The route ...
(this blog post was a bit rushed) Before the trip began I went to the post office in Siping to send some things home, by ship, so they will probably only arrived next year sometime. The guy at the post office always does a really good job at packing the boxes and isn't really concerned about how much tape he uses.
The post office even had a christmas tree and and a father christmas, a very rare sight in China. I must say I'm not a big fan of all the christmas decorations back home, so almost absence of it here in China is much appreciated.
After the post office Andreas, Erin, Rita and I went to go get a message. The message place has been renovated to a more feng shui setting but the masseuses were pretty crappy and wouldn't stop talking, they were really exited to have 4 out of the 10 Siping foreigners in a single room. After the mediocre message we went to Love noodles for lunch, the food was pretty good as usual.
Another christmas tree, one of the few in Siping
Just some background on why I had decided to go to Harbin. Harbin has two ice festivals every year, the Ice Lantern Festival and Ice & Snow world (Bingxue 冰雪). Basically some really amazing ice sculptures and because I wasn't going to be training much during my last week at the academy I thought it would be a good idea to check it out. Whilst looking at the map I saw Heihe (黑河 black river) which is the most northern developed city in China bordering Russia. After reading one or two reviews online I had decided I may as well check it out and buy some Russian souvenirs.
After lunch I bought my train ticket to Harbin for the following day, it would be a 3:40hr journey and I had no assigned seat. I wasn't sure about going to Heihe so I didn't buy a ticket and decided to do that when I arrive in Harbin.
On Sunday I stopped off to buy some snacks before heading to the trainstation. I found some interesting snacks, vacum packed pig snouts for extra freshness. Or a dried rat together with some deer antlers in a packet for tea perfect high tea.
My train T183 arrived on time and I was lucky to get a seat and to my surprise the train was heated which was even more exciting. I arrived in Harbin at about 19:00 and it was freezing, about -28ºC. I had also decided to buy a ticket to Heihe which I managed to get without and problems, it would be another 10 hour journey and I would arrive the following morning at 7:00am so I opted for a hard sleeper.
Siping trainstation platform 2 (right), Harbin trainstation waiting room
Sign behind the toilet/hole in floor in the train (don't pee on the heater)
When I got off the train at about 8:30am (there was a delay) it was -35ºC and every step was painful, my joints felt like they were grinding with every step I took. I went to the ticket office to check if I could get a ticket to Harbin for the following day, they had no tickets so I ended up getting a ticket back to Harbin the same night at 19:00. This meant I would have less than 12 hours to have a look at the town and buy some Russian souvenirs.
Arrival in Heihe
No pinyin signs, just Russian Cyrillic
After getting a cab to the city center I changed my mind about getting a hotel and walked around a bit, for about 10 minutes after which I felt the cold deep in my bones so I got a cab to the Daheihedao International Trade Island (大黑核岛). This is and island between Russia and China where Russians sell goods (Vodka, Chocolate etc.) to the Chinese and the Chinese sell things (everything you can imagine) to Russians.
Heihe city center
Chinese trade center (left), Russian trade center (right)
Some of the few russian products yes canned grizzly bear meat (left)
I spent a few hours looking at all the stuff, the Russians sold mainly food products, binoculars, matroyshka/babushka dolls, knives, nutcrackers and crystals. The Chinese trade center was basically like the Beijing pearl market but with appliances, tools, vehicle parts etc.
At 13:00 I had lunch at a Russian restaurant which was a good experience but the food wasn't that great although I did enjoy the salad, it was the first time in a year that I had eaten raw tomatoes. After lunch it was about 14:00 and didn't know what to do so I walked around outside a bit and realised I had to go somewhere for a few hours. This is when I spotted a large building with black and gold lettering, I was hoping it would be what I thought it was, a bathhouse and it was. It was really amazing the bath was lit up with blue light and had jacuzzi springs, there was also a sauna with an ice pool. After my relaxing bath I went to the fourth floor to the recliner room and watched some TV. The staff at the bathhouse were very excited to see a non-russian foreigner and were quite amazed to see one speaking chinese, I was even asked "so you are chinese ?". At 18:30 I left the bathhouse and the whole experience only cost 18RM. I didn't get any photos but below is a picture of the business card, a must see place if you ever find yourself in Heihe during the winter.
bathhouse business card
Heihe train station (right)
In total I was satisfied with my experience in Heihe, it may have taken me 20 hours of traveling time for a visit less than 12 hours long but it was worth it. It was also a very new and unique China experience, almost all Chinese people spoke Russian to me and were all extremely friendly especially when they found out I wasn't Russian.
At 19:00 my train K7034 departed for Harbin, on-board I was surrounded by 3 police officers. They couldn't understand why I went to Heihe and they also made fun of my running shoes, I agree they aren't best suited for arctic conditions. The train arrived in Harbin at 6:00am the following morning and after walking a great deal away from the train station I was able to get a Taxi that would run on the meter and not some inflated laowei price. I got to my hotel of choice but was told I would need to wait 2 hours for a room. But because it was so cold I couldn't really walk around and look around for another hotel. Thanks to google maps I found another hotel on the same road and managed to get a room there right away. My brother had asked me to do some shopping for photography equipment so after finding a place on google maps I decided to head out and get a taxi. I walked around for about 1:30hrs trying to get a taxi and eventually got one (the problem is that people share taxis and go to places together and taxis don't want to take a single person).
One thing I noticed during all the walking is the presence of large ice blocks along every road waiting to be carved and chopped up into art pieces.
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Russian church next to my hotel (left), frozen bridge (right)
10 lanes and lots of smog
I didn't know what the place was called but when I explained to the cab drivers I'm looking for a big place to buy computer and photography stuff he knew what I was talking about (corner of Shisi and Nanton street), it was huge and just a smaller version of the electronics city in Beijing.
Another interesting sign (left), large computer place (right)
The shopping part was pretty effortless but I ended up spending a few hours looking at all kinds of new stuff. By the time I was done it was already dark outside and decided to go eat something, I couldn't get a cab so I walked a bit and found a place called Indian Hot. All I can say the food is not for the fainthearted but literally because everything except the meat sticks was deep fried or drenched in oil. They also brought me pieces of lamb liver on sticks and deep fried bread, I tried both but wasn't too impressed with the bread however the liver was surprisingly tasty (probably all the MSG) which was a surprise because I usually hate liver. The noodles I ordered came in a pot of oil with a deep fried egg floating in it, luckily I was hungry so it all went down pretty easily.
After dinner I decided to go to the Ice Lantern festival and because I couldn't get a Taxi I decided to be brave and take a bus, however the characters were overwhelming but I asked someone and ended up taking bus 53 right to the park.
where do you want to go ?
Most of the sculptures were still under construction but a police officer informed me that the park would open the following evening.
I headed back to the hotel and got an early nights sleep, in the morning I checked trains and decided it would be best to take a train back Thursday morning and get another hotel closer to the train station. I found a hotel by using Ctrip.com and it was really close. When I got to the train station I was anxious because the display sign indicated only 3 seats available on the train I wanted and I was at the back of one of the many ques. Luckily it all worked out fine and I got the train I wanted.
Trainstation
Outside the train station there were many ice sculptors busy sculpting
Ice scupltings outside the train station
After the trainstation I walked around a bit having a look at some of the markets and shops, however there wasn't much so I headed back to the electronics place to collect some things I had ordered.
full bus
The sculptures were amazing and I was a bit dissapointed that I didn't have a better camera with me to capture some excellent shots but it was an excellent experience and it was only when I got into the cab afterwards that I realised I had spent 2 hours out in the blistering cold during heavy snow looking at ice sculptures. Enjoy the pictures below.
Those doors are the same size as a normal house door
The main Bingxue event under construction
In the morning I got the the train station on time and left on time, the train ride was very smooth and I had a soft seat which was very comfortable. I arrived in Siping about 2:30hours later and headed straight back to the academy for my last two days and then Saturday I'm off so Siping to start my journey back home.
Arriving at Siping Railway Station（四平火车站）
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