the famous Haerbin ice cream and enjoyed Russian tea at a nearby tea house.\u00a0 After it got dark, we went to Stalin Park which is the location of the Flood Monument.\u00a0 In 1957 there was a devastating flood and the monument was built in 1958 to commemorate the people who helped.\u00a0 Below is a picture at night.<\/p>\n

\"Fonghongbei

Fonghongbei Statue in Stalin Park<\/p><\/div>\n

We had a relaxing evening in the hotel and a walk around the city the next morning before heading out of Haerbin.\u00a0 During our walk around the city we found three churches right next to each other.\u00a0 This was kind of cool.\u00a0 On one of them was this sign:<\/p>\n

\":)\"

\ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

Other sights that were fun to see in the city were these:<\/p>\n

\"This

This reminded me of that game where you have to rearrange the vehicles to try to get one out! Traffic was worse in Haerbin than in Beijing. <\/p><\/div>\n

\"I've

I've seen cars park on the sidewalk before but this is ridiculous! \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

\"This

This man was sweeping the snow with a broom about two feet long. I could not resist photographing him. He caught me!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"This

This man was popping popcorn.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"These

These people are removing the snow from the square near St. Sophia Church. Notice the tools they have. Behind me are their brooms. I think they might be there a while.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"This

This is what most of the snow in Haerbin looked like throughout the city. It was very dirty and slippery. <\/p><\/div>\n

We got on the train back to Beijing and got back to my apartment at a little after midnight.\u00a0 All-in-all, a good trip.\u00a0 It is nice to be relaxing at home though! \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 HIS Blessings to you all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All is well in chilly Beijing.\u00a0 I finished teaching on Saturday of last week to begin six (yes, six) weeks of vacation.\u00a0 I’ve never had this much time off when it wasn’t summer.\u00a0 I’m looking forward to the rest and relaxation that a vacation should bring.\u00a0 My vacation started with a massage after school that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions\/395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}