A Christmas in Snowy Harbin China

The Christmas holiday in Harbin was special for us. Years ago I lived in the Jilin province and had the opportunity to visit Harbin in the Summer time, but I had never been there in the winter. Tracy and I talked about joining a tour group and traveling somewhere for the Christmas holiday. Awhile later, she suggested going to Harbin. I liked the idea. Being from New York, I am used to cold in the winter time; the thought of having a white Christmas really appealed to me. Well, we had plenty of snow and we also had – 20 degrees Celsius temperatures. Some highlights of the trip were the train ride, Volga Manor, The Big Ice Sculpture World, and more…

The Train Ride

There were 16 people on our team. We had a guide from Harbin China, so she was very familiar with the local culture. She spoke very standard Mandarin. We also had a local Hong Kong tour guide. Both did an excellent job. All of our travel, hotel, dinning and tour arrangements were taken care of. I highly recommend Big Line Tours. After our three hour plain ride to Dalian China, we stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel and took the high speed railway train the next day. At almost 300 kmp it is by far the fastest train we have ever been on. It was very different from the Auto Train that I took in the US last February when I was visiting my family in and friends.

Volga Manor is a Winter Wonderland

After arriving in Harbin, we rode a bus to Volga Manor resort village in the countryside. We set stuff down and went directly to a dining room for an evening performance and dinner. We were impressed with both music and the dancing. It was very lively. Oh, there was also a magician. After looking around at some of 30 Russian style buildings. The next day, we went on a winter wonderland adventure. The day before someone mentioned that we would be sledding. They said it would be short and fast. The whole process was very organized. We waited in line to sit down on circular tubes and race down the hill. It looked steep and to be honest, at first I was a little scarred. I wanted to film it but there was a sign that said no cameras or GoPro. As a last resort I pulled out my phone, but I didn’t have sufficient time to prepare. Instead of a video of the ride, I only captured a picture of my wife’s back pack with snow on it. Actually, I am pretty sure that snow is all you would have seen even if I was able to capture the video. We were moving fast and the snow was blowing. Thankfully one of our tour guides recorded a video of us from the bottom of the hill.

The Big Ice Sculpture World

I think The Big Ice Sculpture World was the most impressive part of the trip. Our guide told us that we could have 2 hours to walk around the ice sculptures. It was like a playground for kids and adults. It felt a bit like we had entered another world. Tracy was patient with me. I wanted to take pictures and video of everything, but there wasn’t enough time and my camera battery was almost dead.

Saint Sophia

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Harbin is really impressive. It was first built by the Russians in 1907, but now it is a museum. Lots of people come from all over to see Sophia Square and Saint Sophia. Tracy and I really enjoyed our visit.

5 Star Hotel Recommendations

We stayed in 2 five star hotels. The first was the Crown Plaza Hotel in Dalian. I think it was the biggest hotel room I have ever stayed in. If you have kids I can picture them loving the lay out of this hotel room. The other hotel was the JW Marriott . It was also very nice. Here’s a some pictures of the 2 hotels.

SongHua River

Dalian Tourist Spots

First I want to say thanks for making it this far. If you have been paying attention you know that Dalian came first in our tour. However, I decided to put it here at the end because it’s not as exciting as some of the previous videos.