First getaway in China- Harbin!

It's technically Ha'erbin...


Nathan had some business in Harbin so we decided to tag along. Harbin is located about 350 miles northeast of Shenyang. In the winter, it is a very popular vacation destination even with international visitors because of the famous ice festival. But it is a nice place to visit in the summer as well. There is a lot of interesting architecture (Russian influence), tons of restaurants, and lots of things to see and do in general. The weather was perfect, about 10 degrees cooler than in Shenyang with no humidity. It was sunny and mid 70s the whole time we were there.


Why the Russian influence? I don't know the entire history so I'll hand it over to Wikipedia for a second here. "Harbin is China's northernmost major city, with a population in excess of 10 million, and over 4 million in the city center alone. Historically, the city has been influenced a lot by neighboring Russia, in particular after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the White Russians, Russians who supported the czarist state, escaped the newly formed Soviet Union. The influence remains clearly visible in the building styles and foods."


We took a high speed bullet train which took about 2.5 hours to get there. At the Shenyang station, they had a cool little kids' play area so we were grateful to give our kids a chance to run around before having to sit for a few hours.


I had my first squatty potty experience at the train station. AT THE TRAIN STATION, where thousands of people cycle through every day, of all places... but it was either that or wait to go in the train. (I have an irrational fear of public bathrooms, even back in the States. I may even be known to have said that I'd rather pee my pants than use a public bathroom...or wear Depends...) It was not a pleasant experience by any means, but I survived.


Helpful hint: when traveling in China, always carry your own toilet paper and hand soap if you can. At the very least, hand sanitizer.


I was at first nervous about riding a train here. I heard horror stories about Chinese trains being filthy, people spitting everywhere, toddlers in split pants peeing everywhere, food scraps... but this train was very clean and it was a smooth ride. The kids did great, thanks again to the iPod, iPad and art supplies.


We stayed at a Holiday Inn right at the beginning of the walking street. The walking street (Zhongyang Dajie 中央大街) is a pedestrian-only street bursting with shops and restaurants. It was very charming, with cobblestone lined road and all.


The hotel was nice. Great service, and newly renovated. We had a suite but no pull out couch in the living room. I guess Chinese hotels don't really have to cater to families bigger than 3 people much. But the couch was big and both boys slept on it just fine. Nathan and I slept in the king sized bed in the bedroom and we put Karis's crib in the bathroom! Don't worry, it was spacious and clean. Maybe it sounds cruel but it worked out because it was dark and quiet in there. She is used to sleeping with some white noise and the bathroom fan was not loud enough. So I moved the alarm clock with a iPod docking station in there and bought a white noise track on iTunes for $0.99. I put it in repeat and she was good to go.


We got a chance to visit the Tiger park, where supposedly over 1000 tigers and lions live. I don't know about that... we didn't see nearly that much. We got into a caged bus and basically had a mini-safari. We saw a good amount of tigers and lions pretty close up. In the States we'd see tigers and lions at the zoo but they were far away and hard to see. Not so here! After the mini-safari, we walked around a circular building lined with caged windows where tigers lounged in the central courtyard. You could pay money to have the workers throw in live animals to feed to the lions. They had everything from chickens to cows. I guess chickens were a popular choice because the whole courtyard was littered with feathers. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) no one in our group paid money to throw in live food.


Traveling with 3 kids isn't ever easy but we had a lot of fun. I wish Nathan and I would have had a chance to try more of the food but we got our fill of pizza, McDonalds and KFC instead.



Any guesses as to what this is? It's an outdoors Russian bar. I was hoping it was a kids' play area...








People are always intrigued by our kids. Not many hybrids in these here parts.




Nathan's coworkers told him we HAD to try these handmade ice creams. We asked, "How would find the ice cream shop?" They said "You'll know." And so we did. It was the place with a massive crowd out front.




Lots of live musicians at night.






Random Mickey Mouse.




Saint Sophia Cathedral








Pigeons out front, just like in front of any beautiful church. Joshua thought they were turkeys.


In the caged bus.

The gas station loves me

Getting gas here is a little different than in the states.  Here it's full service, no ifs, ands or buts.  (Fine with me!)  When you pull up, you can either give the gas attendant (who walks around a big fanny pack stuffed with cash) the amount of money you'd like to spend or just have him fill it up and give him the amount afterwards.  I keep forgetting how to say "fill it up" in Chinese.  I've had my ayi (helper/housekeeper) with me in the car and she has handled it all for me.  Spoiled, I know.

We now have a gas card which is a discount/debit card of sorts.  We fill it up periodically and just have the gas attendant swipe it and we punch in a pin number.  We end up saving 17-18%, not too shabby.  I'm not sure if it's only for foreign diplomats or available to everyone.

To get a receipt, you have to physically walk in to the gas station and ask for one.  It's very much like the ones in the States- they double as a small convenience store/snack bar.  But instead of hot dogs and breakfast sandwiches that sit in warmers all day, they have things like dumpling soup and noodles!  Awesome.  My ayi has gone in to get the fapiao for me each time and each time she walks out with some sort of a gift.  It's the gas station's way of thanking me for buying so much gas!  They have vans here in Shenyang, but usually not as big as my Honda Odyssey so I guess paying for much as I do to fill up is unusual.

The first time, I got two small towels.  The second time, I got a couple of small packs of laundry detergent.  This last time I got 8 small bottles of Pepsi!

I'm not sure how much gas is.  Nathan told me that it's about 6.5 quai per liter, which comes out to about $1 per liter, which is like $5/gallon?  I'm drawing a blank as to how much gas was the last time I was in the states, but I think $5/gallon is a bit pricey.  But then Nathan's guess may be wrong.  After all, he's never been with me when I went to fill up.

I usually fill up when my tank is 1/4  to 1/8 full.  It has cost me anywhere between 450 quai to 700 quai to fill up, which is around $75-$116.67.

So the next time I fill up, it'll be my first time using the gas card.  I can't wait to see what freebie I get this time!  I feel like they just keep getting better and better.

Speaking Chinese

I've been taking Chinese lessons for about 3 months now and am so grateful for the progress (however little) that I have made.  At first I was skeptical.  A 2 hour lesson once a week?  Like that's ever going to teach me anything.

But it has!  I love my teacher.  She is so well prepared, patient and funny.  She always has a Chinese joke to tell me that relates to the new vocab we are learning.  Yesterday she told me a joke about 2 bananas walking down the street... and I was able to translate.

The best thing about learning Chinese has been the way it has helped me practically.
*I can now go to the grocery store and ask where the spinach is.  No clearly labeled triple washed baby spinach leaves here, remember?  The 菠菜 sits among its other green cousins who look a whole lot like him.  And I don't know my characters so it's not like I can just read the signs.
*I can talk about my kids.  Yes all 3 are mine.  Here are their ages.
*I can talk about myself.  I am American.  (They usually don't believe me, staring at me in disbelief.)  Fine, I'm Korean.  (That usually gets me a nod of satisfaction.)
*I can ask how much something costs.
*I can ask if I can try something on at a clothing store.
*I can throw in a few words to accompany my pointing at a picture menu when ordering at a restaurant.

And today, I asked for directions.  There is some heavy duty road construction going on in front of our neighborhood so we have to be creative in finding other ways home if need be.  Lately we have had to pass our exit and keep going on the main road towards the airport, make a u-turn and take our exit coming from the other direction.  But tonight, my usual u-turn place was no more.  They had come up and put up barriers.  Not flimsy little flattened cones that we had driven over before.

Those jerks.

So I just kept going until I reached the airport.  Then I had no choice but to go to the parking lot.  I started to panic.  There was just no place to turn around.  I couldn't see the exit.  I got to the place where you get the tickets for the parking lot and saw a Chinese police man there.  I said in Chinese, "I want to return there (here I gestured back the way I came from), to 机场路 (airport road).  How do I get there?" He took a moment to look down at the diplomatic plates, saw that I was driving a Honda Odyssey (rare here), and registered my what I imagine to be a gringo accent.  Then got me a ticket in to the parking lot (which turned out to be free) and just pointed to the right direction (which involved lots of loops), didn't even bother with words.

I was so proud of myself!  If I were to ever get lost, I could always find my way back by asking someone for directions.  I can do this!  Bring it, Shenyang!!!

We are getting a GPS with downloadable international maps, just in case.
 

Shenyang driving rules

Yes, yes, I know.  Worst blogger ever.  I will try my best to update more.  Things have been crazy here, but in a good way.  Now that our car is here I've been out and about almost every day and by the time all three munchkins are in bed, I am too exhausted to do anything.

Driving in Shenyang has been... a lot easier than I thought.  I have seen some crazy things here, but things don't seem as bad from the driver's seat.  I feel like I'm already anticipating the local drivers' tendencies.  I've learned to drive both more aggressively than ever AND defensively than ever.  How is that even possible?  Just try driving in Shenyang.

So based on my limited observations from driving here in the last few weeks or so, my version of Shenyang driving rules.

1.  Wearing a seat belt is for losers.  Why do you think half of the cars don't even come installed with seat belts in the back seat?
2.  Don't bother turning on your headlights when it rains, when it's cloudy, or during dusk.
3.  White dashed lines are meant to be straddled, not to be driven in between.
4.  Feel like taking a nap?  Or involved in a really intense conversation?  Please, by all means, stop the car and do what you need to do.  It's OK if you're in the middle lane on the highway.
5.  Do not leave more than 5cm of space between you and the car in front of you, because you WILL be cut off.
6.  If you see 5cm of space in the lane next to you, you must swing on over.
7.  Using a turn signal is a total waste of time and energy.
8.  Having only one left turn lane cramping your style?  Go ahead and pull up in the next lane and create your own.
9.  Sure, it's totally fine to make a u-turn from the far right lane.  (This is actually legal here...)
10.  Oops!  Did you miss your exit?  Or turn on the wrong street?  Go ahead and drive against traffic or backwards, no problemo.
11.  Don't check both ways before turning onto the street.  They'll stop for you or swerve to avoid you.
12.  Do not check your blind spot when switching lanes.
13.  Needless to say, traffic lights and signs are merely suggestions.

I'm exaggerating.  Not everyone drives like this here.  But I have seen everyone single one of those examples listed above, on multiple occasions.

And to think I used to be nervous to drive in downtown DC.