The next leg of our journey throughout China was to begin that evening of April 2, 2012. We waited at the Beijing Railway Station for our train ride to Harbin.
The train ride from Beijing to Harbin took all of 11 hours and RMB429
each for a comfortable sleeper car. There were three of us and so a
Chinese man completed the 4-bed booth.
The ride was basically the night's sleeping time. We arrived in Harbin around 7AM so we were all set and ready to conquer the cold!
I had originally booked two nights in Harbin but due to our missed train tickets in Beijing, we only had one night there. That meant we didn't have the skiing day at the Yabuli resort.
We checked in at the Harbin International Youth Hostel, which was very pleasant and comfortable. The staff were very accommodating and spoke good English. It was a good find for RMB50 per person per night.
Harbin is known as the Ice City of China. Though it wasn't the season for the Snow and Ice Festival (this usually happened late January to February), we wanted to see the place where the festival was held anyway. So we walked towards the end of Zhongyang street to board the bus to the Sun Island Scenic Area. The bus fare was only RMB2 per person.
This was early April, but springtime in Harbin was still pretty cold. We could still see some remnants of winter in the place, with snow and ice covering the area.
Within Sun Island is Harbin Polarland, that housed all sorts of arctic animals. We paid RMB130 each for the entrance ticket. The penguins were so cute and I was imagining Happy Feet while watching them.
I was completely amazed by the polar bear that was enormous! He kept
swimming and swimming within his tank bumping on the glass as I stood
dumbfounded in front of it. His companion though, typical of the polar
bears we see in photos, was just sleeping the whole time.
The arctic fox was another cute fellow; its white fur felt so snug as its coat.
The beluga whales were very entertaining! We sat for a few minutes to watch their show.
We went back to Zhongyang street and ate lunch at the restaurant the staff in our hostel recommended. TATOC offered Russian fare and we helped ourselves to steak and mash. We also warmed ourselves up with the local Harbin beer.
That afternoon was spent walking along Zhongyang Street. It was very Westernized, with the architecture more European, that it was hard to believe we were still in China.
The best part of the street was the street food. There were sausage stands and kiosks selling candied apples. But our most favorite was the ice cream sticks. This was something that locals and tourists alike lined up for, despite the cold. It was the creamiest, yummiest ice cream stick I've ever had! I'm actually salivating just thinking about it now!
We reached the end of Zhongyang street, which had a plaza, similar to European cities, where we spend the rest of the afternoon taking wacky photos and just bonding as siblings.
We ended our tour with a quick look at the St. Sophia Church. It was quite beautiful at night, all lit up.
We then headed for dinner at USA Bucks bar. It had gotten chillier at this time and we were eager to warm ourselves up with some drinks. And though I had imagined drinking Russian vodka from an ice cube, this wasn't such a bad experience either.
The next day we again consulted the hostel staff on where to eat. What a fantastic idea it was because they led us to The Best Lunch we had in China. Though we had a hard time finding Lao Du Yi Chu, it was all worth it because their dumplings and sweet & sour pork was just divine!
Of course, we drowned all the delicious food down with Harbin beer.
That special meal marked the end of our short stint in Harbin. My brother and I vowed to come back during winter season to witness the Ice Festival and finally drink Russian vodka from ice cubes!
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