Harbin (Part 2)

Harbin surprisingly turned out to be quite a large city.  When I first heard of Harbin and how they were famous for their ice sculptures, I thought it would be a small town but it definitely isn’t.  People in Harbin also like to shop A LOT.  There are department stores all over the place.  Each one seems to be just a little different from each other and tries to reach a different target market.  If I ever lived in Harbin, I would have a problem because I would want to go shopping all the time.

Shopping area

Another department store

On my third day in Harbin, a friend of my aunt and uncle’s took us all around Harbin to see different sights.  We got to go to a sculpture museum, Sun island, and a Russian village.  The sculpture museum was really interesting.  It was opened by an artist who was never formally trained in an arts school and he doesn’t sell any of his work.  All his art was really well done though.  In the museum, I saw pictures of what the ice sculpture festival looks like during winter and Harbin and I can definitely see why it is such a big attraction.  The pictures looked gorgeous and the ice sculptures were gigantic.  I am planning on coming back in the winter to see it for sure!  Sun island was a really nice park to walk around and it even had a mini ice sculpture building where you could walk inside and they have ice carvings year round.  It isn’t even close to as good as what you’d probably see during the winter, but it’s not a bad alternative other times of the year.  Finally, the Russian village.  My aunt told me the Russian population is actually quite large in Harbin because Russia is so close to Harbin.  So when walking around Harbin, it’s very common to see a lot of Russian architecture and restaurants.  The Russian village wasn’t toooo exciting but it was still interesting seeing the different buildings and whatnot.  They also played Russian music all over the place, which I’ll just say was… different :P  

Pictures of what the ice festival looks like during winter

Sun Island

Indoor ice sculptures

Russian Village souvenir store

While I was in Harbin I finally got to try a jian bing!  I mentioned them in my post before.  Except the one I tried was a little different.  Apparently there are a whole bunch of different ways to make the bing (the dough part of the jian bing).  The one I had used a prepared dough versus the pancake like batter I’ve seen before.  They grilled the dough and I had egg, ham, lettuce, and a spicy sauce in mine.  In the end, it was just ehhh.  It didn’t really have that strong of a flavor and was actually pretty oily (like a lot of food is in China).  I still want to try the other types of jian bing though so I’ll let you know what the other ones are like.  

I really enjoyed my time in Harbin and getting to visit my aunt and uncle.  It had been about three years since I had last seen them and it was when they were still in Taiwan. Having them there to show me around while I was in Harbin was really great too.  I would have been very lost otherwise :P  I flew back into Beijing this morning and landed around 10am and took my finance midterm at 1:30pm. It was a pretty quick turnaround haha.  But I think I did better on this midterm than my previous one, so I am a happy camper.  Harbin was great, but being back in Beijing is nice.  It is definitely starting to feel like home :)  I can’t believe half a semester has gone by already!

Being here in China, an interesting thing I've learned is how they view "fast food" differently.  Here KFC, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut are fancy places.  While I was in Harbin, my aunt and uncle took me to KFC and said it was a "nicer" place for college students to go because food at KFC is pricey compared to what they can find in the canteens on campus or even compared to street food/ restaurants.  Also, when we went around Harbin with my aunt and uncle's friend, he took us to McDonalds and said it was because it was one of the very best places to eat.  It's just interesting seeing how differently these chain restaurants are viewed differently here and how the type of people who eat here are very different from what you'd see in the US.  

KFC: Sorry the pic makes it hard to see the menu

A chicken wrap that was interesting because they had strips of fried chicken, with the sweet sauce served with duck, sweet mayonaise, and lettuce.  Tasty, but interesting

McDonald's menu board.  They even have bubble tea!

Not apple pie but taro pie!  It was a disappointment though.  Apple pie is definitely better.