OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Not sure why, but this travel article in the Wall Street Journal, about the attractions of the
wind-swept, sub-zero Chinese city of Harbin in northern Manchuria, an hour and half flight from Beijing, had great appeal.
This despite my being bed-ridden today with bronchitis, a fever, and failing voice.
The last thing that should be appealing to someone in my state is a place that's described thus:
"On the hourlong drive from the airport to our hotel on a frigid Friday night, with gusts of wind blowing snow across our path, I felt as much on the other side of the world as I ever have in China.
The van moved slowly over an icy, empty highway as we drove through what appeared to be miles of barren white fields illuminated by a full moon. We were joined by our friends the Carberrys and the bleak landscape had all of us wondering just where we were."
And the author was visiting Harbin, this city of 2.5 million with his kids. The place certainly has history:
"Its development began with the Russian invasion of Manchuria at the end of the 19th century and the subsequent building, by Russia, of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Many refugees also fled there after both World War I and the 1917 Russian Revolution.
It reputedly once had the largest Russian population of any city outside the Soviet Union. Parts of the city retain a uniquely Old World European flavor, there are two old synagogues (one of which is now a museum, the other a school) and an impressive Russian Orthodox church."
But the main attraction of the place this time of year is something else entirely:
"The draw for us, and for most of those we know, was the eighth annual Ice and Snow Festival and we spent most of our time in Harbin trekking around from one wintry attraction to another.
If I had to sum up our trip in two words, they would be: ice slides. They were plentiful and our kids couldn't get enough, whether the mode of transport was burlap sacks, their own bottoms or large inner tubes."
The whole piece reminded me of the Snow Festival that's long been a tradition not so far east of Harbin, in a Japanese city called Sapporo, on the northern island of Hokkaido. It's another place that's long been on my list of place to visit in the middle of a robust winter.
Now Harbin is being added to that travel wish list, courtesy of this timely piece in the Journal.
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