Harbin--Friday

Friday...Happy birthday Mr. Hu!  Up and went to breakfast at 8:00.  Headed to the airport at 10:00. We had to get on a bus to get out to the plane.  Once there the doors open on the bus and it is mass chaos getting on the steps to the plane.  Pushing and fighting for space.  Luckily we have Todd throwing blocks for us.  Buckled up and we start moving.  We all fell asleep.  Cameron woke up and said "We are still on the ground?". I thought we had fallen asleep for 5 minutes but it was an hour. Ugh!  We didn't get clearance so we were waiting.  Finally in the air.  1 hour 40 minutes later we were in Harbin.  Got in our van and drove to the hotel.  We noticed the buildings were different than any other parts of China we have been in.  Harbin has more of a Russian influence.  Kind of cool.

Trying some noodles in the lounge at the airport.

The cheese and lettuce sandwich I got.  Thank goodness it was free.

Can you believe these flowers bloom in 20 below zero weather?  They tape plastic flowers onto bushes.

We checked in and called Carrasco's who got in with Luz and Jose Luis about 2 hours earlier. We put our cold weather gear on and went out to play on the frozen Songhua River. After 30 minutes or so we went in so we could go to the lounge for food and drinks.

Alejandro and Cameron messing around.

Cameron and Alfredo are ready to go.  And sweating!

Out on the river.  Ice Festival is off in the distance.

Laying on the ice.

The bridge over the river.

Our hotel.

We were waiting for Will and Sharla to get in. 7:30 we were all ready to go to the ice festival. 
We pulled up, got out of our van, and we're amazed at how awesome this was.  HUGE, colorful buildings all made out of ice.  They cut the cubes of ice out of the river and they had to make snow this year.  We spent the next 2 hours sliding down slides, slopes, hills, etc. and looking at all the different ice buildings and snow sculptures.  It was really fun watching all our friends from Mexico enjoy the snow and ice with us.  This was their first experience and they loved it AND survived the cold.  We were all bundled up like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man but the Americans and the Canadians were less puffy.  Very funny.  The Ice Festival is like no other.  Truly amazing. 

Walking into the Ice Festival.

Happy to be in Harbin.

Sharla and Will.

Huge ice buildings.

The first slide we encountered.

This fox and his friend just sat on this box.

Cool snow sculpture.

The 3 pals having fun.

Huge building.

Sharla in the cutout.

Standing in an ice cut out.

This slide was fun.

Alejandro was loving everything.

Cameron at the end of the tube slide.

Pretty.

Cameron and Alfredo coming down together.

Todd and Cameron look like little people.

Another neat building.

Cool snow sculptures.

Ringing the bell for good luck.

The huge sign.

Hard to believe these are so cool.

Regular ice sculptures too.

Giant pirate snow sculpture.

I'd love to drink this beer.

Back to the hotel we were hungry.  We went to the hotel restaurant and ordered some food.  Then off to bed.

Waiting for our food with Sharla and Will.

Alejandro and Marcela love french fries.