Harbin Day 5

Now back in Beijing for a day of shopping! We went to The Plaza and the Silk Market to do some shopping and had wonderful Chinese food for lunch where they serve the best dumplings. We stayed at Marco Polo Parkside Hotel and our rooms were spacious and super cozy. We would have wanted to stay longer in Beijing but since we availed the services of a travel agency, we couldn't change the itinerary and flight details. Before we knew it, it was time to go. The trip was super enjoyable, and the memories I made were one-of-a-kind. Plus, it was my first time to see snow!

Definitely looking forward to my next trip in March!

Harbin Day 4

Up early today to ride the snowmobile to Yangcaoshan mountain. The ride was exhilarating and scary because of the unexpected twists and turns! It was so much fun! The view up the mountain was amazing, definitely worth suffering the cold for. Lol.

We rode the snowmobile again going down the mountain and had to walk the entire stretch of China Snow Town to get to our hotel taking photos along the way. We then checked out from the hotel, had a quick lunch, and rode a bus going to Mudanjiang Airport for our flight to Beijing.

Harbin Day 3

After breakfast, we checked out from Sheraton Hotel in Harbin and went on a 6.5-hour bus ride to China Snow Town stopping by a ski resort along the way for lunch. We were informed by our tour guide that we would be walking the entire stretch of China Snow Town for 20 to 30 minutes in the freezing cold with our luggage in tow to get to our hotel. Surprisingly, the walk wasn't as bad as expected. Although the cold was sometimes difficult to bear, it was quite fun actually! The houses and shops looked adorable with snow covering their roofs. It was interesting to see street vendors selling frozen fruits and ice cream no longer needing a freezer-- the goods were just placed on tables! 

We arrived at the hotel late afternoon and had little time to go around the village before dinner starts. We still did anyway. Lol. 

Harbin Day 2

Now this is when the fun begins! This day was pretty exciting because our itinerary was packed with lots of places to visit. But before going anywhere, we had to have our winter gear ready. Apparently, everything we brought from Manila weren't enough for Harbin's subzero temperatures. We had to make a quick stop at a local store selling winter clothes to buy thicker ones. 

We then headed to St. Sophia Cathedral (this used to be an Orthodox church and was now turned into a museum), had lunch at an Irish restaurant, visited Sun Island, dropped by the Harbin Opera House, enjoyed a hotpot dinner at an ice room at Shangri-la Hotel Ice Palace, and went to the Grand Ice and Snow World.

Harbin Day 1

I noticed I haven't posted photos for most of my travels last year (Bali, Cebu, etc) so I want to make sure I post about my Harbin trip this time. Sorting photos take forever and editing them one by one is sooo time consuming that I'd rather lie in bed and watch Supergirl or HTGAWM. Eventually I decided to post photos here without editing them cause I'm just too lazy. Lol.

Okay, so on to my trip: we spent the first day of our trip in airports. There is no direct flight to Harbin so we had to take a connecting flight via Beijing. We had a lot of time to kill at Beijing airport so I took the liberty of walking around the huge airport. Saw some interesting things here and there (indoor garden anyone?). The day was exhausting but hey, at least we arrived safe and sound!

Life Updates

(Image from google.com)

Some updates about me:

1. I danced in front of a lot of people-- in a panda costume no less! Oh my gosh-- I still can't believe I did it! Okay, one thing about me is I'm very bad at dancing. I guess all the zumba classes I attended paid off because the people who saw me dance said I did good. I still get embarrassed thinking about it. Lol.

2. Arrived in Legazpi yesterday after a week long stay in Manila. My scheduled flight to Legazpi was two days ago. Everything was going smoothly until the pilot announced that we couldn't land in Legazpi because of the strong winds. We had to go back to Manila and reschedule our flight BUT the next available flight was Friday and I could no longer extend my stay in Manila because I was already gone for far too long. I decided to reroute my flight to Naga (there were available seats for the flight yesterday) and took a two hour land trip to Legazpi. It was completely exhausting. But I'm glad I made it home safe and sound!

3. Booked a trip to Harbin this December. Something to look forward to!