Our Driver

This is our 26 year old driver, Michael. He is our driver, translator, tour guide, body guard, and friend. He is very fluent in English after having just returned from 6 years of college in Ireland. It's amusing to hear a Chinese person speaking English with a Chinese/Irish accent. As you can see, Michael is a big boy. Rob is not a little guy, and he dwarfs him. He came to our apartment on his day off to decorate our door for Chinese New Year. The decorations he selected are to bring us good luck in the coming year.

Chinese New Year's Eve Fireworks

What you are looking at is ALL amateurs. No training, no rules, no safety precautions, all legal. In fact, there were cop cars driving within a couple feet of these being launched at the edge of the roads. The "big show" by the professionals is the following night, the 2nd day of the "new year".

This is early new year's eve.







As the evening progesses, the frequency and quantity escalates. And a plume of black smoke begins to grow over the city.






During the fireworks, the window needed a little additional cleaning. So Rob "stepped out" and cleaned it. We live on the 15th floor, and there is an 8 inch ledge. Hey, why pay someone a dollar an hour to clean when you can do it yourself, right?





These fireworks are outside our side bedroom window. I mean RIGHT outside our bedroom window. The security guards at our building had their little guard shack full of fireworks for the evening. A little before midnight they started lighting off everything from firecrackers to some pretty big fireworks right beside our building. As you opened the side bedroom window, leaned out, and looked straight down, you could see the launcher they were firing out of. Probably not the smartest move, we opened the window so we could photograph and video tape the launcher, and the fireworks that were exploding RIGHT in front of the window. I mean, the spray coming off of them was at the height of our window, and coming within inches of hitting us. In fact, our bed and comforter are right inside that window, and as our friends are standing there watching it, I'm wondering what the odds are of some of the firework spray coming through the window and igniting the comforter. But hey, the fire station is right across the street from our building, so we were fine, right?






Midnight is pretty intense. The black smoke fills the air from 6 straight hours of thousands of people all firing off fireworks and firecrackers of all sizes. Throughout the night the intensity has been building. Then at midnight the sky errupts in all directions and the city is blanketed with fireworks in all directions as long strings of firecrackers go off all over the town on the ground.

It is perfectly legal to buy fireworks and fire them any time, any place. And we're not talking little fireworks. We're talking the kind you see the professionals shoot on the 4th of July. They save up all year to be able to afford these. Each person out there shooting off fireworks can spend up to $1500 (in US money, $10,000 yuan) on this one evening. Remember, many only make around $50 (US dollar) a WEEK. This night is a BIG deal. - The event of the year. They "warm up" for about a week leading up to New Year's Eve, and that evening the action starts right after dark, and runs steady, climaxing at midnight, and then continuing on - with a lot less fireworks and a lot more fire crackers, until after 1:30 AM - with periodic explosions throughout the entire night. Then early in the morning you are awakened to firecrackers again. By mid morning it seems like a normal day outside, and the clean up is well under way. You can't believe the mess of red paper in the streets from all of those fireworks. And even more amazing is how fast it gets cleaned up. They sweep it up into piles with their home made brooms, and some burn the pile (not a real safe thing if there are a few duds in the pile that go off), and others bag it all in black trash bags. Then the streets are lined with filled black trash bags.

This was "amateur night". The day after New Year's Day, Jan 27, the govt. puts on "the big show". Lucky for us, it's going to be in the square right outside our apartment. So our picture windows face the event that this town of 6 million people will either be at, or wish they were at. And we'll be able to watch it from the comfort of our toasty, warm apartment. (We are very popular this time of year with our friends.)

The show is supposed to run every night for 7 nights, from Jan 27 - Feb 2. So all in all, the fireworks and celebrating lasts for 15 nights.

Russian Restaurant in Harbin

We couldn't leave without dining in a Russian restaurant. The further south you go in China, the warmer the climate. The warmer the climate, the lighter the food. The further north you go, the heartier the food. It takes a lot of calories to stay warm during the harsh winter. Harbin is very far north, and not that far from Russia. Hense the Russian restaurant. Plus, I believe at one point Russia occupied part of China. But don't quote me on that. I'm certainly no history teacher. Anyhow, the Russian restaurant was pretty cool, and the food sure hit the spot on a cold snowy day.

More Funny Signs

China is a wealth of funny signs. One would THINK they would have the people who are relatively fluent in English do the spelling and translating for their signs. One would be wrong. It makes for some pretty funny signs. A few of us are having a lot of fun photographing them as we come across them. We have quite a collection of funny sign photos.

One sign was on the check in counter at the airport. Most of the instructions were pretty straight forward. The final instruction left me scratching my head. I risked being arrested in the airport to capture this photo just for you. It read:
"Breach of the provisions of the relevant department in the settlement."
Well, there you go! Consider yourself notified!

I am also amused by the exit signs. They are consistent. All exit signs are the same. A little green stick man RUNNING for the exit. Because I guess if you really need to exit, you would have some sense of urgency, right?

Not to be confused with an exit, when leaving the Snow Sculptures in Harbin, there was a sign, not for an exit, but directing us to the "way out". Which, if you think about it, is so much more straight forward than exit. "Pardon me, which way is the way out?" "Why, it's right over there by the sign pointing the way out, of course."

Our friend John wants to know who the "Canary Island" camel is being marketed to. The problem? The words "Canary Island" stitched on the side of the camel are a mirror image!

And for my family in Alaska, they'll be happy to know that in Harbin, China, they can purchase a pair of "Alaska" snow boots. I had 4 store clerks yell at me that there were no pictures in their shop when I snapped this one! Yikes! They had dolls and other art type things in their store, but apparently I was going to go copy their Alaska boots and cut into their business now that I had a photo of them so I could copy them.



Want a good cup of coffee? How 'bout some "Happy" coffee. But always look at the fine print. Notice the red LED light in the top right of the vending machine? It says POO. Does this mean the coffee in this machine is poo flavor? Hmmm. Ummm, no thanks. I'll pass. I'm not THAT cold or thirsty.

Flat Stanley

I decided it would be fun to start traveling with a roaming gnome of sorts that we could photograph at various landmarks, places and events. For someone with a playful sense of humor, the possibilities are endless once you get on a roll. Then I decided a little flamingo beanie baby was cheesy enough that would be pretty funny.

Then I became aware of Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley is used as a children's school project. They print him out on paper, color him and laminate him, then mail him to someone in a far away place and that person takes pictures of Flat Stanley in various places. Then the child studies those places their Flat Stanley is visiting. I, being a child at heart, and with a flair for humor, find this hillarious! So I printed out my own Flat Stanley, colored and laminated him the day before I headed back to China, and he hit the road with me. What a GREAT idea! He's flat, weighs practically nothing, and is totally portable! So far he has been photographed in some pretty amazing places. And Rob is just DELIGHTED when I pull him out for a photo op! That, in and of itself, is also funny. So far he's been a good sport, though. And Flat Stanley is world famous. When I pull him out, people often recognize him and call him by name. "I remember Flat Stanley!", they say.







On this trip Flat Stanley got to visit the ice bar. No drinks for him. He just heard it was a cool place to hang out. (Oh, c'mon. I had to go there!)










He also made friends with a Fuwa. Fuwa is the name of the cartoon mascots from the 2008 olympics in China. My particular favorite is Jingjing. He's the panda. It looks like Flat Stanley likes him too. He appears to be greeting Jingjing with open arms.

















Then it was off to see the tigers. Hey! Wait a second! Is he posing with the tigers, or about to become a mid-morning snack! Better pull your arms in, Stanley!














Then it was time to chill on a snow sculpture. This was one of Flat Stanley's favorite sculptures. Personally, I don't see it. Maybe if you're a one dimensional guy, anything 3-dimensional is impressive.

Ice Bar at the Harbin Shangri-la Hotel

Our hotel (among many other places in Harbin) had an ice bar. Very cool. hahahaha! Sorry! It was pretty cool to check out, but for the life of me after a long day out in the cold I don't understand why anyone would want to go in there and have a drink. The building, bar, tables, seats, were all made of ice. They had little cushions where you actually sit, but that only helps very briefly. The place is only really good if you want to go in there and have a shot or two. Which a couple of our friends did. Then you take a couple pictures and get the heck out of there. Right next door, in the same ice building, there were a couple little private size rooms with a big round table where you could have dinner. Again, I'm not getting it. Other than the novelty of it, I want to eat where it's warm and toasty. Not in a building made of ice.

Other Animals

There were also a few other animals at the Siberian Tiger Park. (I have no idea what the name of the park is. I don't speak Chinese. You should have seen the charades conveying to the driver that we wanted to see the tigers.) In addition to all the tigers, there was also an area with lions. Then when we were walking through the tunnel on foot there were sections that had lions, a panther, a leopard, a white tiger, a white lion, and even a pair of ligers (a cross between a lion and a tiger.) The liger looks a lot like a lion, only with spots on the top of his head.

Siberian Tigers

While in Harbin, we visited a place where you could see tigers up close and personal. This was no zoo. It was an adventure that could best be likened to the movie Jurrasic Park. It was so amazing, we went back the next day and took our friends - who also enjoyed in immensely. This is not for the faint of heart, and something that would leave PETA people having nightmares for days. But it's about as close as you can get to experiencing tigers in the wild without going into the wild - something I'm not sure I want to do after this experience.

Here's how it works. You load into this little bus and they drive up to a fenced in area. Then a remote control gate opens and you drive through. Once that gate is closed you go through another remote control gate. There are tigers wandering around loose in this area. You are literally driving through where they're wandering around. Sometimes they cross the buses path, sometimes they walk right up to the bus while you're stopped watching them. There are various gated off sections you go through seeing juveniles, mature tigers, the nursery, etc.

On our first visit people kept sliding the bus windows open to get a better look and to take photos. It was cold out and the windows were fogging up. They kept yelling at us to close the windows. There was nothing between us and the tigers. The next day we got a bus with a much better design. There were cage type bars on the part of the windows that opened, with a slot down the middle to take pictures through. So you could open the window and the tiger couldn't jump or claw through. Now here's where it gets cool. - As if it wasn't cool enough already. -

This SUV with caging over the tires, windows and roof comes driving up right beside the bus. All the tigers know this is a source of food and come running. We're not sure if this guy is brave, crazy, or just trying to stay gainfully employed. But his job is to open his driver's door (apparently they don't spring for a second person in the vehicle to cover this duty) and toss a chicken up on the roof of the vehicle, and get his arm back in the vehicle and the door closed before the tigers get to him and one jumps onto the roof to grab it. It's SPECTACULAR to watch! Then we found out from the bilingual Chinese teenagers on the bus, you can buy a chicken, goat or cow and they'll bring it out and feed it to them. So while you're in the bus, you can tell the driver you'd like to buy a chicken. He collects the money and calls the guy in the truck. He speeds out to your bus and the show begins.

After you think the adventure is over, they let you off the bus and you enter this slightly elevated bridge/tunnel. (After being led past a shoppertunity with a stand full of stuffed tigers and puppets, of course. Much like the exit to every ride in Disneyland that leads you through a gift shop on your way out.) This long, winding bridge walks you over a huge area full of more tigers. The top is covered, but the sides are just a metal "cage". If you stick your hand (or camera) through the holes in the 3" grid, there's nothing to stop the tigers from jumping up and grabbing you. In this tunnel, there is another feeding opportunity (other than foolish tourist arms and fingers). You can buy a strip of meat or a chicken. If you buy a strip of meat, they give you some tongs and let you carry the meat to the grid and feed them. There are 2 techniques. You can either drop the meat through the hole, or you can hold the meat with the tong and let the tiger jump up and grab it from you. Same with the chicken. You can either wing it over the top of of the caged wall you're standing behind, or they'll tie it to a long stick and you can hold it out there for them. That's what our friend opten to do. He held it out next to a tree. The tiger climbed the tree and grabbed the chicken off of the stick. It was pretty incredible.

Rob found a pair of tongs laying on the ground, and we found if you just tick the tongs together, they know the sound and come running. At one point when only a couple friends were around I started clucking like a chicken. (The things you learn when you have chickens at home and you're bored on the farm. Who knew this skill would come in handy one day?) The tigers gave a casual glance, but didn't exactly come running. A whole herd of Chinese tourists did, though. They were just sure someone had bought a chicken and they came running to watch the show. Our driver also found it pretty amusing.

Who's the Fox?

Also at the ice festival, there was a man with 3 white foxes. For a fee, of course, you could hold the fox. He was SO soft! Here is a pic of our friend holding him.

Harbin Ice Festival

This is the event that causes otherwise sane people to go to one of the coldest places in China at the coldest time of the year. And yes, it is worth the trip! They build this "city of ice", and build lighting into the ice. As engineers, our guys were amused by the total lack of safety precautions with how the electrical wiring and lighting were constructed. Dorothy, we're not in Kansas any more!











As you walk through the gate, one is reminded of coming into the entrance of Disneyland at night, as your breath is taken away facing Cinderella's castle. AND, they even have a costumed Mickey mouse right inside the entrance - just like at Disneyland. Well, kind of. He's what we called "almost Mickey". The Chinese will knock off anything. To someone who's never "met" Mickey, this was Mickey. To those of us who have, this was Mickey's Chinese cousin.











Once inside the gate, your first glimpse of this ice town takes your breath away. It is SO beautiful! You can just walk around and take it all in, duck into a little building with warm drinks to thaw out, or play.




There are various size ice slides that would best be described as the luge. They are ice slides with ice walls just high enough to contain you in your "lane". One is very small for young

children. The next size is a series of slides in groups of 3 that radiate out from a beautiful ice building. You climb the steps and head for whichever slide you want. There's hardly any line, so not a lot of waiting if you are in a playful mood. We went to the festival with the couple we shared a car with, and our first run the men went down, then it was the ladies turn. You just slide down on your butt, and it's SO fun. After a couple runs we decided to all go at the same time and "race".

That was pretty fun. Later, we found "the big slide". Adventurous men in our group even passed on that one. But Rob and I decided we were going to go for it. I'm at a point in my life where I'm really challenging myself and pushing myself to do things I didn't even have the guts to do when I was a teenager. I am finding it very rewarding to push myself. So, "the big slide" is a really long, much more steep slide you go down on this cheap plastic toboggan. We had to wait in line for over an hour, but it was worth it. When we got to the top there was no instruction and they rushed us to hop on and go. I, being a desert girl, had never been on a toboggan, and didn't even know which way to face the thing! But the guy threw it down, threw me on, and gave me a shove. At that point there's not a lot of skill or strategy involved - unless you count breathing, screaming or praying as strategy. You have an ice wall on each side of you, so there's no real steering involved, and there's no ability to contol the speed. Then comes the fun part. Some of our friends had looked over the wall while we were in line and described what sounded like a freeway sand run away truck ramp as the ending. As you're flying down this thing it's lighted and you can see the slide ahead of you. But the end isn't lighted. So you can just see that your slide ends, but dark at the end. So as you're coming to the end, you can just see that your slide ends, but you have no idea what you're coming into or how to brace. ok, I wouldn't describe it as a powdered snow ramp like my friends did. It was a powdered snow WALL that you kind of plant into. When I planted into it, I was pelted with snow in my face, into my hood, down my coat, etc. Then you are swarmed by Chinese men yelling at you to get out of there. I was stunned and needed a second to gather myself and try to figure out how to get up. Finally I convinced one of them to give me a hand up and steer me to the "exit". I took my gloves off to try to re-adjust and get the snow out of my hood and off of my face, and my hand was so frozen I couldn't even get my glove back on. Thankfully there was a Nestle warm drink building right next to the slide and Rob whisked me into there where I could re-group, and thaw out over a cup of hot chocolate. A little stunned and frozen, that was a great idea for my recovery. Having said that, I'm glad I went for it.











Later that night I noticed a tender spot on my elbow. Upon closer examination, I had a monster bruise. I don't remember getting it, but I'm guessing the big slide had something to do with it. A little commemorative trophy as a reminder of my brave adventure.

Harbin Snow Sculptures

After the polar swim, we were on to the snow sculptures. It takes 2 - 3 hours to walk through all of them and really take it in. Thankfully we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. That said, we were still in many layers of long underwear, ski pants, turtlenecks, fleece shirts, the warmest coat we own, 2 pairs of socks, a hat, ear muffs and/or a scarf or mask over our face, and at least one layer of gloves. When bundled properly, it was a comfortable day.

The pirate was one of Rob's favorites. Notice the parrot pulling on his earring.

The artwork was breathtaking, and some of the detail looked like quite an engineering feat.