Thursday, 22 January 2009

Visiting America!

After a 13 and half hour flight, two hours of waiting in the airport (there was a mixup...apparently the interwebs said my flight was delayed...LIES!), and then two hours of driving....

I'm home!

I will be in America until February 7th. I/my parents are having an open house this Saturday if friends and family are in the area and wanna stop by.

Also, if you need to reach me while I'm in the US I'm using my dad's cell phone. I put the number on my facebook profile (don't wanna just post it on this public site). If we aren't friends on facebook and you wanna call me, leave me a comment/message.

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Harbin Video

Here is a video I made of my trip to Harbin.

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

Hey...stuff.

So I cannot continue my Harbin in pictures at the moment, nor can I post a knitting update. For some reason blogspot is being weird on my computer and keeps timing out when I try to upload pictures. Bah. Hopefully it will go away soon so I can finish showing all of you Harbin.

For the time being I am trying in a weird way to get over my jet lag before I leave. Since I've had trouble sleeping anyway and my flight back from Harbin was delayed (getting me back to my apartment at 2am) I figured why not? "Last night" I went to bed at 6am and today woke up at 3pm. Not a bad start.

I am currently drying my third load of laundry in a row. Then I shall start the packing extravaganza. I am not looking forward to the 13 hour flight, but I am really looking forward to seeing everyone. I hope I don't forget to bring anything...

Monday, 19 January 2009

My Trip to Harbin in Pictures: Part One!

So I figured for those of you who dislike my long text entries I would tell you about my trip in picture form.

Sooo...Day One!

I took the Maglev train at 6:45 am. Here you can see the top speed our train reached, 301km/h. We made it to the airport in 8 minutes.
My hotel in Harbin was right off of Center Street. It was a really nice place. You can see here my giant comfy bed, as well as a plate of wrapped up fruit. Tasty!
I headed out early on the second day. I walked down Center Street and took pictures of all the sculptures down the way. Here is an ice Venus de Milo.At the end of Center Street is the Flood Monument.
For no real reason I decided to walk across the Songhua River instead of taking a carriage. This picture is from about the middle of the river.
Across the river I went to Sun Island. Before going to the main event of the snow sculptures, I figured I would check out this little Russian style village. It was kind of dull, but prettyAfter that I went to see the snow sculptures. This is the gate I went through.
I got myself some frozen candied fruit like I promised Pete I would. Yum!
There were tons of snow sculptures both big and small, artistic and funny, complex and simple. I will put a link here to all my pictures, but for now I will just give you these two pictures. First, one of the santa the size of a mountain.
And second this BADASS skeleton riding what I can only assume is a hell beast.
For dinner that night I had some fried shrimp, some pork off the bone, a bowl of rice and a Harbin beer.Here are the links to the rest of the pictures from Sun Island, etc.
Harbin 2009
Harbin 2009: Sun Island
Harbin 2009: Sun Island II

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Harbin, the Second Post!

So I am still in Harbin for a short while more before my flight this evening. It's snowing outside so I really don't feel like wandering the streets. Plus I did everything and went everywhere I wanted.

I visited Center Street, the Flood Monument, the Songhua River, Sun Island, Snow and Ice World, Zhaolin Park, St. Sophia's Cathedral, The Temple of Heavenly Bliss, and an Ice Bar. There are three other tourist places in Harbin I can think of; the Tiger Park, Dragon Tower and the Germ Warfare Museum, but I went to those when I was here before.

So the day I made my last post, I got myself a big bowl of beef noodles for dinner and thought about Kellie. (You were with me in spirit!) With my belly full of warm noodles to fight against the cold, I hailed down a taxi and asked him to take me to the Snow and Ice World, the main ice event. When we first crossed the river and I saw the glowing ice structures raising up on the horizon, I was in shock. It really was unbelievable. The entrance gate alone was a massive ice wall.

The Snow and Ice World was sprawled out over a huge rolling landscape. I went in a sort of circle and made sure to see everything. At times in was frustrating because it felt like it was all too much. My eyes didn't feel big enough to see everything and I couldn't back up far enough from each sculpture to fit the whole thing in my camera frame. There were ice pagodas, a giant ice Harbin beer, and lots of ice duplicates of famous buildings. There was also a Bird's Nest (the Beijing Olympic Stadium) made of snow, and a snow Boddhivista. I made sure to go down one of the many ice slides (and my poor tush still hurts). I took a bunch of videos and pictures and cannot wait to post them.

There are a few drawbacks to traveling alone. Some things are just more fun with someone else. They had all sorts of stuff that you could do at the snow park, like sledding, snowmobiles, horse drawn carriages...things I just didn't feel like doing alone. Also, I like taking pictures of people, not just sights. And there was no one to take pictures of me! Luckily a couple asked me to take a picture of them, so I asked them to return the favor. I have one picture of me at the event I have been waiting for 4 years to go to. Bah. Ah well.

Eventually I saw the whole park and would have gladly walked around again but my poor footsies were freezing even with three layers of socks and fur lined boots. I had a fun cab ride back chatting with the driver.

Yesterday I went to St. Sophia's Cathedral, an underground mall and then the Harbin Buddhist temple (the temple of Heavenly Bliss). I really love temples. I think I have been in more temples in my life then churches.

Then my attentions went entirely towards finding an ice bar. It was the last thing I wanted to make sure I did while I was in Harbin. My research online led me to believe that the ice bar I was originally looking for was on Center Street. I walked up and down Center Street twice. No luck. I also heard there was an ice bar in the Harbin Shangri La Hotel. I found the address and headed off. Jackpot! The hotel had an "ice palace" restuarant and an ice bar.

I tried to have dinner at the ice palace. First of all I got weird looks from the waitresses when I assured them that yes, it was just me. Alone. The only food the offered at the palace was hot pot. I tried to order the cheapest set and they said you needed at least two people to get that one. They tried to sell me one that was twice as expensive. Frustrated, I left the palace and went to the bar. Another oppertunity when traveling with someone would have been helpful.

The bar was pretty cool. The bar counter, shelves, stools, tables and chairs were all made of ice. I am pretty sure it was colder in the bar then it was outside, which is hilarious. I got myself the two drinks I figured were essential to order. One Harbin beer and one shot of vodka. Vodka really does taste better when it is ice cold. The foam of my beer actually froze to the side of the glass. Ha.

I had been sitting for a short time when a woman sat next to me at the bar. What shocked me was that she was alone. Like me! I asked her where she was from and we got to talking. Karen is originally from Australia but lives in Hong Kong. We toasted our vodka and talked about visiting the Snow and Ice World. She was fun to talk to. We exchanged information and parted ways. I took a cab back to my hotel. The cab driver surprised me by saying "Welcome to Harbin!" in English. I laughed and thanked him in Chinese, which led to a conversation in Chinese. He asked me how to say all the tourist places in Harbin in English. He asked me when I was leaving and if I was going to take a taxi to the airport. When I said yes, he said he wanted to take me. I asked how much, he gave me the same price that I was charged from the airport. And since that driver charged me in front of a police officer (if you remember my last post) I figured it was the right price. I said sure and told him what time to meet me at the hotel. I'm guessing he either just thought I was interesting or wants me to teach him more English. Either is fine with me and now I don't need to worry about waiting for a driver.

Anyway, that's really all for now. I should be arriving in Shanghai around 11pm if my math is correct, which means I will probably be back in my apartment around midnight. Then it's time to post Harbin pictures and start packing for my visit home!

Expect a Harbin in pictures post soon!

Much love,
Stephanie

Friday, 16 January 2009

Harbin!

I am posting from a wangba (internet bar) in Harbin. Boy does this seem familiar. During my last two trips to China I spent many an hour in internet bars in Harbin.

I didn't bring my computer because I didn't want to deal with bringing in. Sadly I cannot show you any picture or video I have taken until I get back to Shanghai.

I should back up. So, on the 14th I woke up at the ungodly time of 5am. I had already cleaned my apartment and packed so all I had to do was go outside and find a cab. I took the first cab I found and asked him to go to the maglev station. The maglev is this super fast train that goes to the airport. I figured I would give it a try and save myself some time and money. The cab driver tried to get me to let him drive me all the way to the airport. When I insisted, he just kind of laughed. I had been in the taxi for about 5 minutes before I realized he hadn't started the meter. I was convinced for a moment that he was going to drive me all the way to the airport and then charge me some outrageous price. I wrote down his license number just in case. He did drive me to the maglev station and when it came time to pay he made a big show about how he forgot to start the meter. I gave hime 20kuai (what it costs to get me to Century Ave, about equal distance) and he just took it and left.

The maglev was pretty cool. It only took 8 minutes to get to the airport. The train got up to 301km/h. As my dad once joked, it did feel like the train spent the first part of the trip speeding up and the other half slowing down. Once at the airport I got checked in. I found "River Town" in a bookstore at the airport, so I bought it to read. Someone suggested it to me. It'll be the second book I read about Americans teaching English in China. The first was "Coming Home Crazy". When I got out of baggage claim, I looked for Yuki's father. My student had insisted on having her father pick me up at the airport, saying that a taxi driver might overcharge me. I waited about 20 minutes and then called my student. She had confused my flight information and thought I was going to be arriving at night. In the end I took a taxi.

I really like the hotel I'm staying at. I was really worried at first that it was going to be some super fancy, super expensive hotel. But it's perfect. Clean, neat. There was a plate of fruit waiting for me, filtered water, and a big comfy bed with a huge, warm comforter. Ahh. It's also a 5 minute walk from Center Street.

Yuki had a friend of her father's meet me at the hotel and take me out to lunch. He was a police officer, which was a little strange. I can now say I have been inside a Chinese cop car. He didn't speak any English and after being surrounded by Shanghai dialect for 5 months, I had trouble understanding his Chinese. Lunch was still pleasant though. We had some sweet taro, cucumber, pork off the bone, and garlic fish. And Harbin beer of course! After lunch Yuki called again and asked if she wanted me to find someone for me to "play with" tomorrow. Maybe a friend of her mother's? I told her that was very kind, but I was looking forward to exploring by myself. "Oh! So you want to play by yourself?" she asked. I told her yes. :-)

After getting back to the hotel, I was exhausted. It was only about 4pm, but I knew I couldn't really handle going out. I haven't been sleeping that well lately, but I don't know why. I figured I would take a nap. Instead I "slept" until about 7am. I say "slept" because I just remember constantly waking up and still not feeling rested when I called it quits and got up.

I bundled up and decided to go out and wander. I felt proud of myself finding Center Street (until I later found out the Center Street was super close and I had instead made a HUGE circle). I stopped in a few shops but didn't buy anything. Took some pictures. I got to the Songhua River. A bunch of people tried to sell me horse drawn carriage rides, but instead I decided to walk across the river. It was pretty cool. Very quiet.

On the other side of the river was Sun Island. I first stopped in a little Russian Style Village which was a waste of money. The buildings were kind of interesting but the place was deserted and the entire "village" was just shops. After that I went to see the snow sculptures. THAT was cool. There were some HUGE sculptures like this ginormous Santa Claus the size of a mountain. There were also smaller ones that were amazingly well carved/sculpted. I bought some candied fruit on a stick and wandered around taking pictures and enjoying the winter wonderland.

After exploring all of the Sun Island, I decided to take a cab back to the hotel. I couldn't feel my face anymore and I was pretty sore from walking for 6 hours straight. I took a nice hot shower at the hotel and bundled under the covers. Watched a little Chinese TV. I headed back out for dinner. I decided to go to the place down the street that I had gone to with the police officer. I had liked the food and there was a giant picture menu on the wall. I picked out two dishes, a bowl of rice and a bottle of beer and settled down. I had this fried shrimp on a stick thing and some more pork off the bone.

My plan was to go back to the hotel and make an early night of it. I wasn't really bundled up since I had just a short walk to the restaurant and I wasn't planning on staying out long. That changed when I walked out of the door and saw a glowing ice castle in the opposite direction. I figured "What the heck" even though I was wearing about half as many layers and it was twice as cold. It turned out to be a Disney Themed ice park. There were some amazing ice sculptures. They also had a giant ice pirate ship and Aladdin's palace. When I was just about finished wandering around the park, an announcement came on to say that the park was closing in 10 minutes. How is that for timing?

When I got back to the hotel I took another hot shower. My poor thighs were pink and numb. Did i mention Harbin is cold? How cold, you ask? When I breathed into my scarf, my glasses fogged up. The fog immediately froze. That's how cold Harbin is. My first night here it got to -17F...and that's not including wind chill. Today I am wearing three layers of socks, fur lined boots, two layers of thermals, snow pants, two layers of gloves, a hat, my hood, and a ski jacket. Yeah.

Today I "slept" in. I was hoping the physical exhaustion would help me sleep. No such luck. Ah well. Today my plan is to go to the Ice Bar, if I can find it. I am talking to Pete right now trying to find out where the big ice buildings are. I keep finding mixed information online. Ah well.

This may be my last post until I get back to Shanghai. Look forward to pictures! And send warm thoughts to Harbin!

-Stephanie

Monday, 12 January 2009

I Bought an Erhu!

I made a video about my new erhu.

I meant to just say "Hey look what I bought!" but I realized after I put the video up that it's sounds like I'm trying to be all educational. Oh well.

I also butcher "Twinkle twinkle little star", but considering I had bought it the day before, I think I'm allowed to suck.






Oh! Just for reference, this is what it sounds like when someone actually knows how to play an erhu.