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Wednesday, 20 January 2016

Harbin Part 1: Journey From Changchun To Harbin

We left Changchun early in the morning to embarked on the last leg of our wintry journey in Northeast China. We knew the temperature was going to drop further in Harbin but inspite of this, excitement filled the air as Harbin was after all, our ultimate destination. 
Cruising through miles and miles of snow covered farms and fields we saw neither life nor activity. Apparently people have scrambled indoor to seek shelter and warmth.
Sitting on the side of the bus which faced the rising sun, the landscape appeared somber as I tend to see only dark silhouettes of houses and barren trees.
Though somber the panorama was not devoid of charm.
Though lifeless it was not less bewitching.



Harbin At Last
Finally there was life. A feeling of elation overcame us as we reached Harbin. We have traversed a big part of the globe mainly to visit this city to see what is is most famed for.
Harbin (pronounced as Ha-erh-pin) is the northernmost major city in China. It is also the coldest major city in China beating cities with similar latitude as it is subject to extreme cold winds from Siberia.
I was surprised to learn that Harbin was first founded and developed by the Russians.
Russian influence is still evident in the architectural style of buildings found here. Many signage spotted are still in the Russian language.

Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province is densely populated and traffic jam looked like a norm in everyday living.
Seeing an architecture like this who would have guessed this is a Chinese city? Harbin in this sense is not very 'Chinese' and this is what makes it unique.

Posted by Lily... at 22:07
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2 comments :

stafery said...

May I know how long does it take to travel from Changchun to Harbin?

27 July 2017 at 09:56
Lily... said...

It's about 280km. Approx 6 hours by bus.

27 July 2017 at 11:21

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