Haerbin Snow and Ice Festival
Trip Start
Jun 04, 2008
1
34
79
Trip End
Feb 20, 2009
Haerbin,
Heilongjiang,
China
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
We decided our normal casual strategy of going to the train station three days early, buying two tickets, and then arriving 3 days later and start walking around looking for a cheap hostel or hotel wasn't going to work for big tourist event like the Ice Festival. We hit the train station one day after the earliest maximum allowed time to buy advanced tickets - 10 days. In horror, the train attendant confirmed our fears about the elevated competition and told us all the sleeper beds had been sold out in the first day. All that were left were "hard" seats. "Hard" being the Chinese translation for 2nd class, not comfortable, 4 people to a bench, get-to-know-your-neighbor seats. Now, hard seats were not new to us. We had taken a couple before, but usually only for a short time - once I think we managed 7 hours which was OK. But Haerbin is 32 hours away.
We went back home and rechecked the online prices for plane tickets - 1100 RMB each.
ice soccor on the river
This is amounts to about $150, something we would gladly have paid to save our own sanity back home in Minnesota. But now we are realizing that we have fully acclimated to our Chinese economy. 1100 RMB feels like a lot of money. We talked it over - took stock of our physical ability - did some soul searching. At one point tried to convince myself and Jen that we absolutely needed the plane tickets because we only had 5 days off and one full day on the train wouldn't leave us enough time for the festival. Later that night, I went back to the train station and bought the hard seats for 200 RMB. I'm not sure if it was the evident realization that Haerbin would be a bustling tourist center or if it was that we had now made a staggering personal commitment by buying the twice overnight hard seats, but for the next week we proceeded to completely over prepare ourselves for this trip. We booked a hotel on the internet, printed off city maps, wrote down contact numbers, read 3 different China guidebooks, and bought a score of warm clothing accessories. We had thermal socks, thermal underware, thinsulate gloves, fur hats, rabbit fur socks and even snow pants. When winter first hit in us in central China 3 months ago, we were shocked to see how much the locals overdressed - often wearing 7 layers up top and 3 layers of pants when the temperature was well above freezing. We started taking pride in the thick blood of our Midwestern heritage where we could comfortably wear a light jacket and watch the locals get all bundled up like a baozi.
snow festival in process
"Ni lung bu lung?" (are you cold?) We would be asked at least once a day. Haerbin, however, would be different. The idea of climbing around inside buildings of ice just outside of Russia sent a shiver down our spine - we were going to be baozis of our own. Never really accepting our fate for a 32 hour hard seat we came back to the train station hoping that sleeper ticket would become available. We were told sometimes people return their ticket. So we came back to the train station.
"Mei you" - No tickets.
And returned again the next day. "Mei you".
And again two days later. "Mei you".
Driven only by sheer stubbornness to give up, we tried one last time the night before our train was set to leave. We asked if they had any sleeper tickets. She asked us what type of sleeper did we want - hard sleeper, soft sleeper, lower bunk, upper bunk?
We stared at eachother and then back at her in disbelief.
The attendant asked us again assuming we couldn't understand her.
We asked for a hard sleeper lower bunk.
OK.
She handed us the tickets. We scrutinized them for a minute not believing they were real or the date must be wrong or the destination incorrect or something while the people behind us in line became irritated. We sold back our old tickets, took the new ones and scurried back home like thieves out of a bank heist. Back at home we happily showed them back and forth to each other but with the care of one handling a chicken egg. We would no longer have to take the "hard" seats.
escaping from germ prison (they closed on us)
32 hours in a sleeper car is rough, but it is pure comfort compared to a hard seat. We were excited to take it.We arrived in Haerbin at 5:30 AM. Coming off the warm train into the freezing morning air was a bit of a shocker, but in truth it felt very familiar. It was the same cold we knew from Minnesota. It wasn't that Haerbin was really cold, but that Xi'an had been so warm. We just had to get used to the cold once again.
Andy and James had been smart enough to take a day off from school and avoided the whole fiasco of catching a train on Sunday night that we put up with. During some of our difficult stretches of our long train ride up we had pictured the two of them already up in Haerbin relaxed and enjoying an ice sculpture while sipping on hot cocoa. Now showing up at the hostel at 6AM we expected them to be fast asleep and tired from a busy first day. Jen started checking into the Hostel (Little Fir) while I went to the open hostel computer to watch the Vikings play out the last quarter of their playoff loss to the Eagles. One of the rare opportunities where - with the time zones - we were awake during the prime time television in America. I walked to the computer, turned the lights on in the room, began to sit down.
"hey guys".
I jumped out of my rabbit fur socks.
James was sitting at one of the other computers in the dark. He told us he couldn't fall asleep because his stomach had ....then he ran to the bathroom mid-sentence. I got the idea. Jen went off to find a pharmacy that opened early and tried to explain that she wanted medicine for an upset stomach and diarrhea.
SIberian Tiger Reserve
I am certain it would have funny to watch and amusing to the staff when she mimed "I need medicine for vomiting and diarrhea", but I was busy watching the game. Little Fir Hostel proved to be an interesting challenge when we checked in. Our room we reserved was not available. So we were given a different room and began to take showers after the long train ride. 15 minutes later a knock on our door came telling us this room was not available. Not too surprised we asked where we should go. Our options were a room missing a bed or a room with no shower. We told them we didn't like either, but would think about it. Eventually, after far too much effort, we were able to keep the room we had to begin with.
After sorting our problems with room arrangements, we headed towards Central Street and just started walking. Central Street, with architectural remains from the colonial days a hundred years ago, is a cobble stone pedestrian road with some strong mix of Jewish, Russian and European looking buildings lining both sides of the street. The old buildings have been renovated and are now all stores, making the street look like Nicollet Avenue back at home. We only went a block before we ran into a 10 foot ice sculpture. We stared at this one, took pictures, and ran into a new sculpture about every block. Among the favorites on Central street were an Ice Piano (that worked!) and an ice maze-excellent.
We got down to the Flood Monument, which is along the river. The Monument basically is dedicated to those who have died over the years when the river flooded.
Jen on safari
The river, wider than our portion of the Mississippi, has frozen solid, and is now just a great place to hang out. There is a snow slide on the river bank which lets you come to a sliding stop on the river itself. There is a section where people are skating and little kids push their chairs around as they learn. We ran into a group of people playing soccer, competely pick up style, using empty nestea bottles as nets. James and Andy jumped in the game, and then Eric and I did too. We spent an hour and a half playing a fun and clumsy game of ice soccer getting surprisingly warm doing so. After the game we did around of photos & continued on our way to Sun Island. We got to Sun Island and entered the Snow Festival. The Haerbin Ice Festival actually has several parts that are in several different locations: The Ice Festival, Disney Park, and the Snow Festival. First we went to the Snow Festival which was a park filled with large snow carvings - most about the size of a 2 stall garage. The whole park was huge and I don't know how many carvings there were in all. We walked around for a good three or four hours, taking pictures as we went. The place was amazing! We didn't even see all of it, but after being outside for 8 hours straight, we were all getting a bit cold. As we were heading out we found an adult sized American Gladiator style obstacle course complete with rotating walkways, swinging rope, narrow bridges, and climbing spider web all resulting in a 5 foot fall if not done correctly. Who could pass that up?? It was surprisingly more difficult than we thought and a lot more intimidating once you were up 5 feet in the air judging how to get through something.
up close tiger
We spent a half an hour trying to jump accross moving balls, swing on a giant punching bag, spider crawl through a rope, and log roll on a giant tin can. Out of the 11 or so obstacles we managed to cross 4 or 5 of them before we gave up with the rest. I did complete one run through where I just ran from start to finish and if I fell off I climbed back up and kept moving on. I think Jen, James, and Andy had some good entertainment watching me make a fool of myself. It was a good end of the day and we were all ready to head back to the hostel and warm up. You learn something about people when you travel with them. Here Jen and I had been roommates in China with James for the past 4 months and we thought we knew him pretty well. But that was until we ended up bunking up with James at the Little Fir. James is a snorer. Most of the time this is a mild inconvenience and a little amusing and you can generally put up with and forget about as you fall asleep. James however does not snore per se, he more emulates the gasping sounds of a dyeing mule amplified over a bass speaker. I can say from experience that you can hear him snoring even if you place your fingers all the way up into your ears and cover your head with a pillow.
The next morning we split ways. Jen and I went to see the Unit-731 Japanese germ warfare museum while James and Andy (probably wisely) went to do something more cheerful. The museum stood on the grounds of the ruins of the prisoner camp the Japanese had created for the Chinese prisoners during WWII.
jumping for meat
The camp became a gruesome testing facility for germ agents and general physiology. The background of the anti-Japanese sentiment here in China gets spelled out pretty clearly here at the museum. Graphic model sets depicting prisoners getting gassed, or injected with germs, or exposed to frost bite for scientific study. The plant had been destroyed as the Japanese retreated from Manchuria during the war, but enough instruments and building foundations remained to stock a full museum. Attention grabbing were a few displays that criticized America for using germ warfare in Korea and for releasing a Japanese WWII scientist who exchanged germ test results for immunity. The museum was interesting, but definitely impossible to stay for more than a couple hours before getting ill. After the germ museum we traveled all the way through town (2 hours by bus ) up to the Siberian Tiger Nature Reserve. I went mostly accompany Jen who loves the idea of nature reserves, but this was far more entertaining than expected. Mixing a wild cat into a Chinese run park makes for an element of danger and unexpectedness that keeps you on edge. Your ticket opens up first to large van safari where it seems every acre of land has about 20 tigers. The driver makes sure to wake up and irritate as many tigers as possible by driving through where they are lying/sleeping. He then pulls up next to a pack of them so you and your freight of 15 fellow Chinese tourists can fight to get a close-up picture on that half of the van.
central street
Our safari van full of photographers felt more zoo-ish and caged than the relaxed tigers appeared to be. Next, the SUV tank comes out. At first the GMC wrapped in rebar and steel ribs appears unnecessary until you understand that the driver is asking who will sponsor a tiger feed for a minimal fee of 10 RMB. Jen and I put up a 10 spot and watch as the SUV driver narrowly open his window to toss out a hunk of meat. The tigers circle around and the meat disappears immediately. Once we get back to the edge of the park, the driver invites us out of the vehicle and back into a skyway walk 15 feet above the tiger park. This seemed lame after the safari until we come to an old lady selling more 10 RMB tiger steaks which you can feed personally. Despite the obvious safety risks, we watched as several Chinese tourist feed the tigers mystery meat through a thin chain-linked fence that looks like it was only designed for someone's backyard to contain a Chihuahua. Jen decided she wanted to have a go, but only if done slightly more safely by holding out the meet with a modified mop handle. Unfortunately, by that point, all the meet had been sold - so she instead fed out a live chicken! With the help of old lady selling the chicken, Jen carefully poked the tied chicken over the fence and up to a 15 foot tree and let it hang. By this point the old lady had attracted enough attention from the tigers that there were well over 25 of them beneath us. The chicken squawked in desperation seemingly understanding things were not looking good for him.
kissing through our face masks
Before we saw it happening, a tiger double-skip jumped up the tree and grabbed the chicken off from Jen's mop handle. He quickly fell to the ground and ran away holding his prize in his teeth as a few jealous tigers followed closely behind him. That night we met back up with James and Andy and exchanged stories. Apparently, they had a fairly good adventure of their own going to see the local pagodas and a Confucius temple. We agreed to visit the next of the three ice/snow festivals - the Ice Lantern Festival. Evidently, the Ice Lantern Festival is the original ice festival of Haerbin. Each year they adopt a new theme to keep it original. Last year was the Russian Ice Festival and this year it would be the Disney Ice Festival - we could expect lots of Disney character ice statues and of course a full size Disney Castle made from ice. The park was incredible. It was spread out over about two city blocks and filled with beautiful sculptures and tons of interactive things like ice slides, ice bumper cars, and buildings that had slanted ice floors (a dirty trick to the unexpecting). We all took turns racing each-other down the slides. Of course, having a substantially more body mass than anyone else, I was a clear favorite before any race. A fireworks show was set to go off every hour next to the Disney Castle all night. We were unaware of this, however, the first time the hour passed after we entered the park. As it so happened, we were on the Disney Castle when the fireworks started.
disney castle with fireworks
Not sure yet what was happening, we rushed to business end of the castle to check out the fireworks before we realized just how close we were. It was pretty incredible until the firework shrapnel began pelting us and making us run for cover. All in all the Disney park was really fun and made you feel like a 10 year old for about 4 hours. The next morning we decided we would go to see the Snow and Ice Festival that night. This is the pinnacle of the Haerbin Festival and basically a combination of the other two parks - plus about three times as big. We had been saving it until the end of the trip because we knew it would be the most impressive. Wanting to wait until night fall (about 5pm) before going, we passed the day by visiting the Science and Technology Museum. This was a very entertaining museum and only a five minute walk from the festival. Everything wasn't quite working, but what was working was pretty interesting or fun to try. It was everything a nerdy engineer or science geek would enjoy plus a lot of pretty fun interactive things like a bike you could ride unassisted on a tight rope or a computer judged penalty soccer kick. A couple of exhibits were lame advertising ploys with obvious sponsors - like the "how a coal plant works" and all their wonderful benefits. Other things were surprisingly outdated. One exhibit was an air hockey table called the "pneumatic floating flat". Setting aside a few of these lesser exhibits (which were good for a laugh anyway) the museum was time well spent and we easily lost track of 5 hours while there.
ice sculpture with two morons frozen inside
The Snow and Ice Festival lived up to everything we had hoped and more. Even the walk up to the entrance from the museum was incredible as the whole park lit up the entire sky and made it easy to find. We made our way through the 40 foot high ticket gate made of solid ice and stopped short in our tracks. The view was hypnotizing. Immediately upon entering the park you could look out and see scores of amazing sculptures. Castles, churches, pagodas, stadiums, all made of ice. Each participating country (of maybe 20-30) creates their own sculpture to signify something indicative of their culture. We saw a miniature Notre Dame, Turkish Church, a Polish Church and maze, Japanese pagodas, Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest and life size chess pieces placed out on 30 foot chess boards. I really hope the pictures come out well enough to be appreciated for this ice festival. It was such a challenge to use the camera or even just to push the button at all at sub zero temperatures. We often found ourselves rotating photographers to keep our fingers warm.
The main ice slide here was of a league above those at Disney - definitely not for the pregnant or those with a history of heart problems. You climb up a long three flights of stairs before being put on blazingly fast sled on ice that picks up to 25 mph. Not to worry though, there is a big snowbank at the bottom to act as a nice wall for you to come to a crushing halt. When you get back up - inevitable from the aid of the nearby workers - you pass through a moment of disorientation before you realize where (or who for that matter) you are.
jen biking on tightrope- rope real,canyon not
Most of the other slides have a more reasonable approach to stopping with a long open runway or some sand bring you to a gentle stop. This main slide, although, leaves you wondering away with the feeling you just got your ass kicked. Amazingly enough, the line to get on is about 60 minutes. The next day we woke up feeling a bit stiff, but managed to get out to two older religious buildings that had fallen from use and become museums. Our ticket back was at 4pm so we had time. We saw the St. Sophia Russian Orthodox church and the Jewish Synagogue. The St. Sophia looks incredible from the outside and the Russian architecture feels really unique from the rest of China, but the inside has been stripped out naked. Not sure where all the interior has gone or which cultural movement to blame, but now the walls on the inside are only covered with Haerbin town history photos to function as some sort of wallpaper. The Jewish Synagogue was also a good quick stop. Some interesting pictures and good English captions trace the history of Jews who had come out of Russia in the early 1900's. I was surprised to learn how many Jews had lived in Haerbin -or China at all for that matter. It is really quite impressive how much impact the Jewish people had on the culture of Haerbin for only a short 40-50 year stint. There is no solid explanation or attempt to theorize in the museum why so many Jews had come into Haerbin in the 1890's to the 1900's or why they had all up and left in the 1950's but the distinct timetable does offer some clues.
Amongst the slides and castles, the tigers and chickens, the gas chambers and obstacle courses, and the museums we had a really good time in Haerbin. It definitely lived up to the expectations and even had us feel like we were leaving a bit early.
It looks like Haerbin is up for an Olympic bid in 2018. I really hope they get a subway running by then, because the logistics of getting around Haerbin can be crippling unless you pony-up for a taxi everywhere you go. This was especially true with the Little Fir Hotel we had in the boondocks of the southern end of town.
