Trip to Dongbei-Haerbin (2)

It’s cold. Our train ride did take is about 2400 km to the north, so it’s quite natural to be colder. Haerbin was much more jumping than I expected for a city this close to Siberia, but then again it has at least 5 million people, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. We bought tickets for our departure, got to our hotel (quite nice-even by American standards) and headed out to a restaurant listed in the guidebook. Its name claimed ‘pancakes’ but it was more of a make your own spring roll place, aka no syrup or blueberries, but was nonetheless wonderful. The local Harbin Beer to wash it down made it all the more enjoyable. We spent the rest of the night cruising Haerbin and all the ice sculptures (too many to count). With long johns, a good hat, and gloves, it’s not that cold and quite enjoyable. The architecture of the city has a significant Russian feel, and there were a pretty good number of tall, white people around, also showing the Russian influence. The highlight of the night was assuredly the sledding/bobsled slide they had set up. It was made completely of ice; which was very cool. We were even able to negotiate with the worker and negotiate a better price. The first night in Haerbin was definitely a hit.