A TEMPLE AND MORE ICE

Harbin 1/20

Jile Temple 

The Jile Temple was built in 1923. It consists of the Mountain Gate, the Heavenly King Hall, the Hall of Mahavira, the Hall of Three Saints, Scriptures-storing Tower, Side Hall, Chanting Hall, Shifang Hall, Anyang Hall and the monks' cells. A seven-story pagoda dominates the temple, measuring over 30 meters (98 feet) tall.

The Jile Temple strictly follows the traditional Chinese Temple style. It is a magnificent and resplendent architectural complex. Every house was built of blue bricks and glazed colored tiles. Facing south, it can be divided into three courtyards on the left, middle and right. The Mountain Gate was built to resemble the Chinese character "山" (mountain in English), thus the name "Mountain Gate". The front hall is the Heavenly King Hall, followed by the Hall of Mahavira, the Hall of Three Saints and Scriptures-storing Tower according to priority.

Back at the hotel we decided to get lunch here at the hotel. We had received several coupons when we checked in and decided to use them. The Buffet here was amazing and very diverse in the offerings which were mostly Asian. There was Hot Pot, Sushi, Peking Duck, Steak, etc etc and a great desert bar. There was also access to the beer tap, and Harbin beer was in order. I found it light yet full flavored. I almost forgot, I was able to have some Red Harbin Sausage, I thought it was a very tasty meaty sausage.  

About 3:00pm (1500) we asked the bell desk to get us a cab. They tried to no avail and finally gave us direction as to which local bus to take, but we had to walk to the bus stop. Before knew it we had made our way to Central Street and one block over was Zhaolin Park. I would guesstimate the distance at almost a couple miles. Our reward for the walk were candied covered strawberries on a stick.

Zhaolin Park is also 'must see' during the Harbin Ice Festival because it has a traditional program that shows the most excellent ice lanterns. With water, lights and the natural ice from the Songhua River running through this city as the material, the ice lanterns are made by freezing water, piling up ice or snow, then carving, enchasing, decorating, etc. The Ice Lantern Garden Party has been held here annually since 1963. There are numerous pieces of ice artworks in the park arranged in groups according to different themes depicting Chinese classic masterworks, European folktales and customs and so on. A great variety of objects such as buildings, gardens, flowers, waterfalls, European-styled churches, lions, tigers, dragons are carved from ice. In the daytime, the ice sculptures are magnificent and verisimilitude. Moreover, with the interspersion of the sparkling colored lights embedded in the sculptures at night, the park becomes an amazing ice world.

Zhaolin Park is the first park in the city, built in memory of the General Li Zhaolin. Set up in 1900, it was originally named "Daoli Park" and changed to present name "Zhaolin Park" in 1946. 

 

This is the place for Ice Cream on Central Street

 

Yummy Stuff can be found at the vendors

We finished the night at Central Street shopping and having Street Food. 

THE DAY WAS GREAT AND ENDED WITH A VERY VERY BIG WOW, I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS!!!

THE DAY WAS GREAT AND ENDED WITH A VERY VERY BIG WOW, I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS!!!



After breakfast we were met by our guide Fianna and were off to see the snow sculptures at the Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo. 

Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo is annually held in the Sun Island Scenic Area from January to the end of February. The expo vividly digs and demonstrates artistic, unique, participatory, humanities and affinity, informative and entertaining of snow and cultural activities to create a "big, strange, beautiful, and fine" snow landscape. The expo has a different cultural theme every year. Here, countries who have colorful ice and snow cultures, such as Russia, Italy, French, Canada, Japan, North Korea, and so on, will send artisans to create representative sculptures.  These sculptures can be massive and some are so big they have stairs carved into them so you can walk up and inside. I did not see any sculptures from the USA, maybe I need to get some practice in and go one year. 

The temperature was cool and while walking to the entrance there was a vendor (one of many selling cold weather gear for the unprepared). The one souvenir I wanted for this trip is a hat, and here one was found.

It was not the best day as far as air quality goes and blue skies were not in the forecast. Bright grey skies and white snow make it hard to photograph, but with some processing I might get some ok images.



Next we were off to Polarland.

This is a very well done exhibit of Polar animals and other fish from warmer climates. 

"South Pole Penguin's Island" of Harbin one finds a group of Gentoo Penguins. Good news came on December 25, 2007, when a new member was added to this large penguin family. It is Manpo, the first South Pole penguin that was born in China's inland city. Now he is the mascot of Harbin City Tourism.

There are two belugas named Mira and Nicola who do present a show where the trainers are in the water with them. This gets really really crowded.


There are also other animals from the North Pole such as arctic wolves, arctic foxes and polar bears can be seen in "North Pole Animal's Home".

I must say I was impressed with how healthy these animals looked. If one reads Chinese this could be very informative. And it is a nice place out of the cold.


Next we are off to the Siberian Tiger Park- 

The Siberian Tiger Park enjoys a favorable foundation for ecotourism and splendid scenery and it is an ideal place to see the tigers up close. There are over 1,300 purebred Siberian tigers here, with 100’s visible to visitors. One can also can also see white tigers, lions, lynx, leopards, and black pumas as well as Bengali tigers.

This experience starts with a bus ride through the many tiger enclosures. There are two busses, one which is enclosed and the other has windows which can be opened to feed the tigers. We took the first option. The windows on the open window bus are cover with heavy metal bars. The passengers on this bus get to watch as bits of meat are passed out to the tigers.

After going through many enclosures, you come to an enclosed walk way where more tigers can be observed. The walk way is enclosed with heavy fencing. Should one desire you can buy bits of chicken or even a live chicken to feed to the tigers.

Again, all the felines we observed looked very healthy.

It was early afternoon and we were ready for lunch and stopped at a local restaurant where we had a thin corn porridge, pancakes (more of a crepe) which we filled with Peking style pork, vegetables, and potatoes. Really good and hit the spot. Here we took a long lunch break as we did not want to get to the Harbin Ice and Snow World too early. The lights on the ice sculptures do not come on till about 1600 (4:00pm).

Now we are off to -

Harbin Ice and Snow World

The temperature was about -12 C when we arrived and the crowds were forming as the massive parking lot was filling. I must say, attending this with a guide and driver is nice for access and to avoid the confusion of getting admission. There is very very very little English spoken in this area, yes, a challenge, so a guide is handy pave ones way.

The theme for 2020 is "Ice Snow Integration, Happy to Go Together”

WOW!! ,OMG!!!, I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS!!, “LOOK AT THAT”, “WONDERFUL”, “SIMPLY AMAZING”, and many more things did I utter. 

First set-up by the Harbin Municipal Government in 1999, Harbin Ice and Snow World is by far the largest ice and snow art exhibition in the world. It is commonly referred to as possessing four of the key 'mosts': the most art attractions, the most beautiful night views, the most recreational activities and the most forms of entertainment. Furthermore, the festival is constantly evolving and each year brings with it a new theme, providing visitors with a totally unique experience from one year to the next.

The ice carvings at the Harbin Ice and Snow World are regarded as some of the world's finest examples of ice art, with visitors able to admire some of the largest and most majestic ice-sculpted masterpieces. Each of these ice carvings is designed in some way related to the festival's theme, enabling travelers to sample a variety of cultural flavors.

One of the highlights for any visitor to the festival is to visit the site at night when multicolored lights set underground and in ice blocks, illuminate the sculptures, revealing a whole new colorful dimension to the exhibits. The contrasts of the bright and dazzling lights against the dark night sky make the works look all the more spectacular.

The area is vast, there are many recreation opportunities from skiing, sledding, tubing, the ever popular Ice Bikes, and more are available. There are carts selling candied fruits, restaurants (yes, the King of Dumplings is there) as well as KFC, coffee shops and more. There are warming rooms to get out of the cold, we were so enthralled the cold “didn’t Bother Us Anyway”. 

There is even a Post Office on the grounds.

The sculptures are massive and the largest was the replica of the Palace from the Forbidden City.

The crowds were not bad after we entered as they were adsorbed by the vastness of this area. 

WOW is all I can say, enjoy some of our photos and thanks for sharing this journey with us. Do share with your friends near and far.