Still alive

I survived!!! All fingers and toes still intact too :D  I was the most scared about going to the Snow and Ice parks in Harbin because that would mean a whole day out in the cold. In the end, I would say the experience was completely worth it.  I’ve never been anywhere so cold in my life, and was honestly worried about losing my toes for a bit, but once I saw the ice sculptures with all the pretty lights, I knew why people rave about this place so much.  

They were building an ice sculpture right outside the airport

So our day started around 9:30 with the 15 minute process of putting on clothes.  I was wearing 5 layers of shirts/long sleeves, 3 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks, and 2 scarves.  I feel like I just sang that one Christmas song :P  Anyways, so I was bundled up and I checked the temperature right before I left.  It was -22 degrees F but it really “felt” like -47 degrees F (-30 and -44 degrees respectively for my non-American people haha).  Yikes.  Our first stop was the snow sculptures.  Entrance fees into these parks are pretty steep.  It cost everyone 240 rmb (~$40) for the snow sculptures.  Seeing all the snow sculptures, I was amazed at how people can create these works of art with just their hands and a couple tools.  I wish I could do things like that and be super creative!  Maybe someday… but until then I’ll just stick with looking at other people’s works of art ;)  We were outside from about 10:30 to 2 and I can safely say my toes had completely lost all feeling but the rest of my body was ok!  Layers and layers of clothing definitely helped haha.

First snow sculpture at the entrance of the park

After the Snow sculpture park, we took a short break and warmed up.  We went to my Uncle’s university where he teaches and grabbed some food in the student supermarket.  Their supermarket is really similar to Tsinghua’s actually.  I got a roll thing with meat and vegetables and some mystery glaze type thing.  It was tasty!  After being refueled and slightly warmed up, we headed out to the Ice sculpture park.

The Ice Sculpture park is directly across from the Snow sculpture park on Sun Island.  Driving into the park, I was instantly amazed at how beautiful the ice is all lit up with different colors.  I really don’t think pictures could do it justice.  Entrance fees into this park were even more expensive at 320 rmb (~$53) but we were able to get discounted tickets at 160 rmb because my sister and I were students.  Yay for school!  Anyways, onto the ice sculptures.  Some of these ice sculptures were HUGEEE.  You could even walk up a couple and slide down.  They even had an ice “bar” where you could sit and pretend to order drinks.  I asked a friend who took us around how long it took to make these ice sculptures and he said this whole ice sculpture park was put together in 10 days.  Holy crap!  That is so fast. Apparently the ice doesn’t last that long either.  He said the whole park only stays around for about a month and a half.  After it starts getting warmer it’s not as safe to have the park open because if ice starts melting and falling on people… bad news.  So, that makes sense.  But I was surprised at how short of a time they were open.   I really liked the ice park.  I’d say it was a lot better than the snow park especially because it looked sooo pretty with all the lights and whatnot.

Harbin people love their beer

The ice sculpture even had a giant screen in it!

In the end, I am really happy I came to Harbin.  I got to see my Aunt and Uncle again and see what I had heard everyone talking about and see what Harbin is really known for (besides the cold ;).  Today is Kristin and I’s last day and Harbin and our entire day is free, so what do we plan to do? More shopping! :P