Harbin: Part I

I have arrived in Harbin (and after a little bit of wandering around in the tundra I even found my hostel)!!!! First impression - holy god, it's cold. I didn't really have an appreciation for the Siberian winter conditions until I stepped out of the train and felt the moisture in my nose freeze instantly. We're not just talking "brrr, its cold"-type cold. We're talking about the kind of cold that people die in... Also, note to self: next time remember to buy a pair of boots before entering -20 degree conditions. Anyways, I rolled in around 6pm, so all I've done so far is take a bus to the boondocks, find my hostel, and stuff my face with dumplings. Tomorrow I'll find out if Harbin lives up to the hype.

Ok, I should also discuss my recent train ride. First of all, the car was packed to full capacity (I snapped some pictures, but they won't be up on the blog of another day or two...) Everybody was heading home for the "Spring Holiday" (which occurs in the winter) and people seemed to be in a pretty jolly mood. I sat in a section with 4 ladies (and my seat partner turned out to be a PhD English student - convenient...) I spent most of my time reading, trying to sleep in 15 minute intervals, and chatting about all sorts of bizarre topics with people nearby. My favorite conversation involved Nancy telling me the story about "Redcap and the Wolf". It took about 15 minutes of dedicated story-telling before I realized she was trying to tell me the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Haha. Anyways, here are some stats from my train ride:

Time in transit: 33 hours 12 minutes
Time sleeping: approximately 3 hours
Pages read: 542
Instant Soups Consumed: 6
Number of times I was asked what country I was from: at least 20
Number of cigarettes smoked secondhand: infinity

All in all, it was a pretty interesting and informative experience. I got to chat with a bunch of Chinese people in English and broken Chinese and it provided further motivation to improve my language skills. Ok, time for some quality sleeping!

- Jon