Mark’s First Business Trip in China!

Howdy Folks.  Guest Blogger Mark here.  I just got back from my first "domestic" business trip here in China.  Why would I blog about a business trip?  Well…I wouldn't.  I'm not.  This isn't about business at all.  Thing is the place I traveled to was really cool (OK it was really COLD), and I wanted to share the tourist-y part of the trip.

I traveled to the city of Haerbin in Northeast China.  Google the place when you get a chance…lots of interesting history…mix of Asian, Russian, and Eurpoean influences.  Not terribly far from the Siberian border…which could explain the cold thing…

The thing Haerbin is famous for is its "Snow and Ice Festival".  Or that's what we Western types call it.  If you ask the cab driver in Haerbin to take you to the Snow and Ice Festival…in spite of the fact that it is a significant tourist draw to the region…I guarantee you will get a blank look.  Learn the names in Chinese or travel with a Chinese person if you want to get around in this place!!!

So…on with the photos.  Here is the first thing we (that is my co-workers and I) noticed when we stepped out of the airport:

Yep, the ice carvings start as soon as you walk out of the airport. I thought this was pretty impressive, but they only got better from here…

Oh–another thing thing you may or may not notice about the above photo:  the CLEAR…BLUE…SKY!!!  Haerbin is a much smaller town than Tianjin…only about 5.5 million people if I read correctly.  So clearly they don't have as much industrial um…input…to the atmosphere as the bigger cities.  After only a month of living in a place with typically much murkier skies, this was absolutely beautiful to look at.  The trade-off, of course, is the outside air temp.  The best it got while we were there was about 9F…in the middle of a sunny day.  It was somewhat colder in the nighttime, which became quite relevant in the following photos…

The Snow and Ice Festival!!!

This is just the entrance to the place…you can already tell it's going to be awesome!!!

So here's an overview: Acres and acres of huge, intricate structures made almost exclusively from blocks of ice.  And all structures were lit from within with colorful neon lights…giving the whole place a surreal cartoon-like look and feel…

And there were also smaller, more detailed carvings, as one would expect!

Now, I know what you're thinking…"that's pretty & all…but I won't believe it's a REAL Snow and Ice Festival until I see some real live Arctic Foxes on a table…"

There we go…THAT'S better. I'm pretty pleased in general with how my Chinese is progressing. Still, the only part of this sign I can read with any confidence is the part that says "20 kuai". But what do I get for 20 kuai??? Can I pet a fox? Can I take one home??? Does it just bite my hand??? They're so cute aren't they???

Oh yeah…the cold.  The COLD!!!  I didn't hear what the exact temp was that night, but I'm sure it was below 0F.  How far?  I don't know.  But it was COLD. Even though we were warned in advance that Haerbin would be cold, the fact is that we were pretty much still dressed for office meetings.  That, coupled with the fact that all my real arctic gear is currently on a boat out in the Pacific Ocean meant that I wasn't EXACTLY as comfortable as I would have liked.  It was absolutely amazing getting to see all of this ice, but after an hour or so I (along with the other Americans in the group) was starting to try to gently nudge our little group towards the exit gate…

Yeah–that smile was TOTALLY FAKE!!! By that point in the evening I was COLD!!! Ok…maybe not TOTALLY fake…I did really enjoy seeing all of this stuff…but maybe we could pick up the pace a little??? We're freezing over here!!!

So that is a sample of what the main attraction in Haerbin is in the winter. For more on that, come see us in the winter and we will take you there!  Bring warm clothes!!!

The next morning, before getting on the plane to head back home to Tianjin, I went for a walk through downtown Haerbin.  Here's what that looked like…

Is this China, or somewhere in Europe? Now I'm not so sure…

Hmmm…Street vendor roasting chestnuts…are you SURE this isn't Europe? Ok maybe that isn't fair…Germany and Austria are the first places I have personally seen this done…maybe they got it from the Chinese??? I just don't know…anyway, it smelled really good!

Or are we in Russia? This Russian Orthodox Church is one of the must-see sites in the city. Unlike the one that Astrid and I visited in Helsinki a couple of years ago (which was quite a solemn affair as it was still very much in use), this one was pretty much turned into a museum/gift shop sort of thing. Still cool to see though…

So that pretty much sums it up.  Haerbin is DEFINITELY worth a re-visit with the family.  Maybe we will wait until we have our full compliment of arctic wear though…