Harbin, Northeast China

Mention Harbin, and the Ice Lantern Festival comes to mind. In fact, it is Harbin's number one tourist attraction, and so, significant efforts are also put in to capitalize on this.

Beautiful lighted ice sculptures

There are now like three locations where you can admire and see the snow and ice sculptures - Zhaolin Park, Sun Island, and the Snow & Ice World. All require entrance tickets in excess of 100RMB each. The biggest is probably Snow & Ice World, but all will be crowded. And they are best admired at night where the multi-coloured lights bring the sculptures alive.

However, I actually enjoyed some of the other attractions aside from this number one attraction!

• The main tourist street of Zhongyang Dajie (中央大街 ), a cobbled pedestrian street, makes for nice browsing with Russian influenced architecture, some dating back 1900s. And it's really nice to just chill in a warm cafe after a wintry walk! (And the cafes have nice decor too!)
• The Church of St Sophia, the most photographed picture in Harbin, is well worth its shutter time especially early morning or late evening when it is bathed in the winter sunlight. 
• I also enjoyed the walk across the Songhua river, where you know as you stand in the middle of the river that this view is only possible in winter. There are also all manner of activities on the frozen river, from horse-carriage rides to sledding. But I prefer to walk - how often can you walk on a river?! ;)
• And the amazing winter swim that the locals partake, though having to pay an entrance fee to see it caught me off-guard for a moment (and then I remembered I am in China... :p). It's interesting to note that for the "warm-up" before they plunge into the icy-cold waters, the participants actually roll themselves on the snow/ice-covered ground! I guess it's to minimize the shock the body gets when they jump in.

I've always enjoyed winter, though in Dongbei (Northeast China), you have to be properly equipped for it. A number of friends are particularly concerned about visiting Harbin since many are worried about the extreme cold here. But once you're properly well attired (a good down jacket is an absolute must!), Harbin is really quite enjoyable!

Winter swimming

Zhongyang Dajie at night

Changbaishan Canyon (大峽谷)

Another attraction in the Changbaishan scenic area is the Changbaishan Canyon (大峽谷). It is quite a deep canyon (going down 100m), with some interesting rock formations within it. However, it requires a separate entrance ticket, and its actually quite a distance from the Changbaishan park entrance at the northern slope.




The canyon itself is surrounded by pine forests, and looks really pretty in winter. There is a boardwalk running through the canyon, and makes for a very pleasant walk. The guidebook suggested that its a 40min walk, but I took almost 2hrs as I love photographing the winter scenes. Moreover, I seem to be the first and only visitor, as the boardwalk is covered with snow with no footprints at all. The boardwalk is on a raised platform, and with heavy snow, the edge of the boardwalk became barely distinguishable. So, extra care must be taken not to accidentally step off the boardwalk!



So, is the additional trip and entrance ticket worth it? Well, I enjoyed myself quite alot in there. However, in other seasons, the sceneries will be different, so your enjoyment mileage may vary :)

Fangchuan (防川) - A View of 3 Countries

Fangchuan (防川), a small village in a sliver of land wedged between Russia and North Korea, finds itself in some travel guides for one reason - to be able to view 3 countries from a single viewpoint.



Situated in the Yanbian (延边) Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province of Northeast China, the area does contain quite interesting histories for those who enjoy the subject. For the casual traveller, the notion of being at the border of 3 countries is the main draw. In fact, the moment I arrived in Hunchun (珲春), the town that connects to the rest of the prefecture, the cab drivers started quoting prices to Fangchuan. When I asked, "What to see in Fangchuan?", the driver exclaimed incredously, "To see the view of 3 countries (一眼望三国), why else would you want to come to Hunchun??!"!
Well, Hunchun itself is very similar to the other towns/cities in Yanbian. Korean seems to be spoken as widely as Chinese, and dog meat restaurants, barbeques, and kimchis are all over the town. While the road and shop signs in the other Yanbian towns are in bilingual, here the signs are all in 3 languages : Chinese, Korean and Russian. However, I did not see many Russians when I was there.



The journey to Fangchuan and the viewpoint eventually follows a road hugging the Tumen river, and you can see the mountains of North Korea - so near yet so far. When you reach the viewpoint, what do you expect in China? Entrance fees of course. But still, it was interesting, and the closest I've gotten to Russia and North Korea to date! :P




View Larger Map