H A R B I N

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The Harbin Ice & Snow Festival is amazing!  It’s hard to describe but we’re sure the photographs will do so if our words fail.  Harbin is very, very cold due to its Siberian winters.  From November through early March, the temperature never gets above freezing.  That's why the city can host this wonderful festival.  While we were there the temperature ranged from -13 degrees C to  -25 degrees C.  Burr!!  We spent time exploring each of the key venues associated with the Ice & Snow Festival thanks to the expertise of Mr. Liu, our guide, and our driver, Mr. Wang.  Mr. Liu made sure we enjoyed the highlights at each location while attempting to keep us from getting too cold given we could only stay outdoors for 30-40 minutes at a time due to the frigid temperatures.  Mr. Wang kept us safe while driving to/from the venues and he always had a warm car waiting for us.  Thanks to these gentlemen, we had a wonderful experience! 


Mr. Liu, our guide (right) and Mr. Wang, our driver (left);
a GREAT team!

Harbin Ice Lantern Art Show at Zhoulin Park:  Zhoulin Park is a small park in the city of Harbin.  It was the original home of the Harbin Ice & Snow Festival when it began in 1963.  It’s now one of the smaller venues but it is still gorgeous.  It is known for delicate ice sculptures as well as ice lanterns (sculptures with beautiful lighting inside). 


A decorative wall built from blocks of ice

This is a colorful and very beautiful ice sculpture of Confucius

Lindy by a large ice sculpture; it changed
colors (blue, green pink or yellow) every 2-3 minutes

These beautiful ice sculptures are scattered throughout the Park

This is a particularly intricate sculpture

A view of an ice building (built from blocks) with a pink  lantern just outside

A row of brightly lit lanterns; they stand ~5-6' tall

An overview of this lovely Park where the Harbin Ice & Snow Festival began

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Siberian Tiger Park:  The Siberian Tiger Park is located about 30KM outside of Harbin.  While the setting isn’t ideal, we do understand there is a good breeding program in place.  There are approximately 400 Tigers in the park.  The animals looked healthy and well-cared for although some were unfortunately confined in large cages.  Thankfully most were able to roam through the compound while we were kept in a caged vehicle.  There was a lot of social interaction among the tigers – always a good sign.  Ed did get some nice shots while we were there.


One of our first views of these majestic creatures

The Siberian Tiger really is HUGE - bigger than the largest African Lions

This guy came right up to our caged vehicle

What a beautiful face!

We weren't sure whether this guy was resting on
his laurels or getting into position to pounce

We were lucky to see this White Tiger relaxing in the sun (we
don't think he was asleep since he's got that tongue outside his mouth)

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Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Exposition:  Sun Island is actually a peninsula that reaches into the Songhua River rather than a stand-alone island.  This venue primarily features sculptures made from snow.  There also are some ice sculptures as it attempts to compete with the Ice & Snow World.  However, it will take a bit before it does compete on the ice sculpture front.  That being said, it was so amazing to see what these artists can do with snow!


We made it!  Can you believe we're in front of a snow sculpture?!
You can tell it's very, very cold based on our gear.

This scuplture is called "The Age of Steam" (see the tea pot?)

This is so intricate; we could not imagine how it was done!

This snow sculpture "Who Won?" actually won first in its class

Another amazing and creative snow sculpture

Yet another beautiful snow sculpture

The snow sculpture of Mountain Sheep seem so
appropriate in this cold environment

This beautiful snow cathedral is the largest snow sculpture;
see how tiny the people near it look.

This sculpture is made from ice rather than snow; again, amazing!

A beautiful and decorative bridge made from blocks of ice; wow!

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Harbin Ice & Snow World:  The largest and most spectacular venue is the Ice & Snow World.  It’s a complete city with buildings, bridges and even a “merry-go-round” made from blocks of ice.  It was spectacular!  It was also a bit scary as you have to climb ice stairs, cross ice bridges, etc., etc., but it didn’t put anyone off.  The night we were there we guessed there were 2,000-3,000 guests – mostly Chinese tourists.  Who wouldn’t want to enjoy this amazing place?!


You can appreciate the size of this spectacular venue!

This is a beautiful archway made from ice blocks

This tower is simply amazing; only brave individuals
who aren't scared of heights could have constructed it!

Traditional architecture made from non-traditional building materials

We have now climbed up three sets of ice stairs (scary)
to look down at various parts of the venue

It's so utterly amazing!

We're now back to ground level (whew!) and while we can barely
walk about others are bravely climbing onto the ice Merry-Go-Round!

This area is filled with ice sculptures - beautiful!

The same ice sculptures after the lighting changes to a pink hue

A view back into the venue as we depart

Looking out at the Ice & Snow World from
our room at the Shangri-La Hotel - WOW!

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