2 March 2014
Greetings all from North East China!
The winter this year in Shenyang has been tame compared to the Polar Vortex in the US! For a little winter fun, I went with a dear friend up to Harbin (Rod didn't want to go but encouraged me to go with Julie). Harbin is a city a little further north just..always cold in the winter...so to not forget the cold and have a little empathy for our US friends and family, we went! You may have seen pictures of the ice festival at this city on CNN or other news networks as it really is a spectacular display of lights and ice together to make one bling ice snow. It was really the end of the season, so we did notice a few rounded edges...but it was still stunning! Harbin is a city that has alot of Russian influence in it's architecture...but no one goes there in winter to admire the architecture (well, maybe the cathedral, you'll see at the end of this post)
There are 2 main areas to enjoy the ice and snow..the snow sculptures and the ice structures. The snow sculptures are best seen in the daytime and the ice is best seen in the night due to all of the neon lights encased in the ice.
Here are just a few pictures of the snow sculptures
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| Sarah in front of the large lady Shiva (a little strange for me to see a Hindu God in the land of Buddhist! |
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Large elephants in the snow
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| The year of the horse comes in Harbin with horses airbrush painted in a snow canvas |
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| A large 'ginger jar' airbrush painted with the blue motif |
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| The phoenix flies in snow! |
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| Horses gallop in in snow...look at the size of the people on the right side! This thing was huge! |
After a nice stroll through the park looking at the snow, we went to the ice park and had a nice hot tea, then we walked around in the park at dusk for s unique look at the ice structures at sunset.
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| An ice temple at sunset |
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| Sarah holding an arctic fox..just had to do it! |
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| Sunset at the ice festival in Harbin |
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| Ringing the buddhist bell at Harbin |
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| The Buddhist prayer area at the ice festival..all of these red ribbons hold a prayer for a loved one..living or dead. |
After sunset of course comes the dark...and the lights come up and the temperatures go down! But of course the show is the ice and lights...
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| One of the central towers at the ice festival in Harbin, Feb 2014 |
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| The view from the top of one of the ice towers...yes there are steps, and yes, they are slippery..but they are accessible! |
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| Having fun on the ice slide! |
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| An other view of the snow and ice |
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| Tower of power on ice |
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| Arches, lights and ice...always a favorite! |
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| Not really sure what structure this is, but nice to look at all the same! |
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| The lighted ice moon bridge over an ice pathway |
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| More arches and ice |
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| An Ice buddhist temple in Harbin, PR China, Feb 2014 |
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| Looking out on a 'lake' of ice..notice the small detail in the ice ballister! |
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| Tunnel of ice love! |
After a full evening of fun in the ice, we headed back to the hotel and had a great big Chinese dinner...we ordered alot and we ate alot! The next morning we headed out to the Siberian tiger park. There is also one of these parks in Shenyang, but this one was bigger..and more cats! Rod and I had visited the Shenyang park in the summer..so I thought it would be nice to see the siberian tigers in the snow..so out we went!
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| Tigers in the snow covered woods playing! |
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| Tigers sunning themselves after breakfast...which I didn't see! |
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| A leopard at the tiger park...hmmm..cats on the prowl! |
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| White tiger coming our way! |
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| A beautiful cat the white tiger |
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| Sarah having fun at the tiger park |
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| Tiger in the snow at Harbin |
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| Cats comfortable in the snow! |
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| And not to be outdone, the Jaguar poses in the tree...what a beautiful cat! |
After the tiger park, we strolled up to the Temple of Eternal Heavenly bliss...now with a name like that, we just couldn't miss it! Not sure it was eternally blissful for me...but it was interesting and we say some beautiful copper clad artwork.
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| There it is eternal heavenly bliss! |
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| Sarah with the buddhist metal carving prayer stations |
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| MOre of the metal prayer stations |
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| No trip to the temple would be complete without stopping by the official gift shop..now, here is what I thought was a Hindu Shiva in the Buddhist gift shop..I guess I'll have to study up on my statuary more. |
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| Close up of several of the many hands on this statue..notice the eye in the thousand hands behind the 2 big ones..I'm sure this has a meaning, but I didn't get it! |
After the temple of heavenly bliss, we went downtown to a more traditional Christian religious building the Saint Sophia Cathedral. It's beautiful architecture, but sadly it is no longer a functioning church.
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| Sarah in front of the St. Sophia cathedral |
Afterwards we went for a quick stroll down the pedestrian street, then headed back to the high speed train that took us back to Shenyang...3 hours later we were getting in our cars back to our Shenyang homes. Thank you Julie for going with me...I had a great time!!
So, that's about all for Harbin...worth the trip...even in the -0 weather!
Next time, who knows from where!
Sarah & Rod
I love it! What a great time.
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