Harbin was definitely one of the most extreme places I have been to on the planet in regards to the temperature. I’ve been in temperatures up to 50C and now I can say I have been in -25C and to be honest neither is pleasant. Although in Harbin you just had to add another layer to keep out the cold and you slowly turned into the Michelin Man, but if you fell over you would have a hard job getting back up because of all the clothes. It’s a good place to get fat as you can eat and eat and you are drawn to the high carb type foods. I went for 4 full days but it was an effort to get there and back, but I it was worth it. This is how I did it Bus, Train,Metro, Plane, Bus, Taxi and after about 12 hours from door to door.

Most people go here of course for the Ice Festival, which is impressive as I mentioned before, but Harbin is also famous for the Russian influences here. The architecture is very different here and there are many Russian Orthodox  Churches, the most famous being the Saint Sophia Cathedral. On my way to the airport I actually saw another amazing looking church but I will have to go next time. To be honest it was difficult to spend too much time walking around in these temperatures, this is my first real winter for nearly 15 years and the last time I felt temperatures like this would have been 1983 which was a few years ago. Scotland got hit with winds from the Arctic back then and even the sea froze on the west coast which is unheard of. But I will return one day when it’s a wee bit warmer and explore a bit more.

One thing I enjoyed was just walking along the frozen river. There wasn’t too much to see at times apart from lots of people and cars and trucks and even a mini tank, but it just felt weird to be walking down a frozen river. 

The ice sculptures that you see are really intricate and amazing, but as you walk around the city you will come across other models made from snow and ice. Even on a roundabout on the way from the airport you will find a coloured ice facade. You don’t really have to go far but it’s after dark when the colours are vibrant and come into their own. The once glass looking train is now an array of vivid colours and against the clear black sky it looks amazing.

As you walk along the street you have to be careful because there are patches of ice everywhere. Outside restaurants where water has been thrown out onto the pavement, no OH&S here you know, make for tricky navigation at times. A dam of ice built up around a storm water drain, some body has taken a leak up against a wall and the yellow ice river has formed, mind you the thought of getting your tadger out in these kind of temperatures is eye watering to say the least but some think it’s necessary. In fact as I walked along the promenade of the Songhua river on my way back to my digs on my last night I was really surprised to see one of the 5 young women walking towards me on a lower level suddenly squat down and drop her kegs to her ankles, bum hanging out and getting on with it. It’s so fuckin cold, but I guess when you have to go you have to go.

The air quality in Harbin is really bad. The pollution levels are very high and you can not only feel it in your chest as you breath but you can taste the coal dust, well that’s what I think it was. I put my scarf around my face a few times a but it soon began to get wet as my breath began to condensate on it. I got myself a proper mask to wear because I was becoming like a local and coughing up lung after lung and using most of the ground as spittoon. The mask was an improvement for a short time because soon my glasses would fog up and then the ice would begin to form on my specs, how fucked is that. I had forgotten what it was like to wear specs in the cold. As soon as you walk into a building the specs steam up and you need your guide dog to order your noodles. Even your electronics will play up here. Your phone will tell you it’s too cold and will shut down if you have it out for too long and then it too will also get covered in condensation. One place I went to escape the cold was the Maan Coffee chain where they will serve you nice waffles and a big cup of good coffee, well half decent coffee. Oh and I nearly forgot to tell you that my beard felt like it was becoming crispy at times because my breath was icing up on it but sometimes I wasn’t sure if it was my breath or snot on my top lip, either way it didn’t taste as bad as the Harbin air.

The houses here all have double glazing and my accommodation was a home-stay and very cozy indeed, in fact it was too warm. But I could easily take off all my layers and slip on a tee shirt and light pants and all was well. The other thing you will notice here is just how heavy the doors are to buildings. I entered into a bank and I really had to pull the door to get it to open, same in the coffee shop. They are built for winter or a nuclear bomb blast.

When I returned to Suzhou it was about 6c and I was walking around like it was summer. I went to the shops and everyone was wrapped up so much and here’s me strolling down the avenue with  jacket open letting the lovely warm air circulate around me, it’s amazing how quickly you can acclimatize to new surroundings. But I was glad to be back in Suzhou because the air quality is better although not the greatest, it was a lot warmer than Harbin and I was also moving house. I’ve finally got away from the dreadful apartment I have been in for nearly 4 months and I have moved into a nice modern place. I feel human again. The first thing I did was to wash Harbin from my clothes. Everything I had taken with me had to be washed and including clothes that had only come in brief contact when I packed my case to move to the new place. But it also felt that I was washing away the smells and memories from the last miserable apartment. I am very lucky that I have been given the opportunity to look after a families second home in return for teaching English and of course to some of the sarcastic Australians that I know, yes you know who you are, Scottish English is way better and you know it 🙂

So it’s a new year and there are new opportunities and if they kick off I will let you know but for now I shall say ” ta ta fur noo as am starvin”