Now, so far I've seen the buildings made out of ice and the park that has the 'Disneyland' and ice sculptures, but I had not found where the snow sculptures are, and I've seen news reports about the sculptures on the internet and via an email from Mum.
Today I finally found them. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
Feeling bolder after yesterday's success, I caught the bus like an old pro into town and got off near the park with the Disney stuff, much like yesterday. I made my way to the Flood Control Monument and once there, was rewarded with a expansive view of the frozen river, with ice skating, dog sledding, horse and buggies a better view of the ice slides from the night before. On the right you had the railway bridge in the distance and on the left you have the Cable Car that takes you over the river, and much further along you have the traffic bridge.
My main aim was to just enjoy the sights and make my way to the Cable Car, which got much bigger the closer I got. Close by, a man was digging a hole in the ice and pulling out a bucket of water to give to the horses. A little further along kids were pedalling some sort of reverse tricycle on the ice, with a couple of poor, bored looking dogs having a rest, still hooked up to a sled. In the distance on the river there was horse drawn buggies, cars and a few people just walking across the frozen expanse to the other side.
Eventually, I came to the main building of the cable car, climbed up, paid the ticket and boarded. Just me in the cabin, which was good, as I was being very careful moving about the cabin trying to put my camera through a few little open windows, while desperate not to rock it too much.
Rising, the first thing to catch my eye was the docks, with boats tied up along side and frozen in place by the ice. It looked like most of the boats there were either ferries or touristy ones, the more industrial ones must have been elsewhere, or headed south for the winter.
Still not even to the first tower, I could get a really good view of the ice festival activities on the river and the city itself behind me. People are being reduced to ants, or nothing at all and the sun makes it easier to pick out where the snow has been cleared off the ice to allow skating, or the like.
First tower, the dread sets in as you go click clack over the wheels holding the cable in place. It's bloody high and the next tower is barely in view.
Looking up river, I can barely make out the traffic bridge, but looking that way it's really quite pretty. The sun is directly that way, and the ever present ice haze diffuses the light everywhere, while reducing how far you can see. The river itself is covered with little tracks everywhere as people have recently walked across it and left fresh prints in the snow. My picture of this scene is one of my favourites so far.
I can make out the other side of the river now and I see it, a massive snow sculpture in the distance that tells me I am on the right track for the rest of the snow sculptures. I pass the second tower, and it's all down from here.
I don't know if it was being so high, the open windows or the fact it was just plain cold, but my brain was only half working, and the commentary for a video I shot up there came off sounding rather stupid. Ah well.
Safely getting off the cable car, I was on Sun Island, which seems to be the main recreational park for tourists and locals alike, especially in the summer time, looking at the various promotional posters.
It's pretty tourist friendly, with maps of the island and facilities with english titles to complement the chinese and russian ones.
On the way to where I hoped the snow sculptures would be, I passed a mock russian tourist village that also featured a sign out the front with pictures of people putting their heads in crocodiles, bikini mud wrestling, showgirls and a photo of a woman in 'typical' russian military uniform with gun drawn. It was open, and though all of the above looked interesting (you know, the folksy old russian village aspect) I was fast running out of light and continued past it.
I was a bit bummed this entrance to the park featured a massive Chip 'n' Dale (Disney Characters) snow sculpture that you walked through, impressive as it was, but just yeah, having corporate Disney stuff everywhere was wearing thin, though kids would have be going nuts with joy.
Like with the other two ice festival venues, you need to purchase a ticket to enter, and once paid, I was in.
The path in was lined with snow sculptures, which I'd assume are all for competitions, or at the very least, needed to share a theme for this area. I finally came across some snow sculpted buildings, which you could climb on and over, one was half a sphere with stairs up the side, another was a traditional chinese looking building, and one of the larger ones was rectangle shaped, with a bar in it, with snow bottles, stools, the bar itself and so on.
I saw my first food/drink shop too, and like all of the ones on the island, they are hidden under a whole lot of snow, with windows and door hole carved out, and the rest just stylised to how ever they see fit.
Walking further in, in the middle of a pedestrian round-a-bout was a massive hedge that was shaped to be a phoenix, with fake trees with LED lights as leaves around it, and a snow wall around those. The next round-a-bout featured a large snow sculpture of a dancing woman, with robes flowing from her.
I could have continued straight down the path as I had been, but something caught my eye at this round-a-bout. I had seen signs for the 'Naive Bear Paradise' and only now could I see what it was.
It's basically a amusement park with carousel, various other rides and a mini roller coaster. It was all shut and coated in snow, with some rides covered, and others just left to the elements. Spread through out where cartoon styled bear statues doing cartoony bear things. It was all cheerful and kid friendly, but felt a bit sinister to me. I got plenty of photos, plus it was here I noticed my beanie, face mask and hood were icing up for the first time from my breath.
It's cold here, not sure if I have mentioned that before.
As I made my way back to the last round-a-bout, I made a startling discovery. Some person in their wisdom thought it would be a good idea to mix nice rough stone slabs on the foot paths with shiny, SLIPPERY, edge ones. I almost went arse up a dozen times due to these polished edge stones.
Must look nice in summer.
Walking a bit more, I was finally in the centre of the Island park, as noted with the tourist information centre that is perched over the now frozen lake. This was quite a busy area, with trucks and loaders dumping off snow, very large snow sculptures where under construction on the lake itself and on land, the competition snow sculptures featured simple square blocks for the beginning, an area which had participants from various countries furiously carving their snow blocks and a little further on, completed competition snow sculptures, with small description and team nationality of those who carved it.
Watching the snow sculptors at work was interesting, for most of the work they just used a shovel like implement to hack off the snow to get the rough shape they required. Some had drawn basic outlines of the end creation as a guide, some just seemed to be doing it freehand, though I'd imagine a lot of pre-planning went into these creations.
It was about this time the lights came on, coloured lights for the various completed sculptures and portable lights for the works in progress. I left the sculptors to their carving and went to check out the finished works.
The coloured lights really added an extra 'zing' to the look of the sculptures, and it's a shame that this didn't carry across well to the photos I took. A lot of them were hollow, or snaked into themselves, and again, this doesn't come across well in my photos. Bummed out I am now, but ah well, next time!
I reckon my favourite one there was the large robot one, which I think was to represent the future and clean living.
That or the upcoming domination of our future robot overlords.
A little in the distance was the massive snow sculpture I spotted while in the cable car. I had first seen it in a internet news article, where it was the scene of a mass wedding, which I think is semi-traditional now for the area.
It indeed is massive. With lights on board and many large powerful spotlights shining on it from the front, at ground level. On the outside of it, were stylised people with their arms up, with flying Pegasus' surrounding a large round chinese temple with large flowers under that. Tough to describe, I've got close up shots of it, but unfortunately my full shot of it all got blurred out.
To the left of that was a long wall, that had posters built into it, describing Sun Island in all the seasons, the attractions as well as proclaiming that it's a AAAAA official rated tourist attraction. Sun Island looks pretty good in the summer, and they even have a squirrel park! Maybe even the bear amusement park is operating!
Backtracking, I went back through the snow sculptures, looking at the ones I missed the first time round and settled in for a while watching the snow sculptors at work. For the most part, the just fairly savagely hack at the snow blocks, it must be rather compacted and they even use their large 'shovel' tool for finer work. I couldn't say how big a team is, but I'd guess 4, with a few of the more adventurous ones on top of the snow hacking away from under them. Again, my photos tell a better story than I can tell.
It was good to spend time there, I could see the sculpts beginning to take shape, or refined further and, what the.
Turns out 6pm is closing time and all the lights go out. That was fun.
Still, it wasn't too bad, the ice haze just reflected plenty of light from the city over the river, so I had no trouble really seeing. I just had to work out what was the correct exit, which wasn't difficult, I just picked the one with the biggest car park.
Actually, now I think of it, just before lights out, taxis started to come on the p
aths in the park, I thought it was odd, but now it makes sense.
Anyways, turns out the way I picked for out, was the main grand entrance to the park. At the exit, before the bridge, there are two massive snow sculptures on either side of the road, that were basically murals depicting the history of China on one side, and the present accomplishments on the other. Very impressive, both in what was shown, and the scale of the sculpture itself.
Walking over the bridge, I caught up with a whole lot of police, which was nice and eventually I passed through the main gates could easily the Harbin Polar Land, as it was just on the other side of the car park. After a little while, a taxi came by and I made my way back to the hotel.
Thoughts. I really should have came earlier to the park, as the better photos of the snow sculptures I got in better light, or pure direct light from spotlights. The snow sculptures that had the coloured lights totally just didn't work out when I looked at the shots later. Unlike the ice sculptures, and the ice buildings, I think daytime is the best time to view the snow sculptures.
Though, it did bugger me up the 6pm lights off, meant I couldn't backtrack as I had planned and take more shots while fiddling with the camera settings.
I had a good day, regardless. Little frightened while on the cable car, but the views were completely worth it and I am sure it was the coldest day I've been through.
Today I finally found them. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
Feeling bolder after yesterday's success, I caught the bus like an old pro into town and got off near the park with the Disney stuff, much like yesterday. I made my way to the Flood Control Monument and once there, was rewarded with a expansive view of the frozen river, with ice skating, dog sledding, horse and buggies a better view of the ice slides from the night before. On the right you had the railway bridge in the distance and on the left you have the Cable Car that takes you over the river, and much further along you have the traffic bridge.
My main aim was to just enjoy the sights and make my way to the Cable Car, which got much bigger the closer I got. Close by, a man was digging a hole in the ice and pulling out a bucket of water to give to the horses. A little further along kids were pedalling some sort of reverse tricycle on the ice, with a couple of poor, bored looking dogs having a rest, still hooked up to a sled. In the distance on the river there was horse drawn buggies, cars and a few people just walking across the frozen expanse to the other side.
Eventually, I came to the main building of the cable car, climbed up, paid the ticket and boarded. Just me in the cabin, which was good, as I was being very careful moving about the cabin trying to put my camera through a few little open windows, while desperate not to rock it too much.
Rising, the first thing to catch my eye was the docks, with boats tied up along side and frozen in place by the ice. It looked like most of the boats there were either ferries or touristy ones, the more industrial ones must have been elsewhere, or headed south for the winter.
Still not even to the first tower, I could get a really good view of the ice festival activities on the river and the city itself behind me. People are being reduced to ants, or nothing at all and the sun makes it easier to pick out where the snow has been cleared off the ice to allow skating, or the like.
First tower, the dread sets in as you go click clack over the wheels holding the cable in place. It's bloody high and the next tower is barely in view.
Looking up river, I can barely make out the traffic bridge, but looking that way it's really quite pretty. The sun is directly that way, and the ever present ice haze diffuses the light everywhere, while reducing how far you can see. The river itself is covered with little tracks everywhere as people have recently walked across it and left fresh prints in the snow. My picture of this scene is one of my favourites so far.
I can make out the other side of the river now and I see it, a massive snow sculpture in the distance that tells me I am on the right track for the rest of the snow sculptures. I pass the second tower, and it's all down from here.
I don't know if it was being so high, the open windows or the fact it was just plain cold, but my brain was only half working, and the commentary for a video I shot up there came off sounding rather stupid. Ah well.
Safely getting off the cable car, I was on Sun Island, which seems to be the main recreational park for tourists and locals alike, especially in the summer time, looking at the various promotional posters.
It's pretty tourist friendly, with maps of the island and facilities with english titles to complement the chinese and russian ones.
On the way to where I hoped the snow sculptures would be, I passed a mock russian tourist village that also featured a sign out the front with pictures of people putting their heads in crocodiles, bikini mud wrestling, showgirls and a photo of a woman in 'typical' russian military uniform with gun drawn. It was open, and though all of the above looked interesting (you know, the folksy old russian village aspect) I was fast running out of light and continued past it.
I was a bit bummed this entrance to the park featured a massive Chip 'n' Dale (Disney Characters) snow sculpture that you walked through, impressive as it was, but just yeah, having corporate Disney stuff everywhere was wearing thin, though kids would have be going nuts with joy.
Like with the other two ice festival venues, you need to purchase a ticket to enter, and once paid, I was in.
The path in was lined with snow sculptures, which I'd assume are all for competitions, or at the very least, needed to share a theme for this area. I finally came across some snow sculpted buildings, which you could climb on and over, one was half a sphere with stairs up the side, another was a traditional chinese looking building, and one of the larger ones was rectangle shaped, with a bar in it, with snow bottles, stools, the bar itself and so on.
I saw my first food/drink shop too, and like all of the ones on the island, they are hidden under a whole lot of snow, with windows and door hole carved out, and the rest just stylised to how ever they see fit.
Walking further in, in the middle of a pedestrian round-a-bout was a massive hedge that was shaped to be a phoenix, with fake trees with LED lights as leaves around it, and a snow wall around those. The next round-a-bout featured a large snow sculpture of a dancing woman, with robes flowing from her.
I could have continued straight down the path as I had been, but something caught my eye at this round-a-bout. I had seen signs for the 'Naive Bear Paradise' and only now could I see what it was.
It's basically a amusement park with carousel, various other rides and a mini roller coaster. It was all shut and coated in snow, with some rides covered, and others just left to the elements. Spread through out where cartoon styled bear statues doing cartoony bear things. It was all cheerful and kid friendly, but felt a bit sinister to me. I got plenty of photos, plus it was here I noticed my beanie, face mask and hood were icing up for the first time from my breath.
It's cold here, not sure if I have mentioned that before.
As I made my way back to the last round-a-bout, I made a startling discovery. Some person in their wisdom thought it would be a good idea to mix nice rough stone slabs on the foot paths with shiny, SLIPPERY, edge ones. I almost went arse up a dozen times due to these polished edge stones.
Must look nice in summer.
Walking a bit more, I was finally in the centre of the Island park, as noted with the tourist information centre that is perched over the now frozen lake. This was quite a busy area, with trucks and loaders dumping off snow, very large snow sculptures where under construction on the lake itself and on land, the competition snow sculptures featured simple square blocks for the beginning, an area which had participants from various countries furiously carving their snow blocks and a little further on, completed competition snow sculptures, with small description and team nationality of those who carved it.
Watching the snow sculptors at work was interesting, for most of the work they just used a shovel like implement to hack off the snow to get the rough shape they required. Some had drawn basic outlines of the end creation as a guide, some just seemed to be doing it freehand, though I'd imagine a lot of pre-planning went into these creations.
It was about this time the lights came on, coloured lights for the various completed sculptures and portable lights for the works in progress. I left the sculptors to their carving and went to check out the finished works.
The coloured lights really added an extra 'zing' to the look of the sculptures, and it's a shame that this didn't carry across well to the photos I took. A lot of them were hollow, or snaked into themselves, and again, this doesn't come across well in my photos. Bummed out I am now, but ah well, next time!
I reckon my favourite one there was the large robot one, which I think was to represent the future and clean living.
That or the upcoming domination of our future robot overlords.
A little in the distance was the massive snow sculpture I spotted while in the cable car. I had first seen it in a internet news article, where it was the scene of a mass wedding, which I think is semi-traditional now for the area.
It indeed is massive. With lights on board and many large powerful spotlights shining on it from the front, at ground level. On the outside of it, were stylised people with their arms up, with flying Pegasus' surrounding a large round chinese temple with large flowers under that. Tough to describe, I've got close up shots of it, but unfortunately my full shot of it all got blurred out.
To the left of that was a long wall, that had posters built into it, describing Sun Island in all the seasons, the attractions as well as proclaiming that it's a AAAAA official rated tourist attraction. Sun Island looks pretty good in the summer, and they even have a squirrel park! Maybe even the bear amusement park is operating!
Backtracking, I went back through the snow sculptures, looking at the ones I missed the first time round and settled in for a while watching the snow sculptors at work. For the most part, the just fairly savagely hack at the snow blocks, it must be rather compacted and they even use their large 'shovel' tool for finer work. I couldn't say how big a team is, but I'd guess 4, with a few of the more adventurous ones on top of the snow hacking away from under them. Again, my photos tell a better story than I can tell.
It was good to spend time there, I could see the sculpts beginning to take shape, or refined further and, what the.
Turns out 6pm is closing time and all the lights go out. That was fun.
Still, it wasn't too bad, the ice haze just reflected plenty of light from the city over the river, so I had no trouble really seeing. I just had to work out what was the correct exit, which wasn't difficult, I just picked the one with the biggest car park.
Actually, now I think of it, just before lights out, taxis started to come on the p
aths in the park, I thought it was odd, but now it makes sense.Anyways, turns out the way I picked for out, was the main grand entrance to the park. At the exit, before the bridge, there are two massive snow sculptures on either side of the road, that were basically murals depicting the history of China on one side, and the present accomplishments on the other. Very impressive, both in what was shown, and the scale of the sculpture itself.
Walking over the bridge, I caught up with a whole lot of police, which was nice and eventually I passed through the main gates could easily the Harbin Polar Land, as it was just on the other side of the car park. After a little while, a taxi came by and I made my way back to the hotel.
Thoughts. I really should have came earlier to the park, as the better photos of the snow sculptures I got in better light, or pure direct light from spotlights. The snow sculptures that had the coloured lights totally just didn't work out when I looked at the shots later. Unlike the ice sculptures, and the ice buildings, I think daytime is the best time to view the snow sculptures.
Though, it did bugger me up the 6pm lights off, meant I couldn't backtrack as I had planned and take more shots while fiddling with the camera settings.
I had a good day, regardless. Little frightened while on the cable car, but the views were completely worth it and I am sure it was the coldest day I've been through.
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