My Month Long Travels Part 8

  After Qingdao I headed to Beijing then to Harbin to see the Snow and Ice Festival. I took a fast train to Beijing since it would be really long on the slow train and I had to change trains in Beijing. After being on the slow train for so long the fast train made it feel like I was traveling first class.

  I arrived in Beijing and I needed to find a taxi from one train station to another. It was around midnight so the metro was closed. I followed the signs to where the taxi service was but not before I had a man approach me asking where I wanted to go. He was also a taxi driver but he most was more like an Uber driver. It was not a shady thing. I would have been fine hiring him as my taxi driver if he had not given such a crazy price. When he asked where I was going I pointed to the other train station name on my ticket and asked how much in Chinese. He told me it was going to be 300 RMB. At that number I am sure I gave him the most disgusted look. That was a huge rip-off. I was actually really angry because I know he said that price simply because I was white. He gave me a look that tried to say, 'but I cannot drive you for any less.' I kinda angrily said "too expensive" in Mandarin and walked away. I then followed the signs that led to the taxi place, got a taxi driver to take me to the other train station and only ended up paying a total of 55 RMB. That first guy was ridiculous.
  The picture below is of a five gallon bucket with live fish in it. Someone had taken them onto the slow train. I thought it was fascinating and asked the people if I could take a picture of their fish. I am pretty sure they thought I was crazy.

  This is the hostel in Harbin.

  This is the entrance to the hostel which was kinda out of the way and I spent about 30 minutes wondering around in zero degree weather with my suitcase trying to find it.

  The room I was staying in at the hostel. There were 8 girls to a room and this is what it looked like. I was the only foreigner in this room. 

  This is the St. Sophia Church that is in Harbin. This city use to have many Russians living in it and other foreigners so some of the buildings had more of a western feel to them. This church was built during that time. It is not longer a working church in that it now serves as a Museum for the history of the city.  It was kinda sad to see it that it had been turned into a museum and was no longer used for its intended purpose.

  This is the inside of the church. The bright light area is where historic pictures of the city are hung for people's viewing pleasure.

  The rest of the day I wondered around the city looking at sites Harbin is known for such as the Central Street or in Chinese Pinyin Zhongyang Dajia and the random ice sculptures found on the streets. 

  At the end of the street there was the river, frozen over of course. Apparently playing on the ice was the thing to do. I did not get on the ice because I was cold, there were too many people on it already and I was tired, also known as me being lazy.

  On the way back I came upon a wonderful discovery and decided to indulge myself. They even had chocolate chip cookies that taste just like the ones in America.

  More sculptures on the Central Street.

  When I returned to the Hostel several of the Chinese girls decided to talk to me and practice their English. They ended up inviting me out for dinner. I said yes, even though I had already eaten because why not. One of the Chinese girls could not speak any Chinese but she really wanted to hold my arm so I let her. I thought it was really funny knowing the only reason she was doing this was because I look white. We went to a restaurant and had some soup, it was a little interesting because they spoke English but not perfect so a few things did not always get across the language barrier. Afterwards we walked along the Central Street because the hostel was near it and ate some street food, which is what the picture below contains. I have no idea what it is called.

  This thing is a fruit kabob, they put fruit on a stick and then cover it with sugar. Anywhere you go in China, at least every place I have been, you can find them so if you get the change you should have a try. One of my Chinese friends told me not to eat them because they do not always use fresh fruit, so eat at your own risk.

  The Chinese that I went out with ended up talking this man, who sold these fruit kabobs, into giving me a free kabob since I was a foreigner and had never had one before. They talked him into it and I was given a free kabob. It was not a good tasting one because the fruit that was on it was kinda a gross tasting fruit. I did share my good fortune with the people who helped me get it. They tried it and told me it was not a good one either but hey, I got it for free.

  The next day I went to the Ice and Snow Festival, which was the main reason I came to Harbin. I had read online that if you arrived early then you get a discount on your ticket so I arrived around 11 in the morning. However, the tickets were only discounts for people who lived in Harbin so I had to pay the crazy full price. I was just SO excited about it. Do not trust everything on the internet!!
  It was freezing cold and instead of leaving and visiting another site I used my ticket and went in. The only problem with that decision what that I had to hang around all day because I wanted to see the lights of the festival in the evening and the park was not as large as I thought it was. So I wondered around the park in about one hour taking pictures of the Ice Sculptures sparkling in the sunshine and then went to the KFC and hung out until it got dark. It was too cold to stay outside the rest of the day. You could only be out for about one hour without your appendages starting to loose feeling. (I might be exaggerating this a little bit but if you were there you would think the same thing).

  This picture is from the comforts of KFC.

  When it hit around 6 in the evening the lights of the sculptures began to turn on so I left the warm confines of KFC and took more pictures. My phone actually got so cold that it turned off on me. Then my portable battery charge quiet working because it was so cold as well. So I then went back to the hostel.

  It was then off to the train station the next day to head to Beijing to meet up with a friend with whom I would go to Datong.