Shock and Awe

Having just returned from the northern city of Harbin I can do little to fend off the exhaustion brought on by 14 hours of travel (a few millimeters of snow in Shanghai and the country shuts down). I just wanted to give you a thumbnail of my weekend, perhaps to better wet your appetite for my lengthier accounts later.

The cold was Shocking. I can't say I wasn't prepared, but I lived to regret my first words outside the airport when I muttered, "Ah, feels like home." While the cold, dry air was more similar to Boston's winter than that of Shanghai, I have never experienced such a totally inhospitable climate first hand. My only recollection of temperatures like this was one January a few years back, when Alex, Andy and I walked across a frozen reservoir- but that only ended up with someone getting frostbite, so needless to say I was cautious in Harbin.

The locals told us we were lucky, that the temperatures last week were 10C colder than this weeks balmy high of -17C (2F), and that was before windchill. While residents of Harbin reacted to this heatwave by unzipping their coats and leaving the hat and gloves at home, I cared little for personal appearance choosing instead to seek complete and total warmth. The secret? 5 pairs of socks at once. I'm not even kidding, I went from 2 socks the first day to 4 the second, to buying a pair of wool socks to round out the 5 pairs on the 3rd (and coldest) day, which of course meant my feet didn't fit right in my shoes, but who cares I was warm, or at least not cold. The entire time I wore all 3 long sleeve shirts I brought (which, besides dress shirts, was all but 1 of the long sleeve shirts I brought to Shanghai). I had 2 pairs of gloves which I wore simultaneously, as well as my scarf, hat and 2 hoods. Needless to say I now understand why Dante chose the 9th circle of hell to be ice...

Yet, Harbin was Awesome! This is the home the wintry wonderland of ice and snow sculptures. The festive atmosphere flows from the blocks of ice they spend a month preparing through the lights on nearly every tree to the music blared from speakers everywhere you go. There are 3 main attractions - The Ice Sculpture Park(which is the oldest and original), the Snow Sculpture Park (the most subtle and beautiful), and the Ice and Snow Wonderland (the biggest and brashest). With their own uniqueness, style, scope and artistry there is one thing they all have in common - you will be cold when you leave.

I'll cut to the chase - I saw a 100 foot tall replica of the Temple of the Forbidden City made of snow, and a 200 foot tall staircase of a hill leading to a replica of the Acropolis in Athens made of ice. The latter, part of the Wonderland, is visible from over 1 mile away and isn't even the tallest ice sculpture in the park. As a person who measures beauty by the number of pictures I take, my camera battery died within 48 hours of arriving.

In addition to these sights I enjoyed the company of my 14 Chinese travel companions, the regional cuisine, the local entertainment and a day of snow sports including the Chinese take on Skiing. It was a great first trip to take while in China, even if grow unnaturally nervous whenever anyone mentions 'ice' around me for the rest of my life.