Day 6 February 19th Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Out the window of our multi-roomed apartment at the New Gloria Apartment Hotel we looked down upon people heavily clothed -hurrying through the snow covered streets, bracing against wind as snow billowed around them. This would be our first test of how well rugged up we could be.
David had warned us we would be out in the weather for 6hours or so and that expected temperatures were -25oC. Rugging up at the appointed hour involved several (all we had) layers, which basically entailed piling on every winter piece of clothing we had. It looked something like a Merino fest from bottom up – 2 pair of socks and hiking boots. 2 pair of leggings, long pance and plastic overpance. Tank top, T Shirt, Long-sleeved top, Puff jacket, Rain jacket. Scarf and woollen hat. Difficult to manoeuvre in, hot in the overheated interiors but necessary outdoors.
First stop the Snow sculptures. Many years ago the Mayor of Harbin looked around for a way to make the people of Harbin feel better when a cruel winter and famine had drained the town and morale was low. Looking at what Harbin had he realised snow and ice were in abundance and created a small festival. Strengths based practice at work! This has grown to an international display that makes you feel like a kid surrounded by fairyland.
Many of the carved snow sculptures were the size of buildings. An international competition sees snow sculptures submitted around the world including those with climates devoid of snow – creating a park of fantastical, intricate, works of snow art.
Our tour of the exhibits was interspersed with indoor warm-ups – a strategically placed café, a museum with artifacts from early China including tiny shoes for the bound feet of women; Mao memorabilia from serious to seriously kitchsh and a re-creation of the Red Guards Barracks.
Next on to the Ice displays, arriving as darkness fell it was magical. The wind dropped making it a little more tolerable out in the cold. It was like walking into a multi-coloured city carved of ice. A time when photos do more than words . . .
Finally dragging ourselves away we headed back to our hotel. We ventured out to David’s second dinner recommendation which was a Hotpot restaurant next door to the dinner place of the previous night. We sat down at a table with a burner in the centre and a menu in front of us. Then discovered we had no idea what to do next. No clues (pictures) on the menu to help us along.
Rescued by a chatty, enthusiastic older woman waitress who despite our floundering and gesticulating we did not understand – continued to chat and told us what we should order – which we happily did without ever understanding a word. Soon mountains of food began arriving – perfect rolls of meat displayed on a platter, a platter of many varieties of mushroom varieties and finally huge basket of vegetables, tofu and noodles. A table with bowls of allsort was pointed out to us. Following the lead of others we discovered they were sauces and condiments for the hotpot. Sitting back at our table we gingerly added items to the pot of half stock – half chili bubbling away in front of us. Along comes our helper and into the pot go piles of everything – a process repeated until we could not eat another bite. A feast complete with charming entertainment. Perfect.
More Harbin Ice and Snow Festival Photos
