Harbin Ice and Snow Festival 2012

After a week home (during which time Kenny flew to Seattle and back for one day's meeting), we headed to the airport again to fly to Harbin, China for their famous ice festival. It's the red "A" pin on the map which is included for my Dad and anyone else that can study a map like they're plotting the next Lewis and Clark expedition.

Per Wikipedia, Harbin is the 10th most populated city in China with the city being home to almost 6 million people and if you include the surrounding area the population is near 11 million. With it's proximity to Russia and being on the Trans-Siberian Railway route (called the China Far East Railway in China), there is a strong Russian influence. Japan occupied Harbin during WWII and the Soviet army took the city in 1945 handing control back over the China in 1946. Being under the influence of the winter wind from Siberia, it was COLD. We saw temperatures around -10 F (-23 C) at times. The boys handled it surprisingly well especially when there were ice slides they could play on. Thank goodness for the warming houses scattered throughout the festival.

Now for some temperature whiplash we are off to the beaches of Thailand on Saturday which is the beginning of the Chinese New Year holiday for the boys and Kenny.

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