We celebrate a birthday on cny eve

Lankston said this to his mummy

Happy Chinese New Year

It looks like wartime here, I tell you. We hear firecrackers and fireworks from morning till now, and it's getting stronger.

We also joined in the fun, by bringing our fireworks downstairs. Another family was there too and in the midst of our happy mood, their fireworks fell down on the floor, in our direction.

It really felt like gunfire. We tried to hide in a glass shelter, but heck, one speck flew inside and BOMB! No one was seriousy hurt, my mil was hit by on the cheek, but it didn't explode in her face.

So we went scurrying home with 3 kids. Fireworks is best watched from upstairs.

Despite this episode, new year in China is amazing still. I heard the secrity guard mentioned about an hour long of fireworks tonight at 12am. We are all staying up to watch.

Harbin day 3

It snowed on our last day in Harbin, finally.

The kids enjoyed the snow

You can see the snow specks on Ah Gong's coat

It was a good trip all in all. The only regret was we didn't have enough time, and my Canon Isus camera was spoilt by Ryo. Somehow I don't like the photos taken by a camera I had prejudiced on... hahaha.

End of Harbin trip

Harbin day 2

Ice sculptures are everywhere, we saw plenty of them on the shopping street, 金源大街

These are made from big ice blocks. Ice blocks are saw out from a nearby river, transported by lorry, stuck together using water, sculpted by experienced sculptors, then polished to achieve a smooth, shiny surface. It's a lot of work

Ice sphinx

We went to 太阳岛 in the afternoon to see the Snow World. Everything is made out of artificial snow

Yes, this is still afternoon at about 3pm

This snow hut looks lovely

We don't have much time to explore everything, I took all pictures from a distance without knowing what I am taking

It was only 4+pm

Next we headed to the Ice World, the biggest in Asia. Everything is made of ice. Can u believe it?

The theme this year is world's architecture. This is some chinese architecture

Again these building are stacked up with ice blocks


Every theme park had ice slides, the kids (and their mothers) really enjoyed sliding down on high speed. Don't wear jeans to the slide, you'll get stuck. My smooth fabric coat allowed me and Ryo to slide down on high speed. The white specks on this photos showed the artificial snow that a snow maker was spurting

Some church building, the lights changes colour every now and then

The Harbin beer also has its place here

The lights are lovely, the whole place is damn huge

The ticket sales alone is not enough to cover the whole Harbin's ice and snow investment, however, the receipts from the hotels and the food industry made up the difference, barely.

This reminds me of Thailand

This buddha sculpture is my favourite. It's only an ice sculpture, it'll be destroy when winter is over, but if you are there in person, you could feel a godly feeling. In the backgound the 大悲咒　music was playing, many people were offering incense and even praying kneeling down.

Ryo and grandparents posing a goodbye shot

This was his attire, and barely enough to keep warm. He had heat pads on both his feet, both thighs, and 1 on his chest, and he had to walk too.

End of Day 2 of 3

Harbin day 1

The temperature in Harbin was around -15 to -25 degrees, it was already slightly warmer on the days we were there. When I wiped the fogged up window, it wasn't water, it was ice on the window.

But really it wasn't as cold as we imagined it to be. You just need to wear enough, keep walking and you'll feel fine. The 2 toddlers however, felt cold sometimes cos they just sat on the prams. Can you see how much we were armoured?

Harbin was very influenced by its neighbour, Russia. Hence its architecture and food are somewhat Russian style

Disney worked with Harbin this year to bring on a Disney Ice Festival. It was for the kids really.

Every wall had this Mickey Mouse opening

A ship carved out of ice

Ryo on Heffalump, the elephant from Winnie the Pooh

If you can't make out who this is, this is Lankston with the dinosaur in the Toy Story

End of day 1 of 3

Sleighing

This little bear went sit-skiing at 海河

with Lanston and his family

the locals were fishing on the ice

the kids got so hungry they gobbled down the satays

the satays left some lovely marks on his cheeks

Tianjin zoo revisited

The 3 masketeers visited the zoo

Ryo saw his favourite animals

Many of them in fact...

Everyone wanted to take pictures in this snowy place. There is so much snow here because there is a ski slope behind this little hill. The artificial snow maker sort of spurted over the hill to achieve such an effect. Outside this picture, the snow has already shrunk to mini bits, and also black in colour.

We saw the hippo (that's right, only one animal of each species). The toilet beside the hippo area stinks BIG TIME. The hippo area was also stinky for me, but the rest were able to bear with the smell.

Ryo imitating the hippo

and amused by the pig who spilled his noodles