Minnesota has Fargo, but here we have Harbin. If winter talk turns to cold temperature, this is the town most mentioned. Beijing has had a good snow year, but to make sure we got a little extra touch of cold air, we signed up with China Culture Club to visit Harbin the last week-end of January. We went with our new friends, Pam and Stewart Hughes from Leeds, UK.
Harbin lies north of here, close to the Russian border and is heavily influenced by Russian architecture, churches, bread making and more. Typical winter temperature hovers around -22 and 40 F we are told but we were spared such serious numbers. Clever enough to make this it's draw, Harbin sponsors a Winter Festival every year. So decked in our own and our friends’ warmest clothing, we headed for Harbin, enjoying the sights of impressive snow carved figures (anything white in the photos), ice houses built of ice blocks chopped out of the river that runs through town, complete with electricity to create a stunning night-time ice city. Our visit also included a trip through the Siberian tiger- park where we were happy to be inside strong vehicles and thus escape the fate of the chickens being fed to the hungry beasts.
I think the photos will tell the story better:
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