Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I've not been getting much time to write these, so I have a bit to catch up on with this one. The last post left off at my last night in Singapore - before waking up at 5 to make sure I caught my plane to Beijing.


An A380 at Singapore - one of three I saw that morning. Not for me, I got a 777-300ER.

Not much to report about the flight - I was seated in a pseudo-exit row at the front of a section. Good leg room but no power in the seats, so I couldn't write anything. This flight is shorter than ADL-SIN (somewhere between 5 and 6 hours) so a Straits Times and a nap were sufficient entertainment.

For readers who have been to Changi Airport, Beijing Capital T3 is a lot like it in terms of scale, except the huge voids are full of people and desks (Changi has an enormous empty room just before immigration, perhaps inspired by the enormous empty squares of grass near MRT stations). Another major difference is that it's in Beijing, which this time of year means the view out the windows is cold and bleak. Because of the haze, you can't see beyond concrete in any direction (but on the other hand, there is a lot of concrete - landing there is usually followed by half an hour meandering around on it). After going through immigration, which was straightforward, I had about four hours until my flight on to Harbin. The flight on was with Air China, which appears to be the only airline flying domestic out of T3. This was good, because T2 is a less interesting place to be and a longish bus ride away. Found a decent place to eat, but couldn't find a wireless network I was able to use for internet access. Also found that my phone credit from my last trip had expired.


My Air China B737 in a bleak Beijing winter.

The Air China flight was good. I think I've flown with enough Chinese airlines now to say they are all up to the standard of modern Western airlines, at least from what a passenger can see - except here, you almost always get a proper meal on a domestic flight, even the hour and a half hop to Harbin. The airport in Harbin is small and, at the time, was quite dirty, probably from people traipsing dirty snow inside. There was a bit of a miscommunication with one of my friends - I thought he would be waiting for me there. Fortunately I was able to get in touch with him (the police here are friendly and usually happy to help in a situation like that - they let me use their phone), and found he wanted me to take the airport bus. It took some time to get into the city, on the icy road, but when I did Edison was waiting for me. Along the journey there were was snow everywhere - it was dark, but I could see it when there were lit-up ice sculptures, of which there were a few.

Edison helped me check in, and then we went to get something to warm ourselves up (my second-biggest jacket wasn't big enough). We went to KFC, the only thing open at close to midnight, and he ordered us each a bowl of vegetable soup. KFC here has a much better range of products, and does the standard things better, than in Australia or the US. After that, we went off to bed (me to the hotel, him to his university dormitory).


The next day - the Flood Control Monument at the Songhua river bank.

I got up in the morning to meet with another Harbin friend, Crystal, who had the morning free and offered to show me around. This was the first time I'd ever walked around a city, in the morning, in snow, and Harbin is definitely the place to do it. In summer, Harbin was a nice place, but in winter it's stunning. Walking along Central Street, from the Flood Control Monument by the frozen Songhua river, down to Saint Sophia Church, there was snow and activity everywhere. When you read about Harbin, these are the pictures you see - ice sculptures, candied haws on sticks, old Russian-style buildings covered in snow - and I finally had a chance to see it in person. It is a wonderful place in winter and I would reccommend it to anyone, just as much as I would the Great Wall, Nanjing or West Lake in Hangzhou.


An ice maze in the middle of Central Street

After our walk, Crystal (an architecture student at HIT) wanted to show me the building she studys in, one of the big, well-known HIT buildings based on the University of Moscow (and, in the snow, it looks exactly like what I would expect the University of Moscow to look like). Inside it was being renovated, but she took me through to her office, and was kind enough to let me use her computer to get in touch with people back home. She also showed me some of her work, and I showed her some of my photos from home. After a while, Peter and Edison arrived, and I had to leave Crystal to get some work done.

The three of us went back to Central Street, and had a look in some shops. Harbin souvenirs mostly draw on the Russian influence there - Russian dolls, Soviet memerobilia, and the like. Unfortunately we hurried on to dinner and I didn't get a chance to buy anything - I really should have spent another day. Dinner was at a Russian-style restaurant, with "red soup" (tomato-based, with other veggies), served with bread and very creamy butter, lamb and beef hotpot dishes, fish, chicken, potato salad, and of course, huge bottles of Harbin beer (another thing Harbin is well-known for in China). This warmed us up well for the Ice and Snow World.

Edison, unfortunately, had to leave us (he couldn't cope with the cold), but Peter and I headed off in a taxi. The Ice and Snow World is the main repository for ice sculptures here during winter, and appears to be entirely on the Songhua river, including temporary roads and carparks, which are all set up by early January and remain until the ice thins. It's not cheap as Chinese attractions go (200 RMB, and Peter said people usually only spend up to an hour and a half there at a time because of the cold), but it's definitely worth it. The main gate is made of ice, and upon entering you are greeted with a menagerie of ice sculptures filled with coloured flourescent lights, of things from the Coloseum, the Merlion (carved by Singaporeans), to a giant bottle of Harbin beer. You can slide down ice, ride bikes on ice (with a steerable ski instead of a front wheel), drive quad bikes on snow, ride a horse-drawn carriage through the park, and after all that, go into a heated tent to recover with a hot drink. Because of the wind on the flat river, and all the surrounding ice, it is noticably colder than in the city, according to Peter it was probably well below -30C by the time we left. I was about as well dressed as I possibly could have been - though my hands still suffered through gloves. My camera (the batteries specifically) didn't cope with the cold so I don't have photos (Peter took a lot and will send them to me soon), but here is one from in the warm tent (notice the condensation):



So, I finally had a chance to experience winter in Harbin. I hope I can go back, earlier in the winter, to experience it again. Most of the ice buildings were roped off for safety reasons - the day before had been quite hot (almost 0!) and some of them had melted slightly. Which is the way they all go in the end - the whole thing is allowed to melt in spring, and the lights are recovered from the riverbed.

A Day in Singapore

Currently in Harbin writing this. However, writing it from the perspective of last night, because I would've written it then, but didn't have the chance.

Automatically got up before 7 this morning, which set my whole day askew, having been up well past midnight the night before (and having little sleep the night before that). Decided to go with it anyway, got myself ready, and went out. Had a breakfast of mee goreng at a Malay place near the hotel, then set off on the MRT.


Jurong East MRT
It's a bit over half an hour to the Jurong East station, and then a bit of a walk to get to the science centre. Once I got there, I was very pleasantly surprised to see a giant balloon advertising Body Works by Gunther von Hagen. I'd thought this was what was showing in Clarke Quay, but apparently that was a knockoff (which explained Winnie's dissapointment). On entering the building I was greeted by a dinosaur. Admission was $20 for just that show, or $21 for that and the science centre, so I went with both.


Greeter at the Singapore Science Centre
The science centre was definitely worth the dollar. It was for kids, of course, but some of the displays were really good. They had a whole section dedicated to mathematics, which was pretty impressive in itself. There was a quantum mechanics section as well, which was very well done. And like all good science centres, there was a massive Tesla coil giving regular performances (ending with another science show favourite, hydrogen balloons).

On to Body Works. This was informative, interesting, impressive and a bit creepy. Not only are there posed bodies, with parts removed to reveal the inner workings, there are displays of organs in different states of health, some animals (a giraffe!), bodily systems separated (the models of the circulatory system are amazing), and an incredible "exploded model" with all parts separated out so you can see how everything fits together. There were also posters explaining the process used to create them (plastination) and some of the diseases and processes shown. No photographs, and it's not for everyone, but I would reccommend it to anyone with an inquiring mind. It's clear how useful these are as teaching tools.

With my morning and a small slice of afternoon taken care of, I headed to Raffles Place to see another reccommended place of interest, the Asian Civilisations Museum. I was surprised however, leaving the MRT station, to discover an Imperial Star Destroyer under construction.


Imperial Shipyards at Singapore
Clearly Singapore was to be at the centre of the new Galactic Empire, so this was even more motivation to learn more about the history of the region. The museum was a short walk along the river from the station. Inside were some fascinating exhibits covering the kingdoms and empires from Indonesia to Turkey and everywhere in between. There was a special display of precious gems from the Mughal empire (of medieval India, and the source of the English word "mogul") and a very informative gallery on the Islamic world.

Observant readers may have noticed no lunch included in what I did today. I did snack through the day, but not much, and so by the time I met Winnie for dinner, I could've eaten a plastinated horse. Fortunately I didn't have to, as we went to the Arab area for dinner (there is a well-known Arab Street, but it appears to be full of carpet shops, and the surrounding streets are the ones with food). After dinner we had a walk around the area, and I was a bit surprised to see how popular hookahs are here. We walked along to Bugis, and had a look at some interesting architecture. There is a striking building designed such that at certain angles it looks like a flat plane. None of my night photos turned out well, so here is one of it from far away I took earlier today.



After a close inspection of this unsettling building, I had to see Winnie off, and get back to my room as well. I would have to get up at 5 the next day, for almost a full day of travelling.

First night away

Finally left Adelaide today. Have been anticipating this trip for months - much was prepared to support my Chinese scholarship application. Said many goodbyes in the past few days - will not be returning until July. Currently feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, but not enough to stop me having fun, or as much as one can have in Singapore after exhausting all the classic tourist activities (Night Safari, Jurong Bird Park, and so on, all excellent).

Had a pleasant (7-hour) flight here on Singapore Airlines. Not much to say - excellent service as usual. Despite leaving a bit after 1pm and arriving a bit after 5pm (local time), you get two meals on this flight, which is nothing unusual, but the second was noteworthy for the oddly-shaped pie:

It was quite nice, if a bit difficult to handle, and a great excuse to make the first image of my entire trip one of food.

The strangest thing for me about arriving in Singapore this time was that it didn't feel like another country. It's not hard to imagine yourself in bizarro Brisbane instead of southeast Asia when taking the taxi from the airport - the most noticable difference is the font used for road signs. This has probably come about because of the mixing of cultures here from all over Asia, together with the British - were I from Shanghai, or Colombo, or San Francisco, I would probably have the same feeling here.

The hotel I'm staying at is in a convenient location, near the Paya Lebar MRT (a train station). It would be possible to take the MRT to the airport when I leave (should be at the airport at 6:15am), which is purely academic as I will be taking a taxi for convenience, but is rare in a cheap Singapore hotel. The area is not flashy, but that's a good thing - plenty of cheap food and interesting things to look at nearby.

Met a good friend, Winnie, after getting settled into my room, and had dinner in the more central Bugis area. She advised against my plan of seeing the Body Show, an anatomical exhibition, after going herself and being disappointed ("They said they had 500 bodies! Not even 100 there!"). Despite this, I had nothing else to do tonight (and she had to go home to Malaysia) so I decided to go anyway.

Winnie showed me on a map where to find it. However, my search was fruitless. I walked around most of Clarke Quay, which was full of interesting restaurants (Mongolian?), but saw nothing of the show. I was probably looking in the wrong area, but no matter - walking along the quay is nice. Not enthusiastic about cooling myself down in one of the pubs full of loud expats, I bought myself a Milo Dinosaur (milk, ice, and more Milo powder than can possibly dissolve in the milk, leaving a mountain of powder on top) and headed back to the hotel.

My battery and prepaid time on the hotel wireless is running low. Tomorrow I plan on visiting the Science Centre, which Winnie suggested is a good place to spend half a day, with air conditioning (and a better collection of bodies). I have many more photos to share (mostly not of food), but those will have to wait, probably until I arrive in Harbin. I won't be able to recharge my laptop until then as I have no adapters for the power sockets here - fortunately Australian plugs are broadly compatible with Chinese sockets (and universal sockets are common in China).