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.