Bei Bei Hotel

Layering

by walterwu

Bring the minimum and buy from local hypermart (Wal-Mart, Carrefour) and many supermart (Pai Lian, Parkson, etc). Best to wear clothing in layers. Start off with a woolen long-john, polyester shirt, fleece sweater and a jacket. Upper Torso are usually alright in this weather. A good jacket can be purchased at Wal-Mart for about 135 RMB. Good layering allows you to take-out/remove some clothing to suit indoor and outdoor temperatures. My wife only had a pair of long-johns, sweater and cashmere coat on the first night there and no problem with that. The main photo shows my son with down jacket unzipped after 3 hours at Harbin Ice Sculpture. I would not encourage anyone to attempt to do similar.

The main body area where it is affected by the cold is the face (when the wind blows) and fingers.

Keep a scarf and a pair of glove, hat handy. Temperature can change rapidly. In the Morning, we had alot on and by noon, it was without hat, scarf, gloves.

Get a good pair of walking shoes (35 RMB) and a woolen shoes' insole (1.99 RMB) at Wal-Mart. The air quality is bad and having a cloth mask for the nose and mouth may be a good idea. Batteries drains fast in this cold weather. Always keeps the photo/video equipment close to your body to keep it warm. Camera metallic body tends to retain the cold. Bring along spare batteries.

My camcorder fully charged battery only lasted 3 hours (intermittent usage) at the Ice Sculpture compared to days/weeks in normal temperature of 15 degrees and above.

Harbin Beer and Sausages

by RoseAmano

Harbin Beer is the liquor of choice here manufactured since 1900, and apparently large quantities are consumed as Harbiners are said to be the 3rd largest per capita consumers of beer after Munich and Moscow, etc.

Sausages are another local specialty, the main variety is one with round globules of fat interspersed, and for those who like to reduce fat intake, another version without.

Other random local food we ate are illustrated here.

Heilongjiang Botanical Gardens

by John195123

Late October isn't the best time to visit a botanical garden, many would say. Most of the leaves have dropped, the few that remain, despite their best efforts, do little to cover up the surrounding city.

A large complex, the Heilongjiang Botanical Gardens offer a desireable escape from the city, much welcomed after the chaos that is everyday life for many.

Get your wedding portraits taken in a magical world of trees, often uncommon in such great numbers in cities, of course... or in front of the castle-like structure... the pink castle-like structure. Maybe you can get married in there too.

Water plays a big part in a section of the gardens, and you can rent paddle boats or cross the ponds on chains susupended above the water. It's not that deep (there is very little water in the fall and winter) and only a few feet deep in the summer).

Not just as a tourist site, but as a place to get away from the city without ever leaving, it's peaceful and quiet. They have food vendors and bathrooms, but they seemed to be closed for the season.

Harbin

by Bob_Shan

"The Northern most metropolitian of China"

Yet the 2nd largest city in "the 3 Northern provinces", Harbin is remain less developed city comparing to many of China's 2nd tier cities.

Urban planning is random, commercial society dominated by mom&pop business, lots of faked products

A Tribute to Yuan Xincheng

by THLIN

"HIT!"

HIT is one of the best university in Mainland China! One of greatest statesman Sun YunHsuan was graduated from HIT.In the campus, you can see many beautiful buildings.
A special THANK to Yuan Xincheng, who showed me around HIT and thanks for giving me some ideas of college studend over the Taiwan strait.

"Mao Zedong"

and me at HIT