We purchased tickets for a tour of the city and the surrounding area - including the Ice Sculpture Festival at night. We were up bright and early so we could meet the bus at 8:00 a.m. After a breakfast of a boiled egg and some rolls, we were on our way. (There was more to eat than that, but I just can't get used to eating vegetables and rice for breakfast.) It was a clear, cold day on the outside, and even the bus was quite chilly. We hadn't been out very long when our bus had a problem, and they had to send someone to help us. I was able to take pictures out the window while we waited. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but there is a small rise in the road, and there is a layer of ice over everything. Cars would start up the incline and then slide backwards.
They finally sent for someone to come sand the roads. If you look carefully at the three pictures below, you will see a man with a shovel throwing out the sand. I must admit, it did take care of the problem.
Once we changed buses, we continued on our sight seeing tour.
This is a picture of a tower that is exactly like the Pearl Tower in Shanghai. It was very expensive and very crowded. We also thought it might even be a little cold, so we opted to watch the men work out in the freezing weather to create some ice sculptures before going back to the bus. We probably should have gone up because I am sure we would have had a great view of the city as the sun came up.
You can tell by the following three pictures that it wasn't very warm where ever we went that day. We kept bundled up in the bus and the restaurant where we ate lunch.
Our next stop of the day was an aquarium which became one our favorite stops because is was quite a bit warmer inside. We still kept all of our outer clothing on, but it was a bit warmer.
We wouldn't have able to see very much without the help of these two girls who knew where to go and what to see. And yes, they spoke English. They kept guiding us along the right path to the next show or exhibition.
I won't try to show you all of the pictures of unusual fish that we took. They looked like what you would see at any other aquarium. They did have one exhibition that was quite amazing to watch. It had two trainers working with two Russian white whales. I have to admit, I haven't seen anything like it.
We were finally on the bus to go to the Ice Show - the main reason we came to Harbin. I was not disappointed. It was very amazing! There really isn't much that can be added to the pictures. I only thing I would like to point out is how big these ice sculptures are. You can get a little bit of an idea by looking at the size of the people around them, and we could walk through most of them.
I hope you can tell how impressive it was. There were a few places where we could go inside and get some hot water to drink which allowed us to warm up a little before venturing out again. It really was worth all of the cold we experienced in our stay in Harbin.
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