4-7/1/06
finally made it to harbin in winter. it felt like a trip that i should make, in part because of the proximity to beijing, in part to see the spectacular spectacle of the ice and snow carvings. kept it putting it off though since the thought of being somewhere colder than jilin wasn't too appealing. so yes, harbin was cold; ice routinely formed on the inside of our minibus' windows. even swathed and swaddled in layers of clothing and 'winter proof' outerwear, one could only take so much of the chilly outdoors at one go. the trick to avoiding frostbite was to wear thin gloves that one could operate the camera with as opposed to wearing thick gloves that one had to remove at regular intervals for deadly exposure to the air.
overheard in the lift lobby: what do u call a group of diplomats? a gaggle? a school? a flock?
a murder maybe? a web perhaps, since everyone was outfitted in the matching spyder ski suits provided by the organizers. it looked like an amateur skiers' convention every time we gathered. and judging from the caps, an unusually high proportion of whom were pacers' fans.
on the first night, we went to the 32nd ice lantern exhibition at zhaolin park, site of the 1st (and subsequent?) exhibitions. was actually a little disappointed since i was expecting monumental edifices of ice and snow but this was only of a slightly larger scale than ice carvings i had seen in jilin.
the 18th snow carving exhibition the next morning was much more impressive. (these events were all part of the 22nd ice and snow festival.) followed by a visit to the siberian tigers park. tigers roaming free? that's nice. why weren't we in reinforced vehicles? wouldn't the tigers associate vehicles with food since they were fed from vehicles? oh cool, that's a tiger close by. here, kitty kitty. ok, that's too close.
took the post-lunch break to go to church sofia. church was gorgeous, all red brick and green-domed. the 25 rmb to go inside was kind of a ripoff though. there was a photographic exhibition and models of a few major buildings in harbin, but the interior was in rather bad shape. still, nice that they had cleared the buildings surrounding the church as they were apparently pressing in upon the structure.
the official opening ceremony of the festival was in the afternoon. the proclamation was followed rather incongruously by an entire program of dance presented by a russian troupe. no complaints since it was entertaining. the women displayed vegas-style razzle-dazzle while the men showcased acrobatic athleticism. guess it tied in with the whole russia-in-china year thing and the russian theme of the various exhibitions.
the banquet which followed took place in a hall saturated with baijiu fumes. good thing drinking it was not mandatory since one imbibed quite a bit just from breathing.
the highlight of the festival was the grand ice and snow world. unfortunately, we only had about 45 min there so it was a mad rush, twisting my neck to watch the fireworks while pressing on from spectacle to spectacle, and wondering about the supporting strength of ice whilst wedged in the midst of a crowd climbing up icy stairs.
skipped the buffet lunch at the hotel to walk down central pedestrian street instead. the cobbled street, wrought-iron streetlamps and russian buildings gave the area a very european feel. as long as one squinted and ignored the chinese signboards and the surrounding building blocks.
had lunch at huamei, in business since 1925. should have tried getting a table on the second floor since that was done up in russian fine dining style. the borscht (3 rmb a bowl) was a little spicy (is it supposed to be?) and the steak (24 rmb) was tender and peppery, though it came in strips. perhaps best to think of it as chinese-style russian food. meal for 2 came to 78 rmb, including 3 rmb for 2 licks of butter and 2 rmb for a large dollop of jam.
sought out russian food again for dinner. tried portman's, which seemed to be popular with the locals but turned out to be rather disappointing. was a sucker for anything prefixed by russian on the menu so tried red caviar (salty, 38 rmb), chicken leg salad (reminiscent of a waldorf salad because of the apple slices, 17 rmb), pork pancakes (12 rmb), cream of corn (blah, 10 rmb), and kebab sticks (deep-fried rather than grilled pork, beef, fish and potato, 24 rmb). the only dish of note was the pork which was tender and came piping hot. decided to go to this other restaurant, Russia, for dessert. should have gone for dinner instead. it was a cosy place with under 10 tables and lined with Russian bric-a-brac (what is Russian for bric-a-brac?) around the edges of the room. just as importantly, it had a menu that looked inviting. ran into a media friend who was covering the festival and learnt that the place was famous for its sausages. alas, dessert did not seem to be its strong point, though russian tea (ie. tea with jam) was a pleasant novelty.
optional trip to xiangfang grand world of lanterns in the evening. hmm, guess the organizers weren't too enthused abt it either.
the land of ice and snow lends itself irresistibly to puns about warm reception and warm hospitality. the first word that comes to my mind though, is hardy. one simply had to be. guess it was the same hardiness that saw through the period of cut-off water supply due to a toxic spill in the songhua river. and the second would be enterprising. what do u do when nature blesses u with a surfeit of ice and snow? u hold a festival.