Travelling on

During the night the slight tickle I'd had in my throat morphed into something more. Jade slept with me again (in a single bed) as she'd had a fever at the Ice Festival. We're also sleeping in the hardest beds we've come across in China. I swear we have only a thin layer of covering over a wooden base to sleep on. On top of that our room is hot and stuffy even when we turn the heat down. We have to turn it totally off in order to sleep comfortably but then the room gets stuffy and that gives me a headache.





Anyway, during the night I developed a fever and body aches. This is what the kids have had but it took me getting it to finally realise what it was--the flu. The one shot we didn't have before our trip was a flu shot. I struggled through the night then early in the morning I got a face cloth and wet it for my forehead and went to the other room and slept in Jade's bed. I felt very weak and extremely tired. I had no interest in getting up or eating or anything other than sleeping and I had no idea how I was going to manage getting down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast never mind packing my bag, going to the airport and flying. Paul took the kids down to breakfast. Jade was totally recovered from the previous evening and was bright and bouncy again. I dragged myself down about 15 minutes later and ate a tiny bowl of cereal and a glass of juice. Then I went back up to the room and laid down on the bed again while Paul and the kids packed the bags and made ready to be picked up at 11. My illness meant that I hadn't gone back to the Russian shop next to the hotel to get a Babushka doll.





Fortunately we had arranged for a transfer to Harbin's Taiping Airport because I know I couldn't have coped with the whole exercise of getting a taxi. Since I'd taken panadol at breakfast I began to feel much better and was OK by the time our van arrived. We had a guide, Catherine, arranged by OCDF but she had never been with an adoptive family (or even another family with kids) before so was very curious about us. Her English was OK but not at the standard of that of other guides. I think the guides with better English go to other cities in China where there is more demand.





When we got to the airport there were long queues to check in (well long for a little airport like this) and we were evidently running a bit late because our flight time had been changed--and we hadn't been told! I hate to say it but another black mark for OCDF from us. Even our guide Catherine was unaware of the time change for our flight. I've just checked the Harbin departures website for yesterday and our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:35 instead of 1:15--ie 40 minutes earlier. We should have been informed of this. Thankfully we had Catherine with us to barge into the check-in queues and rush our bags onto the plane. If we'd been on our own we might have missed our flight. We farewelled her and then went through security still unaware of our scheduled departure time. I went looking for a toilet and found a small gift stall with--yes--Babushka dolls! So I got my doll after all. A bit of a strange souvenir from China!

My doll still unopened. Evidently there are 7 dolls in all.

We then walked to our gate where everyone was lined up already. When we got on we found the plane was just over half full. For some reason the four of us weren't seated together. Two of us were in row 21 seats E and G, one was in row 23 seat E and the last in row 24 seat C. With such an empty plane we don't know why we weren't seated together. The kids were the ones in row 21 and as we discovered there was no F seat so they were together. Still a child should be seated with an adult for safety during the flight. Anyway we swapped seats and I sat next to Jade in row 21 and Paul swapped so that he and Jarrah were effectively together with only the aisle between them. There was one other foreign family on the flight and they were also separated. When I sat down there was a middle-aged woman sitting next to me. Her seat was originally the aisle seat but she swapped with me and Jade so Jade was on the aisle and I was next to her. (This was in a 4 seat middle section of an Airbus 300.) I don't think this woman had ever flown before because she had her tray table down and also paid extremely close attention to the flight safety demonstration. Then when she saw us put our bags under the seat in front of us made a comment that--oh, you can do that! (She said something to this effect in Chinese.) Just as the plane was taxiing she jumped up from her seat and dashed off to change her seat again. From what Paul has said many people were swapping seats left and right after the plane closed its doors.

We had an uneventful flight and landed in Pudong Airport in Shanghai. Because of my illness and just general tiredness from the kids we discussed trying to get back to Australia early. In Shanghai we rang Singapore Airlines to find out that this wouldn't be possible--all flights to Melbourne between now and next Tuesday were fully booked. Instead we decided to cut our time in Shanghai short and have a Singapore stopover. So we are now leaving China early on the 24th for Singapore.

St. Sophia's Cathedral and another visit to the Ice Festival

The night before we went to the Siberian Tiger park Jade came into my room complaining of a fever. We don't have a thermometer with us but I could see she was feverish. I gave her some panadol and got her to strip off to her undies to try to cool down. It looks like she's got the same illness that Jarrah came down with last Friday in Beijing. By the morning she was fine. I decided to start both kids on the antibiotics we brought with us, not really knowing if they would do any good but figuring they wouldn't do any harm either.

Today both kids were tired and run-down so we decided to leave them in the hotel room playing DS and computer (I'll say again the laptop has been a godsend!) while Paul and I went out for a couple of hours to walk around Harbin. We left them with one of the Panda phones so they could contact us if needed. We haven't used the second Panda phone that much as mine has served as the main contact phone for friends and tour guides but the second one has come in handy the few times we have separated to do different things.

Paul and I walked about 7 or 8 blocks to see one of the sights of Harbin--the Russian styled church of St. Sophia. The cathedral no longer operates as a house of worship. Now it is an art gallery displaying photos of historic Harbin.

Outside the church of St. Sophia--that's me in the red jacket

Paul inside the church

The church is in dire need of restoration. Much of the interior paintwork and even the plasterwork is gone. Despite hearing about Harbin's Russian connections we haven't seen one Russian face since we've been here. Even the salespeople in the Russian giftshops (where I have been shopping for a Babushka doll) are all Chinese. Supposedly there are a few thousand Russians in Harbin who came here during the Russian revolution.

The kids called while we were out so we headed back to the hotel to check on them and rest up for a second visit to the Ice Festival.

By late afternoon Jade wasn't feverish and was sure she wanted to go to the ice festival so we grabbed a taxi and headed off for a few hours. We went to the ice chair skating first as she had wanted to do this again since the first time in Beijing. The chairs here were single ones and the ice was covered with snow and this made it hard going. In her weakened state Jade found she didn't have the energy to push the chair and gave up. The rest of us had a go as well but with the snow I also found it tough going. Jarrah and Paul also did the ice bikes while Jade and I watched. Then Jarrah and Paul went to the long ice slide where they had to queue to go down it. The minimum age for this was 14. Paul offered to take Jade with him but she and I went into the Nescafe hut for a hot chocolate instead. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the boys to come back. In that time we met up with an American couple who also had fled the cigarette smoke to the back of the hut. There are very very few foreigners in Harbin and most are in tour groups. The statistics for the ice festival are that 90% of the visitors are Chinese and 10% foreign. I think even the 10% mark is overrated.

I mainly wanted to revisit the ice festival to take more photos as my camera battery had given up the previous time. I later figured out that this was due to the cold rather than to me not charging it sufficiently. So this time I kept my camera inside my coat and only pulled it out to take a photo then quickly put it back inside my coat.

Unfortunately it soon became obvious that Jade's fever had returned and that she was very sick so after about 2 hours we left the ice festival, got in a gypsy cab with another group of people and returned to the hotel.

Here are more ice festival photos:

beautifully lit up 'trees'

This series of 3 photos gives an indication of the changing nature of the lights on some of the sculptures.

Visiting the Siberian Tiger Park

The Siberian Tiger Park Gift Shop

Today we visited one of the main tourist attractions of Harbin--the Siberian Tiger Park. This park houses well over 100 tigers in a free-range environment. They are supposedly being raised for future release but the condition in which they live is not really a natural one. There are too many tigers in each enclosure and the way they are fed--either pieces of meat given to them through the bars by tourists or whole live animals delivered into their midst--is not one which will hone their hunting skills. This park is not so much a scientific breeding centre as the panda centre in Chengdu is. Rather it is a farm producing tigers for parts for Chinese traditional medicine. At this time there is a ban on the use of tiger parts so evidently any dead tigers are kept frozen in case of a future rescinding of the ban.

Now that we have all of that nastiness over with you can admire some of the photos of the tigers! (Travel through the park is by safari bus or on overhead walkways.)

Two tigers--a famous Chinese song!











We travelled to the tiger park by taxi. It was quite easy. The Harbin taxi drivers are wonderful!

Yesterday we had our first hot pot meal of the trip and we really liked it so we went back again for dinner tonight. We're just getting the hang of it but it is healthy (with plenty of roughage), warm, filling and cheap! We are thinking of getting a hotplate and hot pot to bring home with us.

Enjoying hot pot in Harbin

Harbin/Haerbin and the Ice and Snow Festival!

Me at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Yesterday we arrived in Harbin by train and made our way to our hotel--the Songhua Gloria Inn--near the Songhua River. We had the usual helpful people wanting to carry our bags by trolley when we got off the train but we turned them down and headed off. This was probably the easiest station we've arrived in as there were no stairs or other obstacles to manage our bags through. As we approached the exit doors we saw a huge crowd of people outside looking into the station--obviously not able to enter. We didn't know why they were waiting or whether they were all there to sell something but when we got outside we found ourselves mercifully free of sellers--no maps (we still haven't seen a tourist map of Harbin in English) or other items and only a couple of gypsy cab drivers. One even approached us at the taxi stand and said he had a taxi but the one he pointed to already had a driver. Cheeky! We went out into the taxi ranks--the taxis were lined up about 5 ot 6 deep--and the first one we approached jumped out of his cab to open the boot and put our bags in. No asking us where we were going, no 'being on a break', no refusing to take us. Thank God we're out of Beijing!!!!

At the hotel we had an additional stuff up. The Danish group were checking in and the staff behind the counter were very busy and ignored us for a while. I got our passports out (which you need to show in China to check in) and tapped them on the desk. I wanted the staff to know we weren't with the Danish group. Finally one of them looked up and went to check our booking. She was unable to find a booking in our name! But it turned out that their sister hotel--the upmarket one--was next door and possibly that was where we were booked into. So Jade and I walked outside and around to the other hotel to find that we weren't booked in their either! Uh oh! Hotel-less in fully booked Harbin during the Ice Festival. I rang the travel agent in Beijing and asked her what had happened. She checked with her staff member who had made our travel arrangements and called me back. It turned out we were booked into the hotel we had first gone to but not under our name but under the name of the travel agency, OCDF. She also rang the hotel to tell them this. Jade and I walked back to the hotel and we all checked in, relieved.

Our hotel is not at all of the standard of the other three we've stayed in but it is comfortable and very conveniently located. We have rooms next to each other but not adjoining. The hotel (and its restaurant) do not have non-smoking rooms/areas (this seems to be a foreign concept here) but our rooms are not smoky. After getting to our rooms we rested up for the morning then went out to look around in the afternoon. We are just near the Songhua River and there are many activities there available--large ice slides, dog sleds, pony and coach rides, ice chair skating, ice biking, etc. It was difficult to just go out and have a look as we had all sorts of sellers after us--ladies with various knitted beanies and mittens, others selling pony and carriage rides. We walked around a bit including past Zhonghai Park which had Disney-themed ice carvings then returned to our rooms to prepare for the evening.

At 6:30 our friends John and Emma whom I knew from Monash University (John was my language exchange partner for two years and Emma is his girlfriend who also studied there) came to pick us up go take us to the Ice and Snow Festival--the really big festival of ice carvings. We had a fantastic two and a half hours there. The place is unbelievable--much bigger and better than I had imagined. I also didn't realise that the lights in the carvings flashed several colors. We rode ice bikes--harder than it looks--and the kids and John and Emma slid down many of the slides. I had a problem with my camera as it lost charge maybe due to the cold (it was getting down to minus 20C overnight) so I ended up taking some photos with the kids' camera and they didn't come out so well because it was snowing. (The flash caught the snowflakes.) I want to go back again and take more photos and I'm sure the kids want more sliding time!!!!

I'm getting a bit tired of writing so I'll let the photos speak for themselves!

The Entrance to the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Inside the entrance gate to the festival

The fantastic sculptures at the ice festival




One of the smaller sculptures. The lighting changed color from red to blue to green.

A Day of Waiting and Uncertainty

Yesterday, Saturday was the day we were to take the overnight train to Harbin but the lead-up to the journey wasn't as easy as we thought it was going to be. Saturday morning rolled around and we still didn't have our train tickets. We phoned our travel agent several times and were told that she had someone who was standing in line at the station trying to buy our tickets. She hoped they'd have them soon. Then we got a call that the person buying the tickets had managed to get three of them scattered all over the train and they were trying to get the fourth ticket. She kept expressing optimism that everything would work out. By this time Paul at least was beginning to have doubts. We checked the internet to see if flying was an option but all flights to Harbin were fully booked until after 10pm the next day so we were committed to the train.

Just before 12 noon, our check out time, we got a call that the person buying the tickets had finally got a fourth ticket. So we were all on the same train but all separated into different carriages and sleeping cabins--obviously not the result we had booked or were expecting. Still we were told by the agent that she and another staff member would meet us at the station and help us to exchange our tickets with other passengers so that we could all be together--or at least so that we could be two and two--one child with one parent. We checked out of the hostel and put our bags in storage. We had hoped to meet up with our friends the Turners again before we left Beijing but the uncertainty over our ticketing and Jarrah's illness made us decide to wait in the hostel's restaurant for the afternoon. It was a pretty boring and uncomfortable time. At 6:30 our friend Henry arrived to drive us to the station. He found a place to park right in front and helped us with our bags. We rang the travel agent and met her inside the station after going through the security screening process. She took us to one of the waiting rooms to sit until closer to boarding time. We tried to chat with Henry as this would be the last time we would see him for a long time but it wasn't the relaxed send-off that we had planned on.

Beijing Railway Station at night

Finally it came time for boarding and the ticket swapping exercise. It turned out that at least one of the tickets we held was in carriage 3 and others were in carriages 13 and 14. So the agent had a job ahead of her trying to convince someone in carriage 14 to swap all the way down the train to carriage 3! Most people seemed to be travelling solo so that at least made the swapping process easier. We just tried to stay out of the whole thing and let the agent and her co-worker do all the work and worry. Finally she had us two and two and in adjoining cabins--a workable solution. She left us at this point as neither cabin's other occupants had arrived. (We had arranged for early boarding to make the swapping process easier.) When the other occupants arrived we first swapped Jade in with Jarrah and me. Then finally we asked the last occupant of the cabin with three of us if she would swap and let Paul come in. She readily agreed--possibly to her detriment as she went into a cabin with a baby who cried during the night.


Our train trip was lovely and uneventful. There was no morning wake-up coffee as the train from Xian to Beijing had had. Still we were happy the whole exercise had worked out and that our journey had continued as we had wanted it too.


The reason for the difficulty the agent had with obtaining tickets is due to the demand for train tickets in the lead-up to the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. We certainly knew that travel was difficult at this time--which was why we had made our travel arrangements eight months ahead of time and pre-booked train and plane tickets. All of this doesn't seem to matter, however, when it comes to the train. I don't understand why overseas tourists who have pre-booked tickets are placed in the same position as locals who haven't when it comes to the availability of train tickets.

Sign on the side of the carriage

Our train had a large group--maybe one or two carriages full--of a Danish tour group. I imagine that they didn't have the same difficulties we had in obtaining their tickets. Is the Chinese government only concerned about making travel arrangements for overseas groups smooth but not those for individuals or families? Hopefully others who travel at this time of year in the future won't have to go through the worry and uncertainty and inconvenience that we did.

Oh, one other comment about the train. When we arrived in Harbin at 7:04am we were a bit slow in gathering up our things and getting off the train--reasonable with two kids, one of whom tends to take their time in moving. One of the train staff came repeatedly and banged on the window, angrily telling us to get off the train. Once was OK. But he came back again and again-seemingly at 30 second intervals--getting angrier and angrier each time. Finally I yelled back at him that we had two kids and he was making one of them cry. I don't think he really cared. It seems that Chinese trains only allow 5 minutes or so for all passengers to get off before they are taken away for cleaning for the next trip. If you are on your own with one bag that's not a problem. But just try to get kids moving and several bags off in that time!

Beihai Park

The white pagoda, a landmark in Beihai Park

Last night Jarrah woke up with a fever and he seems to be coming down with a cold. Luckily I have plenty of medicine to cover this! In the morning Jade complained that her feet were tired from all the walking so Paul and I decided to leave the two of them in the room while we went out. I wanted to have a look at Beihai Park as it has been one of the talking points in my Chinese classes over the years and we hadn't seen it last time. We took a taxi to the northern gate of the park. About 60% of the park is covered by a lake and there are quite a few buildings within it as well. Many were built by the Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century. He seems to have done quite a bit of building in many areas we've visited.

The main focus of the park other than the lake is the white pagoda on the top of the hill on Jade Islet. The pagoda was presented to the Emperor by the Dalai Lama in the 1700s. At its base is a Tibetan Buddhist Temple.

There is limited chair ice skating at the base of the pagoda and we also had the option of using an ice bicycle to cross the lake. We opted out because we weren't sure if we had to return the bike to where we rented it. We also thought that 30Y just to cross the lake was a bit expensive.

It was about 1:30 when we finished seeing the park and were then faced with the usual situation trying to get a taxi to take us back to the hostel. The ones parked in the car park outside the park gate were all on a break and they sent us across the road. We ended up walking to the back of the Forbidden City where we tried a couple of taxis there and were also refused. A motorised rickshaw (like a motorbike with a box with a benchseat inside it on the back) came along and told us 30Y. I bargained with him and clearly said 15Y in Chinese and he motioned for us to get in. This was our first experience in this type of vehicle. When we got to the corner of our street I gave him the money and thanked him. He started to argue that we owed him 30Y and got out of this vehicle to argue further. We just walked off. How predictable and tedious!

Back at the hostel we met up with our friend Chris, the English teacher who is also going to Harbin, and I had a chat with him. We exchanged phone numbers and are going to try and catch up with each other at the Ice Festival.

We rested for the remainer of the day. We still don't have our train tickets but are being reassured that we will get them tomorrow. How last minute can things get? If the Chinese government want foreigners to come to China then there have to be better arrangements for those of us who book trips 7 and 8 months ahead of time. Surely we have priority in getting our tickets over the locals who are trying to get them on the spot? Fingers cross for tomorrow!

CCAA visit and shopping on Wangfujing Street

Building where the CCAA is located

This morning we taxied to the new location of the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs )where we were scheduled to have a short tour with one of the staff. The building is a modern glass high rise and the CCAA and Bridge of Love Adoption Service occupy eight of the floors.

Outside the CCAA building

Sign on the building





Building directory showing the CCAA on the 11-16th floors

On our tour we viewed the area where files are received and logged in, the review department, matching department and the archive department. In the archive department we were able to see an example of an archived file. Some of the staff members we met had been to Melbourne as part of the 2007 CCAA visit and we recognized them from that time. They were glad to see Jade and how well she is doing and one person remarked that we looked like a family.

Active files in the logging in room

It was a privilege to be able to visit the CCAA and we are grateful for that.

After our visit we took the subway to Wangfujing Street and had some lunch. Paul and the kids then took a taxi back to our hostel so that the kids could rest a bit. They have been doing quite a bit of walking these past few days and wanted some 'down time' to rest and relax.

I took the opportunity to do some shopping. There is a tremendous amount of Olympic souvenirs still around. Some of it is large stuff for corporate buyers to purchase and display and some of it is small. The set of 5 Olympic mascots are going for a song now--90Y--and we have seen people everywhere carrying them home. I love looking at the traditional Chinese crafts but the amount of stuff available is overwhelming. When I get overwhelmed, especially when people are pressuring me to buy, I tend to come away with nothing. I did purchase a green knotted necklace with jade beads on it for a jade pendant I bought the last time we were in China. Later I bought 6 silk cushion covers for our family room. By the end of the day I was exhausted from all the walking. My I must be getting fit.