China Day 5 - Harbin to Beijing by Train

Assalamualaikum. Ni Hao!

Previous post here.

16 Jan 2016

Harbin, China

After so much negotiation with the 'small red taxi' driver (I seriously do not know what it is called until now), we finally agreed on a price. Nasiblah driver lain yang offer harga mahal. We didn't layan expensive price because we know the price range to the train station. Gitu angkuh!

Anyway, we paid CNY 6 for the less than 10 minutes ride. All worth it. Before agreeing, we did inquired the fare from few of the drivers. Semua letak harga ketuk gila since they don't have meter like normal taxi does; until this Ahjussi called us back & asked how much we're willing to pay. And so the rest is history. 

#1 That's the small red taxi I mentioned earlier. They are cheaper than the sedan taxi. And faster; come on look at its size.

#2 The driver dropped us at a big junction. Ingatkan kena pedajal since we negotiate the fare gila-gila. 

#3 Turned out Harbin Train Station is just opposite the place where we're dropped off. Ada barrier tengah jalan tu hence Ahjussi couldn't drop us off at the main entrance

#4 We took the underground passage to get to the main entrance
So this is how the station looks like from the entrance. To the right is where we queued up for the taxi the night we arrived

#4 To the waiting hall we straightaway went although it was still early 

#5 Refer your train number at each digital board before entering the waiting hall (worry not, they're all in ABC & numbers)

#6 Plenty of lockers at the station but considering we didn't plan on going out anymore, we just keep our backpacks with us

They are lots of stall inside the train station selling ramyeon, snacks, fresh produce, fruits, drinks & whatnot. There is even electronic shops. So fret not. You definitely won't starve here. There is of course unlimited supply of hot water at each hall. 

#7 Searching for seats in this huge waiting hall

Chill dulu as our train was at 9pm sebenarnya. Semangat kan pi train station seawal mungkin. Penat sudah mau mengukur jalan di city nun. We have no plan to go to Snow Town so we do not allocate any budget for it (transportation & entrance). Makanya duduk cuci mata dalam train station. Luckily sunset awal so ndaklah rasa rugi berkampung di station since 4pm.

Sempat tengok 'live' dramas. Budak kecil selamba dog buka seluar tepi tangga & kencing. Nasib Jea nampak else memang mendapatlah kami tempias urin since we're sitting on the stairs (just few steps below where he settled his business). Lepas kejadian tu terus masing-masing banned diri dari duduk atas lantai. Adoilah manners & attitude.

We roamed around the station until we found seats near the nursery room. Dekat toilet as well. So sempat tumpang solat jama' dalam nursery room. Ndak lama datang this family of 5. Nenek, cucu-s & her parents. Sebabkan no seat left, they settled themselves on the floor not far from us. Lepas jak duduk, masing-masing keluarkan bekal. Nenek kupas buah, the mother went to wash the vegetables they bought, the cucu-s buka ramyeon, the father rebus telur. Rupanya early dinner!

This scene answered Jea's question when she saw all the vegetables & fruits at the stall earlier. She wonders who will buy them especially the fresh produce. Seeing how this family happily enjoying their dinner, maka tahulah sudah kami. Patutlah selalu dengar. PRC ni campak mana pun memang boleh survive; they are trained well & survival skill diorang memang no joke.

#8 Luggage turned into table & they even brought small folding chairs!

#9 How the waiting hall looks like every time there's announcement for departure. Crowded & packed tapi still teratur.

Selama naik long distance trains di China (in those 2 weeks of this journey), belum ada kejadian train delayed or rescheduled. Although gate is open 10 minutes before departure time, everyone managed to get on board on time. 

Barang diingat. Kejadian macam diorang menjerit panggil ahli keluarga or kawan yang terpisah jauh dari queue tu memang sentiasa ada. Part bercerita tonasi suara level maksimum tu biasa. Laaaaagi biasa part panggil seluruh ahli keluarga potong queue just because dia sudah secure line paling depan. Mula tu macam mau menyinga juga, tapi bila tengok muka locals lain redha & act like nothing happened...kami pun buatlah macam local. Masuk kandang kambing, mengembek. Remember?

By the way, our train to Beijing arrived on time. As expected all passengers got on their seat right before the train departed. Aku sempat tawaf carriage, to make sure where the washroom & hot water dispenser are. 

#10 Soft seat refer to reclinable chair, armrest, spacious leg room. And of course chair is 'soft' like the one in the flight

We booked our ticket via Ctrip few weeks before the trip. Terpaksa settled with soft seat as all sleeper seat are sold out. And as expected, although we booked under the same reference number we're still sitting away from each other. This time luckily dalam same carriage.

Soft Seat (2 pax) : CNY 543 (RM 160.00 per pax)

Destination : Harbin to Beijing

Duration : 10 hours 

#11 Supper 

I went straight to sleep after supper. Tiada istilah sembang kosong with Jea as its an overnight train & there's no space to lepak unlike those carriages with sleepers bed. I slept soundly throughout the journey with few toilet visits in between. Nasiblah orang sebelah kalau ada kejadian aku berdendang. 

Woke up an hour before we arrived Beijing. Sempatlah bersihkan diri & breakfast ala kadar before arrival.

17 Jan 2016
Beijing, China

#12 Hello Beijing; we meet again

Sampai Beijing Railway Station on time. Harini ada aktiviti memanjat before another late night train journey. This time we managed to set our bearing once we disembarked the train. Alhamdulillah, sudah masuk Day 6 kalau blur sama suasana Beijing...tiada siapa dapat tolong lah kan.

So where we're off to? Tu tunggu next entry.

Till then, wassalam.

eryantierdabdulkarim

China Day 5 - Harbin Last Day

Assalamualaikum. Ni Hao!

Previous post here.

16 Jan 2016
Harbin, China

On our last day in Harbin, we purposely woke up late. Just to give the body enough rest. Later tonight we will take the train back to Beijing; and we didn't get to buy the sleeper seat. In other words, we're going to sleep sitting up in the train later tonight.

After checking out, we left our backpacks at the hotel. Nasiblah free.

#1 Harbin Tianyan Holiday Hotel main entrance

#2 Took this mainly because of the Army car 'blanket' behind me

#3 For the umpteenth times...Ni Hao Zhongyang Street

#4 One with the street sign

#5 One of the longest company in Harbin; sponsoring their ice sculpture

#6 Ohh gitar, berbunyiiii

#7 Some art on the wall. Description is in Pinyin except for its title, so yeah ambil gambar jaklah

#8 Bearable temperature that morning. We're used to the bitter cold temperature by that time hence -10 was just average (gitu mode bangga)

#9 Stopped by the post office 

I lost the pictures I took inside *sigh*, the post office is honestly so comel. It has a decorated cafe inside.

Posted some postcards for myself & the bestie; alhamdulillah they arrived in less than a week. In fact, mine arrived when I was still in China! Awesomeness Harbin PO!

#11 Back to Stalin Park, another picture with the Flood Control Monument while the sun is still shining brightly (yesterday was too gloomy)

Other than Zhongyang Street & Stalin Park, there are other places we can visit but we opted to stay near the hotel vicinity instead. We're just too lazy to roam farther we ended up going to the same places again. Entered the mall where the cinema is, this time we plan to have pizza for early lunch. Simply trying our luck. Who knows they have vegetarian restaurant, right. But, nope. Luck wasn't on our side (memang sudah agak sebenarnya). 

#12 Melepas gian, ambil gambar pizza giant size jaklah. Cuci mata while salivating. 

#13 Arca

#14 Bab berlakon macam tu memang favourite aku 

#15 Se-couple ayam
If I'm not mistaken, these symbolizes something but I just couldn't recall

While strolling along the street we saw this long queue from afar. And as if being bewitched (gitu justify tindakan), next thing we knew we're already joining the line. Walhal belum tau apa diorang jual. Betul perangai masing-masing.

#16 Keluar barisan to find out what we're queuing for. 

#17 Ice cream! And sugar coated strawberries!
Jual ice cream macam tu jak, letak dalam bekas. No chiller nor fridge needed

#18 Yumms! Sejuk-sejuk makan ice cream memang recommended as it will leveled your body temperature with the outside temperature

We went wandering to other stalls selling different type of snacks & food. Kali ni cuci mata betul-betul. We didn't buy anything walau semua macam menarik. 

#19 Nuts

#20 Looks tempting right? Tapi perlu simpan perut for heavy meal later

#21 These one memang forever kau layak berangan tengok jak

#22 Because they fry / boil the seafood together with the ayam + daging, so kita passed through jak

#23 More ice sculptures

And we went back to the halal restaurant we dined at the first night we arrived from Beijing. After so much time taken contemplating on what to order, we finally made up our mind. Nasiblah ndak kena halau sebab duduk pilih menu lama gila. 

# Our late lunch + early dinner

As per Jea, she needs carb as to avoid herself from starving in the train later. Aku pula? Soup jadi pilihan. Dapat that roti (pitta) sekali. Main cicah-cicah rupanya. Lantaklah janji kenyang...and sedap. Tapi memang sedap, sungguh.

Lepas makan, jadi siput sedut pi hotel. Picked up our bag & off we went to search for transportation to the train station. Jalan punya jalan, we ended up depan Saint Sophia once more. Berjodoh betul sama si Gothic tu. 

So apa jenis transportation yang angkut kami pi train station? Tu nanti aku continue next entry. This is too long an entry already.

Till then, wassalam

eryantierdabdulkarim

China Day 4 - Harbin International Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival

Assalamualaikum. Ni Hao!

Previous entry (here).

15 Jan 2016
Harbin, China

So lepas berehat dalam bilik, it's time to go the the venue where they held the Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival yearly. Yesterday, on the way from the train station to our hotel we saw some of the ice sculptures from afar. Masa tu sudah terkinja dalam teksi, excited alkisahnye.

Before keluar hotel, sempatlah tanya receptionist the direction to the festival. Initial plan was to take the public bus. I read online if we already have the details of the right bus number & bus stop, going there is easy peasy. Receptionist as always sangat helpful, sangat details direction dia bagi. Siap tolong kami tulis nama festival & everything we need in a piece of paper (in Pinyin of course).

Maka keluarlah dua wanita jelita with kondifen level paling tinggi. Sampai bus stop, we saw 2 buses with the same number; but going in a different direction. Sudah! Lupa mau tanya receptionist which direction yang akan direct us to the festival. Tunjuk lah cebisan kertas tu sama Ahjussi bus driver. He nodded & bebel in Chinese. Told us to quickly get in the bus. When we reached the 2nd stop, suddenly ada Ahjussi sebelah aku tanya where we're heading because he saw the piece of paper I held. When I told him we wanted to go to the festival, he immediately told u to get off the bus because the bus is going the opposite direction. Meaning that the bus wasn't going TO the festival, but instead coming FROM the festival. Maybe Ahjussi driver tu malas explain panjang (sebab sah ndak faham pun budak dua ketul ni kan) so dia suruh naik jak because eventually dia memang akan pi festival tu pun. Just that kami akan tawaf Harbin City. And that will take almost an hour. Whereas it will only take less than 10 minutes from the hotel to the festival venue. 

And we hopped off the bus; just in front of Saint Sophia Cathedral. Berjumpa lagi we'olls. Cuma kali ni dalam terangnya siang hari. Gitu ayat. Alang-alang sudah depan square tu, apalagi posing lagi sekali depan cathedral ni. Baru nampak design & rupa bentuk sebenar. Fe-feeling gothic pun ada.

#1 Zoom sikit baru nampak ke-gothic-an 

#2 Pun lah sibuk mau posing juga dia

Pastu both blur apa mau buat. Sebab belum tau macamana kesudahan plan mau pi festival tu. So berlegarlah kami depan square tu. Ambil gambar angle sana sini. Then suddenly datanglah 2 perempuan wearing long padded red jacket, complete with flurry hat towards us. Auw feeling foxy sangat kau dek. Dari tadi sebenarnya sudah nampak budak-budak ni distribute flyer tapi malas mau ambil peduli sebab I speak no Pinyin, remember?

Turned out flyer tu pasal Ice & Snow Festival. Sombong lagi kau kan Bie! And they spoke passable English (macam aku juga ler). Lepas diorang explain dengan bersungguh, aku pun rasa macam ni option paling bagus untuk kami. Although both Jea & I dislike the idea of 'ikut tour'. Time is always the issue. But this time kami give up. Malas sudah mau fikir & cari bus stop. Dropping temperature weren't helping either. 

The package is so worthy (for us that is). Basically, it says include return transportation & entrance fee. Tapi bila recalculate, we actually paid the entrance fee for the ice festival only. Bus tu free. 

RMB 300 (RM 170.00+). With this package, we don't have to cari which stop to take the bus, also bus to take us back to the hotel. Memang super berbaloi lah kan. Eventually we agreed to go with the tour.

Lepas settled bayar tour tu, they told us we had another 2 hours before the departure time. Mau balik hotel rasa macam malas mau menapak. So we decided to enter the mall opposite to the cathedral. Just to kill time. Lama lah juga lepak dalam mall. People watching, shops watching & also food-watching. We didn't buy anything as we're already full with breads we bought earlier that morning.

#3 Pandang tepi jaklah

#4 Ni lagilah. Menguji keimanan. Sobs

Around 5pm, we exited the mall & waited at the said place. Just depan cathedral tu juga. Jadinya dapatlah juga ambil gambar si Sophia ni yang baru lit-lit. Terus fe-feeling macam Disneyland pun ada.

Bus departed on time. Tapi kami tunggu lama at the 2nd stop sebab ada participants yang belum sampai. Adalah dalam 30 minit menunggu. Orang lain dalam bas ada start berbunyi sudah. Konsep aku senang, mau marah siapa? Driver? Dapat apa kalau marah dia? Bukan orang yang lambat tu sepantas kilat sampai. So biarlah duduk diam-diam layan phone. Mesti ada sebab orang tu lambat pun. 

#5 Pwetty

And we arrived at the festival after an hour. Orang pun belum ramai. Turun bas, kena walkertapaki lagi. Bila semua sudah ada, tour leader bagi briefing. We have to be in one line at the entrance. We cannot join other line else the ticket will be invalid. Gitulah lebih kurang yang aku faham. We can go on our own; explore the festival once we're stamped by the ticket inspector. 

#6 We entered the festival area via that 'tent' (left side)

Macam biasa, once inside...blur lagi. Both bingung which way to go first. Sebab bijak, we didn't even bother to take the festival map. Bagus kan perangai berdua. Jadinya pasrah jalan tanpa arah tujuan. Janji sudah sampai. Insha Allah jumpa jalan keluar. Oh by the way, we're given 2 hours to explore & we have to gather back with the rest in front of the exit gate. When you join a tour, ni lah benda paling aku gigit kuku. Time. Limited. Tapi sebab kau sendiri yang malas kan, so sila simpan segala complain.

Malas bebel banyak, kita layan gambar jaklah. You can read more about this festival here.

#7 These represents the temples in China (I don't know which temple though).

 

#10 Some famous building I guess but couldn't recall which one

#11 This sculpture is among my favourite. Especially dedicated to those in the kitchen. 

 

#14 Alhamdulillah. Thank You Allah for this opportunity. Dream came true!

#15 Struggle juga ambil gambar dalam ni. Almaklumlah camera bukan canggih. So dapatlah silhouette jak regardless how you pose nor smile widely. 

#16 This represent some Chinese tale story. I read on the plaque & it says Dandelion. Nasiblah yang tu ada Ingrish

#17 Very the beautiful & intricate carving

 

#19 IP Man?

#20 Yup, those stairs were made from ice. So you can imagine how cold it was in Harbin right? Boleh maintain tangga tu from Dec to late Feb.

#21 Went up just to get this view

#22 View from above. Sis cuba ambil gambar yang stable & less shadow; obviously failed. 

#23 Sculpture tribute to their athletes who participated in the Olympics 

#24 Another Olympics-theme sculpture

#25 Paddle pop, anyone?

 

#27 My MOST favourite of all the sculptures that night. Those dangling diamond-like ice cubes are connected with each other via some string (I don't know what kind)

We did play some of the games but because all the pictures turned out super blurred, I decided to just keep them for my sake. Ndak payahlah beria tunjuk sini kan. 

#28 Yup, those are sculpture of the Great Wall China

This place is massive. Like, every corner we went aren't the same. Nasib jumpa jalan keluar & we completed the exploration in 2 hours. We skipped some places (had to) due to time constraint. But we enjoyed nevertheless. Tu yang penting. Berbaloilah bayar entrance fee mahal. 

For your information, day & night ticket are sold separately. Of course the night ticket  (starts at 12pm - 9pm) cost more than the day ticket. 

#29 One for the album

Actually lama juga melepak di exit gate tu. Tunggu jemaah lain yang belum jumpa jalan keluar. 

"Kalau tau ada je yang lambat, baik kita main lama sikit kat dalam tadi"

Gitu luahan travel partner. Tapi apa boleh, kita sudah selamat di luar. And mau masuk balik, kena beli tiket baru pula kan. Hence bertabahlah redha, menunggu sambil kuis snow.  

#30 And terhasil lah yang ni dalam kebosanan menunggu tu. 4 tahun sudah berlalu *hahahaha*

Bila semua jemaah lengkap, maka walkertapaki lagi pi parking untuk naik chartered bus. The bus dropped us at Saint Sophia, then kami walkertapaki lagi pi hotel. Penat gila memang dinner di bilik jaklah. Masak maggi. Paling senang untuk sang pemalas macam kami. 

End of Day 2 in Harbin. The next day would be our last day in Harbin before we departed to Beijing at 3pm. Being said that, we still have time to explore the city in the morning.

Yang tu sambung next entry. 

Till then, wassalam.

eryantierdabdulkarim