Harbin

The other weekend 20 of us went to the Harbin Ice Festival...words do not do it justice. It was a busy weekend, we left right after work on Friday to catch our flight...arrived and checked in. Kara, Brandon, Jess, and I went and got some food and drinks. Kara and I were like teenagers talking all night. Saturday morning came early and Kara and I bundled up...I wore 6 layers on the bottom and 5 on the top (not including my coat). We went down to breakfast and realized we were the only ones dressed for the day, everyone else was going to go back up and change. We were sweating while eating, it was hilarious. The breakfast was delicious, the Chinese food is growing on me. I ate fried rice (always liked that) and jiaozi with hot water. The Chinese don't drink cold water, it isn't good for your system...plus I had a cold.

After breakfast we headed to the Disneyland of Ice. It was awesome, I felt like a kid again. They had all the Disney classic songs playing on speakers through the whole park. Kara and I were signing all the words, people were surprised we knew the words...guess everyone wasn't as obsessed with Disney movies as I was. If that wasn't enough for my inner kid there were also a bunch of ice slides and tubing! The world ice carving competition is held in the park so we took a look at the entries, they were incredible. USA actually won the competition, but I personally liked Thailand's entry.


Kara and me being silly @ Disney park


Tubing with Isaac


Part of America's sculpture


Jess and me in the teacups


Thailand's entry...way cool

From there we went to a Russian church that was built when the Russians had control of the city. It was very interesting, they had turned the church into a tourism museum. From there we went to a delicious lunch. We were all loving the food and the chance to warm up. I got to sit with my adoptive family, I love my brothers they are so fun! When we finished stuffing ourselves silly we headed back to the hotel to rest for about 30 minutes. A group of people went to another park that had snow sculptures, but since I wasn't feeling well (I had a bad cold) I stayed back with some people and just walked around the town. We found some cool stores and got some hot cocoa.


old Russian church


"Chinese catch" ( I forget the real name)

Warming up at lunch

A market we walked through

Next up was the ICE FESTIVAL! We loaded the bus and set off...we got there and I was speechless. I felt like a kid, we ran around the festival trying to see everything. I had to keep reminding myself that all of this is made from ice. It looks fake. Everything had so many details, I can't even imagine how long it took. There were tons of things to do other than just look around at the ice architecture. There were snow foxes to hold, ziplines to ride, slides to take, chess to be played, shows performed, yaks to be pulled, and lots more. We had a blast walking around the winter wonderland.


Just a little bit cold


All of this is made from ice...pretty amazing


Chess anyone?


Loved this little snow fox

Snow sculpture...year of the tiger
The next morning we went to see the polar bears swim. We walked on a lake and gathered around the hole cut into the frozen water to form a pool. After waiting about 20 minutes in the freezing cold they finally came out...it was a spectacle. It reminded me of when we broke in Mom and Dad's pool in November...craziness. This time I was glad to be on the other side. The polar bears were the last stop on our trip, so we got on the bus to the airport and said goodbye to Harbin.


The polar bear swimmers showing off

I had a blast in Harbin. I have to stop myself at times like these and remind myself how blessed I am to live in China and get to see the world. China is an incredible country with so many amazing places. I have traveled a lot already, but still have tons more to see. :)

xoxo
Meg