The Real Harbin Part 2: It Takes a Village

Laura and I love two things above all else when we travel: food and getting off the beaten path. Naturally, if there is an opportunity to combine both we are all over it. Laura started working on the hotel manager the day we arrived and finally convinced him to take off work early and drive us to his family’s village for a huge dinner. It took about 40 minutes to get there (his brother drove) and our hosts were an older couple who were friends of the family. It was a semi-rural village; most people made a living through agriculture and local businesses. Needless to say, it was also freezing!!!

As usual in situations like this, the family cooked us a feast. In this case it involved slaughtering one of their geese and supplementing the main course with nine additional dishes. There was enough food to feed at least 20 people. Without going through every dish, I’ll just say I liked everything except the congealed fat squares. (Laura said it was just like gravy, but I thought it was more like when you drain the fat from meet and let it congeal with some cartilage and who knows what else inside, and then cut it into jello-like squares. Kinda gross – I preferred the pigs blood.) The fish on the other hand was exceptional, and the sweet and sour fried pork actually tasted similar to that in the states.

It is custom to put food on other people’s plates before eating yourself. Since we were the guests of honor, we were each presented with the best part of the goose – its foot. I learned that eating this properly involved putting the whole foot in your mouth and chewing off the “meat.” The leftover bones are then put on the table next to your plate.

Laura again was once again an expert translator. This time, I also managed to participate by helping teach the family some English phrases (cheers, bottoms-up) while amusing them with my newly learned Chinese phrases. At one point, I asked them to teach me a song and they sang a Chinese version of the “are you sleeping, are you sleeping…” song. I guess the Chinese aren’t huge singers though, when I tried to get everyone to do it in a round at the dinner table they just laughed at me and refilled my beer glass. (Better this than the home made wine I might add.)

We finally left – overly stuffed which probably wasn’t the best way to ride the night train. This morning we are back in Beijing and it is a balmy 30 degrees. I put on my jeans and thought for a minute I might have lost weight the last three days before I realized they just felt looser because I didn’t have ski socks and thermals on underneath. We also retired the Russian hats… sad  Now off to see some of the city before celebrating New Years later this evening.

Speak Chinese!

Dear Justin and Lilly (Laura’s Parents),

I’m learning Chinese!!! Your daughter is an excellent teacher. I admit I’m having a little trouble mastering the tones, especially the third one. The first time I tried to order a beer I apparently said, “I want leather feet.” Bathroom also took me a while to get down. I think I embarrassed Laura a little muttering it under my breath for about 20 minutes while we were on the tiger excursion. Anyway, the following is a list of Chinese words / phrases I have “mastered”

Hello
Thank you
Yes
Don’t want
I want
Beer
Bathroom
How much
Waiter
Check
I like
1, 2, 3
Dumpling
Very
Sorry

Looking forward to practicing next time I see you in DC!

Lisa

P.S. Of all the Chinese food I have eaten so far, yours is still the best

Oreos for Breakfast

Laura finds it hilarious that the Chinese consider our hotel a four-star hotel. It’s clean enough I suppose, and when we sleep with all layers on and the down jacket on top of our blanket we’re almost warm. However, we were awake from the hours of 3-4am on account of our toilet attempting to eat itself. We have a continental breakfast downstairs, yet this morning we ate Oreos in our room instead. Mmmmm…..

Signing off from the Reasurance Hotel (this is actually how it’s spelled). Third and last day in Harbin, third and hopefully last day in our ridiculous layered outfits. We both challenge anyone reading to a game of strip poker(in what you’re wearing now). We’re 100% sure we will win--and Laura has never even played poker before.

The Real Harbin Part 1: Dinner

In Ghana, taxis operated more like buses; as long as the taxi wasn’t full, the driver would stop and pick up other people going the same general direction. Harbin has a similar system. On our way to dinner the first night, a random guy hopped in the front seat next to the driver. From what I observed, it sounded like the random guy and the driver were arguing forcefully with each other and with Laura over where we were supposed to be going for dinner. I guess the Chinese language and tone of voice comes off sounding harsher than it sometimes is, because Laura was actually making friends with the driver and asking him for local cuisine recommendations. While we ate alone that night, he gave us his card and offered to take us to a local restaurant the following night.

We called him as we left the ice festival and picked him up in our cab on the way back to town. He took us about 20 minutes outside of the tourist district where we were staying and more into the heart of Harbin. I might not be as adventurous of an eater as Laura, but I do have a rule that I will try anything once. Ordering at the restaurant involved looking at samples of all the uncooked food and pointing to what we wanted before being escorted upstairs to a private room while the food was prepared. I left the ordering up to them, and they ordered a sample of local Northeastern cuisine: pickled cabbage with congealed pigs blood (similar consistency as tofu), a variety of mushrooms with quail egg, whole local freshwater fish cooked in some type of brown sauce, scallion pancakes and noodles and broth. I actually liked the fish; the rest was edible-–although I wasn’t a fan of the pigs blood.

Laura was an expert translator throughout the dinner. The topics of conversation ranged from politics to education, health care, economic development, and real estate. She gave me the evil eye when I asked her to translate adjustable rate mortgages but I was very impressed when she did. We learned a lot about the Northeast Chinese mentality--too much to ever put in the blog, so if you’re really interested, ask me sometime. One fun fact to include: Harbin has the largest beer consumption in all of China. No real surprise there since it’s too cold to do anything else for half the year. Hmm… Kinda like Wisconsin, just without the cheese :).

The Ice Festival: Sliding Through Siberia

Last night we went to the Ice Festival on the other side of the river just outside the city. I might have mentioned before that Harbin, in addition to lining the streets of the city with ice sculptures (including a working ice piano!), erects an entire ice city every winter. It takes hundreds of people moving tons of ice from the river one month to build. Until I have a chance to upload pictures, you’ll have to take our word that it is pretty incredible. The best way to describe it is probably comparing it to Disney World made completely out of snow and ice. However, instead of the different Disney buildings, there are replicas of famous Chinese monuments, cathedrals, buildings, and even the Great Wall. At night, it is all lit up in bright, (slightly tacky), flashing lights and it took us about two hours to wander through and see it all. Luckily, they also had various cafes and bars (also made of ice) set up where we could go in and thaw out a little every half hour or so.

With all of the snow, ice, and funny outfits, our five-year-old selves were out in full force. Although, let's be honest, it doesn't take much. In addition to plopping down to make some snow angels, one of my favorite parts was that almost all of the ice palaces had 30 to 200 foot slides down the walls. I initially insisted on going down every slide at least twice – but after about ten runs we realized that there were at over 50 slides in the park, and, it kinda hurt… a lot at times depending on how bumpy the ice was and how far you went flying on the ground when the slide ended. Only two minor collisions, one with a child and one with a camera man, to report. No real injuries other than a sore butt and elbow this morning.

Tiger Tales

We spent this morning (the 29th) at a Siberian Tiger Park just outside the city. The park is home to hundreds of tigers as well as lions, cheetahs, jaguars, and leopards. I was under the impression that we would actually be mingling with and petting the tigers. However, they kept us in a caged van the whole time – which I decided was a good thing after watching them in action. We also paid a little extra to get a live chicken to feed the tigers.
Lessons learned:

1. A chicken can only expect to stay alive for about .6 seconds in the presence of a tiger
2. Tigers will jump on moving vehicles to catch flying birds
3. The tigers only eat the meat of the chicken and leave the innards for the crows
4. It would have been much cooler if we pooled our money with the rest of the people in our van to purchase a sheep or cow instead of a chicken

… to almost Russia

Harbin is the closest major city to Russia. So naturally, we decided that we should try to go to Russia. I listened to Laura go back and forth with the hotel receptionist for ten minutes about how far and the different routes to get to Russia. At one point both were drawing chicken-shaped maps of China before Laura insisted he get on the internet to look up the route (he had placed Beijing about 500 miles south of where it should be). Ultimately the trip was vetoed for the following reasons:

1. The 2-3 hour train ride that we had anticipated ended up being 6-8.
2. We proposed renting a car but there was lack of clarity over whether two Americans could take a rented Chinese vehicle into Russia.
3. We were told that though I would be safe, the Russians would attack Laura on account of her looking Asian. “Not safe for Asians.”
4. Harbin was once under Russian rule and is known in China as the "Oriental St. Petersburg. The street next to our hotel is home to numerous Russian coffee shops, bars, and stores, thus no need to adventure to the actual country this time around.

Through the wasteland…

After 4.5 hours of sleep in Laura’s studio apartment, this morning (the 28th) we trekked over to the train station to board an 8-hour train to Harbin. I can’t say I feel guilty for sleeping through a decent chunk of the ride since the view for most of the 8 hours was the same – frozen Chinese tundra with a few houses interspersed here and there. (I’d insert a picture but the censored version of this website won’t let me)

Just when you leave Wisconsin and think it can’t get much colder, you get off the train in Harbin. It is the 10th largest city in China with a population of 4.5m people. I’m still trying to figure out why so many people willingly put up with the -30 degree weather. Survival tips I learned today:

1. Don’t go anywhere without Laura, or someone who you trust who is fluent in both Chinese and English. I have never felt so illiterate or helpless in all of my traveling
2. Wear a thermal layer at all times. Uggs and obnoxious Russian fur hats, purchased this afternoon, are also very helpful

• Note 1: Thermals are not very comfortable with tight fitting jeans.
• Note 2: Wearing more than four layers on top is almost enough to stay warm but seriously hinders upper body movement

Beijing - First Impressions

I’m in China!!! After 24+ hours of travel (not including checking into a not-so-quality Quality Inn for 4.5 hours on Christmas night to ensure I would make my 6:30am flight given the shitty WI weather conditions) I landed in Beijing at 6:00pm local time, 5am body time. I have to admit I was more excited to see Laura (who was patiently waiting for me in the mob of Chinese people outside of customs) than to be in China. Our first order of business, of course, was to get a ridiculously large meal at a delicious restaurant downtown. Second order of business was a trip to Laura’s office (Clinton Foundation) to pick some things up. Hmm – sounds like a typical night for us in NY.

Unfortunately, I have nothing too exciting on the China front to report after only four hours. I was surprised I didn’t see more of a skyline coming into the city. Apparently, there are two reasons for this. 1) Laura compared the topography of Beijing to LA (as opposed to Shanghai which is more like NY). 2) The pollution is every bit as bad as you hear it is – it’s like a perpetual fog hanging over the city.

List of things Laura warned me about (e.g. China-land annoyances)
1. The bathrooms are disgusting
2. Smoking is allowed in restaurants and bars and the pollution is terrible – translation, my cough will likely return in full force
3. Tacky decorations are everywhere (picture gold aluminum foil draped haphazardly over the front desk of her apartment building)
4. Impossibly strict rules and institutionalized corruption (this comes from Laura's friend Matt who is standing over my shoulder as I write this)
5. This blog (among MANY other websites) is actually censored (Laura says that the New York Times went down for three days last week, presumably because there was a negative article on China), but luckily Matt knew how to proxy around it - still can't insert links properly though so sorry for below

Tomorrow we leave for Harbin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin which supposedly is home to a city made of ice that is carved every winter. I’m a little skeptical about taking an eight-hour train to visit a city that averages -30 degrees but maybe I will meet the snow queen or something (I’m picturing a very Narnia-esque place… we’ll see tomorrow) http://2eblog.com/images/harbin/JPEG/harbin-1.jpg http://chinatour.net/images/tour/Harbin/ice.jpg