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My first impression of Ha’erbin was the outside temperature gauge on the front of my train car during the eight hour ride northward.  I didn’t watch it consistently and so just got interspersed data from the linear trend downward, -1, -4, -7,-14, -16 deg. celcius.  I feel like a wuss after having watched the news of the extremely cold weather in the states right now, but this was still the coldest place I had ever been.  The city is known around the world for its famous ice and snow festivals during January and February as well as the worlds largest Manchurian Tiger Park.  I was lucky enough to see both of these awesome attractions during my two night, one day trip.  Since I traveled during the day both ways, I knew that I needed to squeeze as much into the full day as possible, but I won’t get ahead of myself.

I arrived excited and a little nervous, but wasn’t incredibly shocked by the cold, and so left the train station with only two jackets on.  The ground didn’t look like ice, but everything was slick under my hiking boots.  Just outside the station was my first look at the ice block architecture.

Every city that I have travelled to has it’s own personality of Taxi drivers with their own deceptive tricks.  In Guilin, all the drivers work for hostels other than the ones you are trying to go to, so they will pretend not to know where you are going.  As Beijing is so large and complex, it is easy for those drivers to take circuitous routes to raise the fare.  In Ha’erbin, the common practice is to (1) simply not use the meter.  I will guestimate a figure that is 2 to 4 times the actual value of the trip and (2) make sure that the taxi is full before actually going in any one direction.  I was alone, so the driver called out the window to find others going in that general direction before we could leave.  Quite annoying, but I’m not afraid to be a little rude at the end of the trip to avoid being cheated.  Usually just giving them the amount you know to be fair and walking away is good enough.

This was the crappiest hostel I have stayed at, and now I understand my Dad’s fears about being put up in one.  The staff there didn’t speak English, the dorm room didn’t lock in anyway and didn’t have lockers, the bathrooms weren’t nice, the heating could have been turned on higher, and no practical working internet.  All that being said, it was fine for me.  The bed was comfortable enough.  As I was checking in I met a single girl and then a party of three other girls, and we decided to hang out the following day.

We left at 10 am and went to the tiger park first.  I had heard good things about it from IES people that travelled here over the summer, and it exceeded all my expectations.  There were so many tigers!  They were huge!  For a little bit extra money, you could buy live chickens, lamb and even a cow to watch them feed.  About 25 of us were mini-bussed around the park through sliding gates dividing the sections, though I’m not sure what the divisions were for.  They all had names like “King Lion Cage” and “Mauture Lion Breeding Area.”  Everyone was pretty passive on the bus, but fitting to my ambitious and idealistic character I thought that if everyone contributed, we could afford a cow for 1500 rmb.  I mean, come on!  How often do you get the chance to watch 20 some tigers kill and then fight over a live cow?!  You may find this in opposition to my recent vegetarian tendencies, but it is not so.  First, animals killing other animals is entirely natural and will never be made less cruel in nature.  It is the circle of life, even Disney thinks so.  Second, lions and tigers, in particular, are quite humane in their hunting as the first bite their victim’s neck, killing the creature quickly.  This is opposed to hyienas, who will start to eat their victim alive.  I was able to convice half of the bus, raising enough money for a sheep and 6 wild chickens, which are more expensive than domestic chickens because they can fly.  It was just like national geographic.  On the way out, we saw jaguar, white lion, leapord and ligers!  They are real!  Half lions half tigers.  They are sterile, and there are less than 20 in existence in the world!  even if you can make a lion and a tiger hook up, the chance of producing an actual hybrid animal with traits from both species is 0.1%.

After the tiger park, I went to see the world-famous snow sculptures at “Sun Island” while the sun was still out.  It was amazing to see how snow can support itself in such thin and complicated designs.  There was one section of the park with large blocks of snow in various stages of being carved with crews of six or seven people carving with shovels.  As the festival continues into February, more and more sculptures will be completed and it may be as good or better to come later in the season.

Accross the street from “Sun Island” was “Ice and Snow World,” which was less artisitic sculpting and more architechtural design, using large blocks of ice to create huge pagodas, towers and even castles!  Some of the ice was so clear that it didn’t look real.  When I braved the cold and removed one of my gloves to touch it, it even felt warm! … that is compared with the air, which was aroudn -20 degress C.  If I didn’t know that the blocks were harvested from the nearby frozen river, I’d have never believed it.

The story of a Train Ticket
On the way to Ha’erbin, I met some Brits who were quite freindly, and we agreed to meet up for dinner some time.  There ended up not being time for this because they were struggling to purchase train tickets out of the city because of the approaching Chinese new year holiday.  I had not followed my usual practice of buying my return ticket as soon as I arrive.  When I spoke to them the afternoon, I suggested and they aggreed to picking up a ticket for me as well.  This was very trusting of them that I would pay them back, but I was willing to get any train out that I could.  They got the ticket for 9:02am the very next day and I was able to pay them the 300rmb at the “Ice World”  I’m not sure why I thought the train left at 9:15, but regardless I arrived at 8:59am.  It made me feel irresponsible that I could have failed at such a simple task of catching a train, and I was very upset.  Probably the biggest fit of my adult life, the little worker girls were physically holding me back from going to the platform, infuriating.  Additionally, there was no hope of refund or exchange because that must be done before the train departs.  The really ironic part was the ease with which I bought the same class ticket for later that afternoon!  There was no reason for the heartache in the first place!  After twittering Meredith, she called to consol me.  She is the best friend anyone could have.

I can’t help but believe that things like this happen for a reason.  There has never been that battle within me that says, “I want to be in charge of my life and everything around me.”  The world has always just seemed too big and complicated for me to control, so I believe in pre-destination to some extent.  The result of missing the train was that I was able to see a museum dedicated to the evidence of a Japanese germ warfare base utilized during the Japan-Russian war of the late 30’s and early 40’s.  The museum on siesta when I arrived, I met two Dutch men at the gate.  We waited at KFC and then walked around the museum together.  Emile was an Aerospace Engineer living in Beijing.  Roel ended up in the same train car as me on my way out of town!  He teaches elementary students at an international schoool.  The museum was a disapointment, but I have never felt anything stronger than that our meeting was providencial.

Tags: cold, ha'erbin, harbin, ice, ice festival, screwup, sculpture, snow, train ticket, travel

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 12:12 pm and is filed under China Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.