2019 Harbin and Sapporo Snow Festival

[Matt_01]

Along the street there were several sculptures. We took a lot of photos and these are just a few examples







At the northern end there was a much smaller snack street along the lines of the one in Beijing. I thought of this thread Trying local cuisine - how adventurous are you? In Beijing I previously tried the little scorpions on the skewer, on this occasion I thought about the big black scorpion or the starfish but could not bring myself to give it a go. Below pic thinking about it.

 

[Hvr]

I thought about the big black scorpion or the starfish but could not bring myself to give it a go.

Maybe a chocolate one?

 

[Matt_01]

Maybe a chocolate one?

Could go the chocolate scorpion, the real ones are the same color as a good dark chocolate.

 

[Matt_01]

This is the northern area of Central St, it may not technically and along the river banks. Over the next few posts I will just post pics and provide commentary on things I found interesting or unusual.



This area seemed like the adventure park with slides, motorised buggies, and other stuff.

 

[Hvr]

Will/did you visit Unit 731 during your trip to Harbin?

 

[Matt_01]

This was interesting it seems like the people have a metal top that is put on the ice then it is whipped hitting it at the base and making it spin. As the faster it spins it starts to make a droning sound when on the ice. The people seem to whip it and chase it around until it gets to the correct speed then it just spins on the spot.

This was in one of the local fitness parks. This chap was swinging a bull whip and making it crack, I am sure others were aware of the whip but it did not seem so. I was accidentally on the wrong end of a bull whip as a kid so, I just kept my distance not going through that again.

This is the ice pool. Prior to leaving AU I had planned on giving it a go, when MrsM asked are you not worried about the cold I said ‘no’ you can get out quickly as 30 odd years ago I jumped in water that was 5 degrees and still remember the pain. Then I mentioned I was more worried about having a heart attack when I land in the water due to the cold and my current age, I was immediately banned from ice swimming. To be honest I am not that disappointed.

 

[Matt_01]

Will/did you visit Unit 731 during your trip to Harbin?

Planning on this tomorrow, I am leaving the girls in the hotel and to do what they want. From what I understand Unit731 is about 30 minutes out of town and only open for 2 sessions a day. I am planning to go in the morning.

 

[Matt_01]

These are the boats that can be seen in post #18 but the winter view

 

[Matt_01]

Walking on ice. This was interesting as there are different sounds as you walk along it. When you look down you can see through the ice in places however it is not a solid block and is filled with cracks which have been frozen together as the river gradually freezes. From what I understand at this time of year the ice is on average 1-2 meters thick so the chance of cracking and falling in is remote.

 

[Matt_01]

Harbin Snow and Ice World, this was the main reason we came so will post a few photos Same building, the color just cycles through many changes

 

[Matt_01]

a variety of the the official international ice sculpting competition

 

[Matt_01]

This was a snow grotto, I have no idea but guessing it may have been commissioned from a single concept or artist

 

[VPS]

What kind of shoes are you wearing on the ice?

 

[Matt_01]

Last post of the night festival activities. The pics do not do this experience justice, it was a conga line led by these 2.



Following the orders of this chap. He was one the stage calling out movements and blowing his whistle right, left, right, right, stop, go, forward, back, back, left, left, right, left, left, right, right seemed random but was actually choreographed to the changing doof-doof that was being played.



We joined in for a while.



The big ice drum had real drums on either side. The ice drum changed color on a regular time gap there is one in every crowd , the individual who knows how to play the real drum started playing in line with color changes, quite impressive. Was this staged, maybe but every other person who had a go, including myself was just beating to the sound of their own.



The ice bikes

 

[Matt_01]

The tiger park. These bad boys are big and the park has about 800 with some being reintroduced into the wild.


MissM feeding, when the food would not go through the fence MrsM was not impressed when I suggested she should use her fingers, what an irresponsible parent I am


If you are willing to pay a bit more you can feed with one of these. I was not allowed to buy one however a couple of others did.

 

[Matt_01]

This is the Grand Theater


Polar Land on Sun Island

The Bulgar Whale Show.


The sea lion show but this looks more like a walrus . A sea lion eventually made an appearance

 

[Matt_01]

The next couple of posts relate to Unit 731. This was a Japanese biological research facility that performed experiments on people during the Japanese occupation. It is located about 30 minutes south of Harbin by car. Although the Japanese attempted to destroy all the facilities a couple of buildings remain and these have been preserved by the Chinese Government as a reminder and some of the objects and/or remains are in poor condition they have classified as a ‘Valuable Cultural Relic’ and are on public display. Artifacts that are paper records are copies of the originals and clearly displayed as copies stating originals are in archive. The whole site has been turned in to a museum.

 

[Matt_01]

 

[Matt_01]

This is Zhaolin Park, basically a small park that is just full of ice sculptures, it is not far from the St Sophia Church and pictures are just a random selection.

 

[Matt_01]

The lounge at the Shangri-La is pretty good and each evening there was a selection of soups, about 6 hot dishes, salads, fruit, cold meats and cheese as well as alcohol. The thing that surprised me was that each night the lounge was basically empty with the Matt_01 family being on point to eat and keeping the staff on the ball when the wine ran out. Again just a random selection of photos.