harbin....

the rumors are substantiated... harbin is verrrrry cold. the inlet where harbin sits is nicely situated between mongolia and the former soviet union. helLO freezing coldness. there's a main street where a lot of architecture still exists from the days where it was a huge russian enclave in the early 1900s. we tried a russian restaurant our first night there - a bit odd but the borscht and cabbage rolls were good.

so the ice and snow festival is split into a couple different locations. the snow-carving festival is north of downtown (where we were staying) across the songhua river (sight of the huge benzene chemical spill in november 2005), about a 25 yuan cab ride in a park. the ice carving part was walking distance from our hotel, and is best right after sunset because all the sculptures are lighted and it's pretty neat.



snow carving park


dog sledding at the snow park




sofia church, one of the famous examples of russian architecture


ice sculpture park


ice sculpture park