China Day 4 - Songhua River | Stalin Park, Harbin

Assalamualaikum. Ni Hao!

Previous post (here).

15 Jan 2016
Harbin, China

Our 5th day in China; 2nd in Harbin.

Woke up to a snowy morning. Not a heavy one but enough for us to see the rooftop turned white. Maybe it snowed late that night. I didn't notice because soon after putting my laundry near the heater I went straight to bed. Didn't even bother to look outside the window. 

It was Jea's first snow but it already stopped snowing when we went out the hotel. Yet to experience a snowfall she is at that time. Ada rezeki ndak ke mana, I told her. 

#1 View of the rooftop across the street. Taken from our room

Today mission was to wander around the town. By walkertapaki. Because it is not worth it if we were going to take the bus as all attractions are only walking distance away from each other. Taking into considerations both Jea & I love walking, therefore marilah berjalan. Lagi banyak boleh singgah, and paling penting less headache. Nanti mau kena hadam direction lagi, number bus lagi, bus stop lagi. 

Before sampai Songhua River (yang famous di Harbin tu), we stopped by at this one halal bakery mentioned by Nil in her blog. Haruslah aku membeli sebiji dua (tiga empat) breads untuk alas perut. Bekalan di kala perut berdendang.

#2 Jalanlah ikut mana kaki melangkah

#3 Where we dined the night before. Restoran halal yang ada green board tu.

#4 Nasiblah ada street sign in Roman juga so chances untuk sesat adalah kurang

#5 Easy peasy to navigate around Harbin city

Jalan punya jalan akhirnya jumpa the right signboard. Bukan susah pun mau tau rupa sungai dalam map. Macam biasa, bila suddenly sejuk melampau tu tanda ada frozen lake, river or ice rink nearby. In our case, it's Songhua River. Subhanallah, frozen sungguh ok. Tu diorang kondifen siap buat winter games atas sungai tu. And this river isn't small wei. Seluas alam. Pagi tu pula memang gloomy so ndaklah nampak view di seberang. 

Approaching the frozen Songhua River. Sudah start mengigil pipi aku masa ni. Nasiblah pakai proper so ndaklah sejuk mengigit sampai tulang

#6 Cannot see what's opposite the river. Kelam melankoli

#7 Some of the winter games offered

#8 Stalin Park. Fe-feeling Central Park gitu

#9 Yang sorang ni pun fe-feeling juga, kasi can sila

#10 Kalau mau pegi to the other side of the river, bolehlah naik cable car

Dalam banyak-banyak winter games yang ada, aku paling sakit hati tengok yang involved all those dogs. Memanglah dog sledding ni famous di Scandinavian countries, tapi yang tu memang guna train dogs. And yang sesuai i.e Husky. Yang di Harbin ni, depan mata aku sendiri diorang rotan if the dogs refuse to follow order. Gila oii! Tu kan abuse namanya. Memang ndak lah aku mau try kan. Pula tu aku tengok kurus keding jak anjing yang diorang guna for sledding. I cannot brain!

#11 Happy feet moi

Puas sudah mengukur sungai, we went up to the river bank. Pastu usha games yang munasabah untuk kami main. Nothing attracts Jea. But I already had my eye at this ice sledding ever since we arrived. *wink*

#13 Paid for the ticket (forgot how much it was, ngeh~)

#14 And Jea as by ever ready photographer. 谢谢 

#15 Seketul dugong cannot stand up on her own

Puas hati dapat main sledding, marilah kita angkat kaki to other area pula. Posing area Flood Control Memorial, pastu lepak kejap menghayati suasana. Then Jea bawa masuk mall. Alkisah, minah ni jenis suka layan movie at each country she goes. Kiranya dia ni mau melayan tengok wayang lah kunun tengahari tu. 

#16 The Harbin Flood Control Memorial Tower

"In memory of the defeating the flood attacking Harbin in 1957, the Harbin Flood Control Memorial Tower was completed in 1958" (Read here)

#17 This mall situated in the heart of Zhongyang Pedestrian Center Street

#18 Checking out the cinema & movies showed that day

After so much hesitations (risau tiada subtitles sebenarnya), we decided to forego the idea for movie watching. Initially mau tengok movie si Kris (ex-EXO); his first international project since he departed from SM. Plan cancelled, so Kakak J-Kpop bergambar sama standee jaklah.

Out from the wall, we explored another area of Zhongyang Street we didn't get to go last night. Sebab Harbin ni sejuk albeku, maka banyaklah ice sculptures scattered around the city. From what I read, these can last for nearly 3 months. Gitu punya sejuk kan. 

#19 Abadikan kenangan

#21 Ada description plaque at each sculpture tapi bolehlah diabaikan sebab I no read Pinyin. 

#22 Apart from ice, yang dari konkrit pun ada. I guess this may represent the early life in Harbin

#23 Sebab sejuk, heater 24 jam lah kot di Harbin ni

#24 How they used to spell Harbin; Ha Er Bin

Always wanted to do this at every places I go (started off in Japan) but often I forgot. Teringat bila sudah few tempat aku jejak. Hampeh kan perangai.

I went back to the hotel after few hours of walkertapaki around Zhongyang Street. While Jea decided to explore more of the city. Aku kunun mau rehatkan kaki & ganti hot packs di baju. Malam nanti ada program lain; our highlight for this Harbin trip katanye.

Cerita program malam aku continue next entry.

Till then, wassalam.

eryantierdabdulkarim