have you been to harbin?

this past weekend i took a trip up to harbin, the capital of heilongjiang province, as far northeast as you can get before hitting russia. our more loyal readers may remember durrell took a trip there last winter, which is actually peak tourist season, but also cold as hell, apparently.

old town harbin

i went to visit my friend charles, and our mutual friend chiann, currently studying in beijing, came along with me. after a week of trying, and failing, to buy train tickets, we finally buckled under and took a flight on friday night up to harbin. my greatest hopes were realized when i felt a cool blast of air upon stepping on to the jetway. we're talking below 20 degrees here! it never got cold enough for me to wear my sweatshirt, but, man, what a break from beijing.

down by the docks

our spirits were also boosted by the presence of a shuttle bus into the city, which we figured wouldn't be around at midnight. unfortunately, when we reached what i thought (correctly, it turned out) was our stop, a kindly man sitting next to us told us that he was certain that was not actually the university. since i could barely understand the bus driver's accent, we stayed on the bus, only to find ourselves at the last stop. fortunately, harbin taxi drivers still have a certain carelessness that beijing drivers have lost in all the heavy traffic, and after a short trip careening through empty streets we arrived at my friend's school. the next morning, the sight of crystal clear blue skies and white puffy clouds through the window actually made me shout "holy shit!" (chiann had a similar reaction in the next room). we both vowed to breathe as much as possible during the next two days.

glorious blue skies

harbin's a fairly interesting city, probably fewer westerners than hangzhou, but i think my impression of the place was greatly enhanced by the clear air and great weather (high 20s, dry as a bone). on saturday we toured around, had some authentic dongbei food in a cool unrestored part of town, walked along the river, went to the jewish museum and saw the famous orthodox church. that night and sunday was a lot of taking it easy, what i've needed after several far too active weekends.

classic dongbei food. after gnawing on the bones, you were supposed to suck the marrow out with a straw. i was not a huge fan of that

on sunday morning we went to the park to "teach" some little kids english, something that charles has been doing for the past several weeks. however, these kids were between 2 and 3 years old, so there wasn't a lot of actual teaching going on, more like bribing them to say one word or sing along to a song with brightly colored stickers. the most rewarding part for me, actually, was meeting this young iranian couple who are friends with charles and came along to teach the kids. the husband is earning his phd in physics at the university, and they both despair about having to spend another three years in harbin. when i learned they were coming to beijing, i told them i knew a good iranian restaurant, and i don't think i've seen anybody look happier. that night they invited us over to their door room for dinner, which i have to say was quite good, and they told us jokes based on iranian stereotypes that honestly weren't all that funny in translation.

endless entertainment down by the river

all in all, the trip to harbin really sort of re-solidified how enjoyable it can be to live in china. beijing can be a drag (i had no idea how much the pollution really gets me down), and the nature of the city means that it's really hard to interact in any meaningful way with regular chinese people. i had a long talk with charles about all of this, and it takes a bit more to explain than i will here, but basically i really need to take more trips like this one, is what i've decided. get the hell out of dodge, as it were.

charles teaching the interminable mao mao (in purple)

speaking of a five ring circus, the olympic spirit is here, and hopefully i'll get a post up about it all soon. the spirit is truly infectious, especially when you land sweet tickets to iceland vs. denmark international team handball.

the sofia church