Harbin 🇨🇳

Part 5: Harbin

Sub-Zero

When we arrived in Harbin we were semi-dressed in winter clothing and it took around 1.5 minutes for us to head back inside due to frozen nostrils. It was the weirdest sensation because of how quickly any moisture freezes at -29°C.
Once we arrived at the hotel we dropped our bags, put on some extra layers, and had a walk around. We thought everything was closed, but soon realised all of the doors were double layered AND closed to keep the heat in. After a few cocktails in some nice quiet bars, we went to bed.

Tiger Sanctuary

Tigers might be the coolest animals to see in person. Lions and bears were there too, but they paled in comparison. I got some cool pictures with ice sculptures of tigers and was up close as some small kids fed them through a hole in our bus.

Beer Exchange

Back on the walking street we stumbled across a beer exchange, much like many of the beer exchanges we've encountered across China, the prices change according to which 'stock/beer' is popular or not... Except it was ¥13 (£1.41) entry fee and you didn't have to pay for any more beers, so we made the most of it and got battered at 3pm in this glass box, chatting to some Chinese people with what we could muster out of our barely HSK1 knowledge.

Japanese War Crimes

Harbin is one of the many places that Japan pillaged during World War II. It was occupied on the 4th February 1932 and was home to some of the most horrific human experimentation ever. Unit 731 committeed acts from infecting live humans with the plague, to 'employing' farmers to collect resources for experimentation, like wheat, or water, and then infected the food and water supply of those very workers with Cholera and Thyphoid. I'm not that squeemish but reading about these experiments and the level of detail they go into, you cant help but cringe at what happened there.

Ice City

After a bit of history, a zoo trip, and a walk about, we finally went to the main event, the Ice City. It was about as big as Horley but completely in snow, with most buildings and sculptures made from ice with lights embedded within. It was a cool experience (pardon the pun) and very very chilly. I'd recommend to anyone around the north of China in Jan-March time to go and visit.