Day 1 -
We all caught a heiche (illegal taxi) to the train station for our 9.25pm train - I was expecting pandemonium at the station, but it was fabulous - we walked straight up to the check-in counter, down to the platform and onto our train - all within five minutes.
The trains were dodgier than on the trip to Tibet - the train to Tibet actually had 'walls' facing the corridor (just missing the door), while the train to Ha'erbin didn't even have that wall! Sorry I didn't explain that very well. Hopefully the picture explains it a bit better:
From left to right: Bernard, Hokky, Me, Andri, Devi, Heru, Candra, Nalisha (Vivi is missing)
I slept terribly that night, thanks to having damp bed linen, hundreds of noisy kids in the same carriage, and the fact that I had an afternoon siesta before boarding the train!
Day 2 -
After a few hours sleep, we were woken up by the lights being turned on, and we started applying layers of clothing in preparation. I managed to wear three pairs of thermals underneath my jeans, four long sleeve t-shirts, one thin jumper, one fluffy hoodie jumper, scarf, beanie, big down-filled coat, gloves, three pairs of socks and snow boots. When we stepped off the train, I was surprised at how not cold it was. That might have been due to the amount of clothing I was wearing, but really, I think I had imagined that -25 would be life-or-death, unbearable cold... when really it wasn't. It was surprisingly bearable. That being said, within 15 seconds of stepping off the train, the hair inside my nose froze. Charming, I know. Luckily I didn't have a cold at that point, because when your nose runs, it freezes to your face! Nasty...
We met our tour guide (an absolutely adorable, incredibly young looking 26 year old named Xiao Li - honestly, she looked about 12 or 13), and the rest of our tour group for the day - we were with a family of three, and a group of four sisters from Liaoning (north east of Beijing).
We jumped straight into the touristy stuff - first stop was the Russian St. Sophia's Cathedral for some quick pics, then onto 中央大街 - Zhongyang Dajie (Ha'erbin's version of Wangfujing (or Bourke Street/Pitt Street/equal Brisbane equivalent)).
Myself, Devi and Vivi outside St. Sophia's Cathedral
Andri, Devi, Vivi, Hokky and Heru on Zhongyang Dajie
We then went to watch crazy senior citizens (who clearly weren't the sharpest tools in the shed) swimming in the river. They had cut a swimming pool sized hole in the ice, and we saw at least 30 oldies jump in for a splash. Because it was so damn cold, there were people constantly skimming the pool for ice that was reforming. Some of them looked a bit worse for wear on their way back inside too.
We then went for possibly the greatest meal we've ever had whilst in China. It was a simple, fairly average lunch, but everything was just so delicious (made even more so by the fact none of us had eaten since the previous evening). After our fab lunch, we headed to the Ice Sculpture Festival, which was basically just that - sculptures made of ice.
Our tour group (less the family of three)
Inside the Ice Bar
All the ice is man-made, so they can add colours to it, should they so wish
The biggest chunk of ice ever
Next we headed to the Ice Lantern Festival (the sun set at 4.17pm which really messes up your internal clock). It was at about this time that my camera decided it was just too darn cold to work. My phone and iPod had already stopped working, so it was inevitable really. Actually, they say that anything with an LCD screen or a battery will stop working, as well as camera SD discs, which are only rated to -10.
We only had an hour at the Ice Lantern Festival because other members of our group were catching trains home that evening. It would have been great to spend more time there, but I don't know how we could have lasted any longer in the cold.
We then checked into our motel, at which point I skipped dinner and fell asleep. And woke up on...
Day 3 -
... with a cold! I felt so poorly that I spent all day in bed with a splitting headache and sore throat. It didn't really matter though, because everyone else was just wandering around the city for the day anyway. At 6pm we headed to the train station, made friends with a guy in KFC, then lined up for our train. I fell asleep almost as soon as we got on the train - we were all split up over many carriages, so I had nobody to distract me. I slept terribly, waking up every half an hour because I was either sweating or too cold.
Day 4 -
Arrived back in Beijing. We caught the same heiche back home, at which point I went to bed and slept. And slept.
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