Harbin

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Harbin: hell bent traffic, the best that money can buy, and ice sculptures so beautiful you’ll risk frostbite to see them.

The taxi ride from the airport started out civilized enough – good road, little traffic, clicking right along. Now that we’re on Harbin’s streets Dr. Jekyll traffic has turned into Mr. Hyde, and we’re funneled into a sardine-like pack where two or three cars on both the left and ride side of us want the space we’re currently occupying and they’re within inches of our car. And I thought Dalian’s traffic was scary. This madness continues all the way to the courtyard of our hotel.

Inside, the lobby is impressive. After checking in we follow the hallway to the elevator. It is lined with cases of artifacts from the hotel’s early days. It was truly a modern hotel. Most of the objects date from 1914. They even had electric fans!

One item in particular fascinates us-a National Cash Register Machine, made, of course, in Dayton, Ohio.

Our room, on the fourth floor is modern, clean, and warm with plenty of light. All we could ask for.

The layers of clothes we put on now are hot, heavy and thick. I hope I don’t have to go to the bathroom while we’re out.

MacDonald’s is right here. I’m having a Big Mac. We ordered a large Chicken McNuggets for Bernie thinking we’d get nine pieces. There are probably twenty.

Our cobblestone street is the luxury shopping street in Harbin. The Chinese enjoy their new wealth and spend it on very expensive luxury goods. Armani, Lalique, Valentino, Gucci, and many others along with top American franchises line the street.
The sun’s going down-time to figure out how to cross the river to Ice World, which is at its best at night since all the sculptures are lit internally. Groups of ice sculptures abound throughout Harbin (we love the Ice Pacman sculptures all along the streets), but Ice World is the main venue.

We have not seen any taxis since we got here so we figure the best place to start is our hotel. Hotels here are very helpful in ways that your average Fairfield Inn are not in the U.S. The concierge arranges for a taxi that will take us and bring us back.

This taxi driver is a great guy. He takes us to a ticket agency to get our tickets (no, it’s not a tourist rip-off, but a convenience). Then he gets out and helps Bernie across the street and to the ticket place (remember this is truly killer traffic) while I wait in the cab.

As we cross the bridge we can see the sculptures and they are magnificent.

We pull into a parking spot and the driver explains that he will back in two hours-8:30-to pick us up at this same spot.

We begin picking our way across the patches of ice on the street and sidewalk. The cab driver gets out and helps us all the way to the gate. I should say he helps me. But I’m not the one with the bad hip and resulting very bad balance. So I constantly look over my shoulder to see how Bernie’s doing.

Rome’s Coliseum , a Sphinx, the temple in the Forbidden City, The Kremlin, pagodas, and what looks like a couple of city blocks of high-rise apartments and dozens of other buildings are all reproduced in ice. You can zip down an ice slide, find your way out of an ice maze, ride in a horse-drawn carriage, have your picture taken on a Tibetan white yak, or glide across a frozen pond on a chair sled using poles to propel you.

It’s fantastic. It’s also bitterly cold. I’m beginning to wonder how I’m going to stay outside in this for two hours when we see a Nescafe café.

Inside it’s warm, though my toes never get to room temperature even though I put my feet on the heater that’s beside our table. We forgot to put the hand warmer in our gloves and boots!

There are several of these cafes on the grounds so we venture out to see a few ice sculptures, then duck inside one of these before we turn into blocks of ice ourselves.

We marvel at what it must take to build this exhibition. Who could be out here working for hours to put it together?

The ice terra cotta warriors look like crystal chess pieces. The temple of Angkor Wat is a rainbow of colors.

Bernie’s freezing his hands taking photos but he’s getting a lot of good ones.
We have just enough time now to cross the park and find our taxi at 8:30. The time has gone fast; our minds would like to stay longer. Our bodies remind us again that we could lose fingers or toes if we stay much longer.

Our driver has come to meet us and walk us across the street to the cab.
At our hotel, Bernie insists on giving our driver something (although we know they don’t take tips) for his extra efforts.

Our room is cozy and warm. The bed has been turned down and the shades pulled. The white duvet and fat pillows seem the ultimate in luxury.

Shelter.