Harbin Snow and Ice Festival… Brrrrr!

We learned about Harbin’s International Snow and Ice Festival when we first moved to Shanghai. For the next few years we played the, “Hey, we should plan a trip to Harbin,” game with our friends, where we all excitedly talked about it, but never actually got around to planning anything. Knowing we were leaving China was just the incentive we needed to get a little more serious and we all booked the trip before Thanksgiving. It was a quick weekend getaway in late January, but that was really all the time we needed to explore this frozen city, and it’s impressive snow and ice parks.

The Harbin International Snow and Ice Festival is the largest event of its kind in the world. Sculptors come from all across the globe to create frozen masterpieces and participate in artistic competitions. The theme for this year’s festival was “Ice Snow Harbin, Charming China Dream.”On Saturday morning we strolled past the beautiful Saint Sophia cathedral near our hotel.Isla began making new friends almost instantly.These syrup-dipped fruit skewers were common street food and available for sale everywhere. So were ice cream bars. It seemed so strange to us to offer frozen treats in a below-freezing climate.Steaming sweet potatoes were also a readily available quick snack.Traveling with Don means you will be active. Map in hand and a spring in his step, he was a man on a mission, and he lead us on an epic day-long trek through the city, across a river to the snow sculpture park, and then on to the ice festival! “Hey Ty, bet you won’t lick that ice sculpture.”

“It tastes like exhaust.”

I love traveling with Ty.

Frozen… you can’t escape it… anywhere!

The Songhua River that runs through Harbin completely freezes during the winter. Being from a relatively mild spot in the Pacific Northwest, the concept of a massive, rushing body of water freezing absolutely blew my mind! Upon sharing my amazement with several Canadian friends I have since learned that rivers freezing is, “no big deal.” Well, I am still completely impressed and walking across the river remains one of the biggest highlights of our Harbin adventure for me.Sections of the river were partitioned off for a variety of unique and entertaining recreational activities, as you will see below…Adventurous parents take note: when traveling with an infant and stroller in China, make sure you bring along a few strong friends. You will need them.We are standing on a frozen river!!!These “ski-chair contraptions” had us all in stitches! We’ve never seen anything like them before. It seriously looks like they just found a bunch of old 1950’s classroom chairs and soldered them together.

Apparently stopping those ski-chair contraptions isn’t as easy as you would think!These ice bikes were a pretty ingenious invention as well.Carriage rides were offered across the river.This is Isla, moments before she lost her mind and decided to have a massive scream-fest as we crossed the river. So much fun. Not. Oh well, babies will fuss sometimes. Overall, Isla was such a trooper stuffed in that confining snowsuit all day in such unbelievably cold conditions. She really is an amazing little traveler!We managed to get Isla to fall asleep just before entering Sun Island, the snow sculpture park. Interesting name for a snow park, don’t you think? Anyhow, while Isla snoozed, we looked around a bit at the beautiful sculptures.The artwork was varied and truly impressive!The sculptures start as large snow cubes.

Noodle break! Isla was a much happier camper after an hour in a heated snack shop, some ramen noodles, and snuggles.Auntie Frannie graciously shared her ski mask with Isla, and while it was much too large for her, it really helped keep her warm and comfortable for the remainder of our outdoor adventures.Isla making more friends.It absolutely cracked us up that only her eyes were showing and everyone still wanted pictures of her!Random guy with harmonica walks by and Jane and Ty immediately break out into a jig.Love that little smirk!Isla learned to say Ty’s name on the trip!As the sun set we made our way out of Sun Island and moved on to Ice and Snow World to see the illuminated ice sculptures.All of these structures are made of ice! The impressive building-sized sculptures are all created from 2-3′ thick sheets of ice from the Songhua River and then brightly illuminated to create an absolutely enchanting environment.Frozen to the bone, we found a taxi and made our way back to the hotel. I can say with certainty that after our full day, we all felt like this…After a long and well-deserved sleep, we all rose late Sunday morning, had a quick breakfast, and then strolled along the pedestrian street near our hotel before heading to the airport.

Small ice sculptures lined the streets.Again, the ice cream bars were everywhere, so we decided to try one for ourselves. Not knowing what the flavors were, we just picked the white one, as it seemed to be the flavor of choice amongst the local people. We’re still not sure what it was, but had sort of a sour cheese aftertaste.Isla sure liked it though…Every few steps we’d hear her little voice pipe up from her stroller, “Bite?”We made lots of “bite” stops.Sausage on a stick, syrup covered fruit skewers, and small swimming pools of Coke were also popular snacks.While we are in no rush to experience those frigid temperatures again, we are so happy we had the opportunity to experience such a unique festival and share our frosty adventure with dear friends. As I was going through our photos the other night, Isla pointed to the screen and excitedly shouted, “Cold! Brrrrrr! Snow.” The trip clearly made an impression on her as well!