Sign in with Facebook"Harbin, Cold Winter City" Harbin by maysue
Harbin Travel Guide: 352 reviews and 904 photos
Harbin was the second place I visited after Guilin in China. I still remember how the SEVEN of us i.e me, my colleagues and 2 bosses, went on this crazy trip to this cool, freezing place just to celebrate New Year 2004! Everyone told us that we' re really OUT OF OUR MIND to ever go Harbin in December because the temperature can plummet to well below -30 degrees Celsius! Yup, the time I left Harbin i.e. 2nd of January 2004, it was -36 degree Celsius and I was terribly sick with cold feet, high fever and contagious flu. At that time, the government were still screening train passengers for SARS. Thank god, I wasn't considered as one of those who are infected with SARS but it was pretty scary for me at that time, going through the detector with the temperature projected in big red neon light. I thought I could not make it. Phew! Or else I would end up in hospital, being quarantine against my will. Ha ha!
Anyway, Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang province, which is situated in the northern parts of China and closer to Russia. The reason we made this trip to Harbin at that crazy time is because it is also the best time to see its winter ice festival!
Harbin's winter can be rather harsh especially when the cold, freezing winds cuts through your skin making it dry and bleed. Mine did...It was awful! It was like looking at a 70 years old hand, even my grandma's hand look better than mine and she was 77 years old then!!
Despite all that, Harbin comes to life in winter where sculptures and buildings rise up out of ice, gripping the city with heavy snow, ice castles and a frozen river. Of course, all this comes with a risk of a little frostbite and mayb, if you're lucky you might bump into the Snow Queen. But don't let her go near you, or your heart will turn cold as stone!
Most Chinese, which includes my colleagues and students, will most likely try to encourage you to alter your plans when you mention that you are taking a trip to Harbin late December. They will shudder at the thought of cold, freezing Harbin and shake their head as in disbelief when they heard that I was going to Harbin. They say I was totally insane to go there.
Nevertheless, it did not prevent me from going and also the 3 million people who live in the far northeastern Heilongjian province. One of my student, who is from Harbin, told me that the best thing to enjoy in Harbin is to eat ICE CREAM! Yeah...these ice cream are sold at 1 yuan! Well, I tried to eat ice cream then but I got sick before I got to do it. Wasted! Never mind, there might be a next time to that!
- Pros:Ice sculptures, friendly people and cool events to warm u up
- Cons:Cold, freezing temperature that is likely to make u sick if u can't take it
- In a nutshell:Fairytale ice landscape with a dash of Winter Sonata
Reviews (2)
Foot Massage for Frozen Feet
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(2)
The great thing to do when in Harbin is getting foot massage - especially when you have some frostbites in between the... more travel advice
Ice Lantern Festival
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Comments (12)
-36C?!!! Brrrr!! Not sure if I would be doing that haha. Great Ice Lantern photos! Cheers, Ann.
Would be great to see the sculptures!
Foot massaging in the cold must be an unforgettable experience!
cool pics! you must be very brave to be that close to a Tiger!
Nice picture of foot presoaking :) Cheers, SL
Yeah the Chinese bug...
Wow, it looks like you had a great time here, even though temperatures were below freezing point!
Came back to see if you had added more tips. I see you must be traveling too much :)
For sure this is the closest I'll ever get to this place (by choice!) but I have seen photos of the ice sculptures during the festival...really impressive. Interesting trivia about the Hainan guy/your family roots.
Male Hainan foot massagers in Harbin? That's funny, I met female Harbin massagers in Hainan, but they didn't do my feet!