Following on from Part 1 and Part 2, here’s Part 3 of my holiday to Harbin. This final installment covers a visit to the Sofia Cathedral as well as the snow sculpture park. Enjoy!
The morning started as every morning should start – with an ice cream! As you can see – no melting problems here.
Some car spotting – I didn’t recognise this Honda.
Me chilling outside the Sofia cathedral.
Inside I snapped some HDR images that turned out rather well.
I just love the tones in these shots.
Along the streets there were plenty of ice sculptures. Here’s a guy doing his thing.
I imagine riding a bike is a little tricky with all the ice. Must keep you warm though.
We ended up going to check out a Buddhist temple.
It’s easy to forget this symbol’s origins.
Here’s a panorama of the main square. Click to make bigger.
There wasn’t a war. These are actually fireworks launchers, used at weddings, etc. China loves their fireworks.
Due to how far north the city is, the sun hangs low in the air for a long time. Great for photographers.
This ‘field’ of snow is actually a frozen river.
In the evening we headed to a snow sculpture park. Unlike the night before though, this park is most definitely better in the day. Not all the sculptures were lit, and those that were weren’t lit very well. Lesson learned. One advantage was we had the entire place to ourselves. Walking around the rather large park on the bank of the frozen lake was cold though. This was probably the coldest night of the holiday and thus the coldest I’ve ever been in my life. It was physically painful.
Here’s me next to a giant sculpture.
After the snow sculpture park we took a taxi back to the main city to check out another park.
Some pretty things around the park.
This reminded me of the Walsall illuminations in the arboretum.
We then went inside a hut in the park which had all sorts of performances going on. Musicians, jugglers, etc. It was a while before I could take out my camera (condensation, etc) but when I did, I got some interesting pics.
This violinist was very talented.
As was this saxist. (My dictionary is telling me ‘saxist’ isn’t a word. Pfft.)
However, the piére de restistance of the show was a dance show consisting of two dancers acting as robots interacting with the lasers. It was great to watch, I made a little video, I’ll try get it up soon.
Back outside for more photos of the park.
Two of the great things about the north-east. The BBQ…
Some drama in our holiday. If you look at the above pic you’ll see some blood drops on the floor. While we were in the BBQ restaurant a brawl broke out. It was quite surreal. Different to western bar-fights. The two parties envolved were throwing glass bottles at each other, one guy getting hit in the side of the neck (who’s blood is pictured.) They were running all around the restaurant throwing things at each other, chasing each other, and punching the opposing parties’ girlfriends as they ran past them. It was surreal, and really got my adrenaline going. The cops showed up pretty quickly, but the fighters had all left. Judging by the one guys neck, they’d gone to a hospital so probably got caught fairly quickly.
And that was the end of the short but fun holiday. As usual, for more pics (especially a lot more of the snow sculptures) check out the flickr set here.
See ya’ll soon, thanks for reading.
Man what is the deal with Dongbei people and the fighting! I saw my fair share while I was there too. It’s a bit of a paradox cause they’re far more friendly and conversational than the folks I face down south.
I really like these photos! Especially the Cathedral. Also, I want a “firework” launcher that shoots rockets that big 😀
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