Sophia Cathedral in Harbin (哈尔滨) Sophia Cathedral in Harbin (哈尔滨) Holiday to Harbin
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!

Holiday to Harbin
The morning started as every morning should start – with an ice cream! As you can see – no melting problems here.

Holiday to Harbin
Some car spotting – I didn’t recognise this Honda.

Holiday to Harbin
Hehe – “Fanny Photo!”

Holiday to Harbin
Me chilling outside the Sofia cathedral.

Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin
It’s a great building.

Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin
Inside I snapped some HDR images that turned out rather well.

Sophia Cathedral in Harbin (哈尔滨)
Nice details.

Sophia Cathedral in Harbin (哈尔滨)
Looking up at the ceiling.

Sophia Cathedral in Harbin (哈尔滨)
I just love the tones in these shots.

Holiday to Harbin
Along the streets there were plenty of ice sculptures. Here’s a guy doing his thing.

Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin Train lines in Harbin (哈尔滨)
Lots of varied scenery.

Holiday to Harbin
I imagine riding a bike is a little tricky with all the ice. Must keep you warm though.

Holiday to Harbin
We ended up going to check out a Buddhist temple.

Holiday to Harbin
Inside the temple.

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin
It’s easy to forget this symbol’s origins.

Harbin  哈尔滨

Holiday to Harbin
Here’s a panorama of the main square. Click to make bigger.

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin
There wasn’t a war. These are actually fireworks launchers, used at weddings, etc. China loves their fireworks.

Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin
Due to how far north the city is, the sun hangs low in the air for a long time. Great for photographers.

Frozen river in Harbin (哈尔滨)
This ‘field’ of snow is actually a frozen river.

Holiday to Harbin
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.

Holiday to Harbin
Some cool sculptures though.

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin
Here’s me next to a giant sculpture.

Holiday to Harbin
After the snow sculpture park we took a taxi back to the main city to check out another park.

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin

Colours
Some pretty things around the park.

Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin
This reminded me of the Walsall illuminations in the arboretum.

Dance performance in Harbin (哈尔滨)
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.

Violin performance in Harbin (哈尔滨) Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin
This violinist was very talented.

Holiday to Harbin
As was this saxist. (My dictionary is telling me ‘saxist’ isn’t a word. Pfft.)

Dance performance in Harbin (哈尔滨)
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.

Dance performance in Harbin (哈尔滨)

Dance performance in Harbin (哈尔滨)

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin

Dance performance in Harbin (哈尔滨) Holiday to Harbin Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin
Back outside for more photos of the park.

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin

Holiday to Harbin
Two of the great things about the north-east. The BBQ…

Holiday to Harbin
…and the beer.

Holiday to Harbin
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.

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4 Comments to “Harbin Holiday (哈尔滨) – Part 3”  

  1. 1 james

    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.

  2. 2 Daniel

    I really like these photos! Especially the Cathedral. Also, I want a “firework” launcher that shoots rockets that big 😀

  3. 3 gun safes

    Ok I am using a RSS feed thingy on windows 7 but how can I get your feed? When I click on the RSS icon thing I get only like halfe articles, I can’t read that on my desktop. I would have to go to your site every single time!

  4. 4 clipless pedals

    What service do you use for RSS feed? Is it feedburner? I ask because I cant figure out how to install a RSS service on my Blogger blog. I wouldn’t get any of that techy stuff if my life would depent on it :s So if you use a RSS feed service please let me know. Thanks! Jen

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