Friday, July 11, 2008

Harbin & Northeast of China


Harbin is famous of its ice festival. If China map is a chicken, Harbin is its eyeball near the Russian border. On Christmas eve 2004, myself and 4 other friends headed for the coldest place in China looking forward for our white Christmas. The places we visited were Harbin (Heilongjiang Province), Changchun (Jilin Province), Jilin, Shenyang (Liaoning Province) and Beijing as our last stop.

The weather extremely chilly up to -35C. We'd experienced the coldest temparature that all of us had never felt before. It was really biting cold that you couldn't feel your fingers, ear and cheeks turning red, feet feeling numb and stiff, I ain't kidding!! If you plan to visit there, make sure you get a pair of good gloves, ear muffs and snow boots. You can also buy the snow boots there for about RMB40 (USD 5) per pair. I used to love 4 seasons' weather, but now I guess I have learned to appreciate Malaysia's climate more since I don't have to put on multiple layers of clothing before I can go out :)

Remember to check if the ski equipment is in good condition when you rent them. Some hiccups happened along our trip where one of my friends was asked to pay for the damage though it was already broken when she rented it. That was an unscrupulous trick to make money from tourists. In the end, she lodged a complaint, got her money back and they had to apologise to her. Happy ending :)

We visited the St Sophie Church, Stalin Park, Ice Lantern Festivals to enjoy all the ice carvings in Harbin. Witnessing the amazing winter swimming by the old folks, we also visited the Changchun Film Studio where we filmed the sound effects of a short video clip which was great fun!
We also visited the Puppet Emperor's Palace in Changchun, the Imperial Palace in Shenyang, etc. Beijing was great place for shopping at Yaxiu Market and the Temple of Heaven. Time flies and we're now home. Still thinking of snow in our minds.

Overall, it was a great trip seeing different things and trying out the great food. The best of all, the laughter we had during the whole trip!!

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