Vacation comes to an end...

Friday and Saturday were the last two days of my parent’s Chinese vacation. If we could just get Chevy Chase to play my Dad, National Lampoon would have another blockbuster!

For their last two days, I had the days off, so we planned a trip to the Harbin Northern Forest Zoo and a final day down by the Songhua River with a gondola ride over the river. I have found a better place for my pictures online also. I have posted quite a few from the blog here, plus many more on my .mac account

You can find pictures from both the gondola and zoo adventure there, as well as some great photos from my entire journey!

The Zoo turned out to be a 1 hour drive Northeast out of Harbin, about half way to the ski area that we went to in January. Pei Ying’s cousin got a car from work and drove us out to the zoo for a small $50 fee. The zoo was enormous and you had to drive from exhibit to exhibit. We saw birds, cheetahs, panthers, dogs, wolves, elephants, bears, rhinos, monkeys and of course what the zoo is known for, the Tigers and Lions. They had 3 lion couples, two big tigers and three Siberian snow tigers (all white, the male had some black stripes). As is typical with the Chinese, the safety features were very minimal and we were able to get VERY close to the tigers, just behind one fence as close as a foot away from us at times. They were tough to get pictures of as they were pacing in their cages as we went entered. We were obviously close enough that they noticed and were acutely aware of our presence. The nice zoo keeper even fed one some raw meat while we were there. I was told that for a price we could purchase a live goat to watch them chase, kill and eat it if we wanted, ONLY IN CHINA! It was a great trip and we returned with all of our limbs and appendages, so we have that going for us. After the zoo, Pei Ying helped us to find a dumpling restaurant for my parents. After leaving one that only made dumplings with seafood in them, we found a nice restaurant near my parents hotel and had a nice meal.

More Zoo Photos

The following day, we headed back down to center street. We decided on a nice meal at Pizza Hut. It was the first time we had been to a Pizza Hut with a 15 minute wait for a table. But we got a nice seat looking out on center street and enjoyed a good meal. After lunch, we headed down the river walk to the Gondola. For a mere 50 Yuan ($6.25) we purchased round trip tickets across the Sonhua river. It was another great view of Harbin. We also saw a road of walking and biking people across the frozen river. After the ride, it was on to Walmart as we had yet to take my parents INSIDE the Chinese Walmart, a three-story mega store. After that, it was getting pretty late and my parents headed home to pack and get ready for their flight the next morning.

More Gondola Photos

They have since made it home safe and sound! We have been a bit delayed in our departure to Jia Mu Si, but tomorrow Tim and I will head up with Mr. Zhou or the “Short Man” as we call him. He is a much slower and safer driver than the “Tall Man,” so it should be a nice ride. We will arrive in time for the first game in the Heilongjiang Games.

Good night from Harbin!

"The Big World of Ice and Snow"

As promised this post will include my photos from the trip to the Harbin 7th Annual Ice and Snow Festival. It is nearly impossible to describe the magnitude of the festival. Not only were the sculptures themselves huge, but the number and expanse of different sculptures also took on a massive scale. You enter through a huge ice archway after paying the 110 Yuan to enter ($13.75 US). The park is filled with ice buildings, monuments and sculptures, including a huge sculplture of Buddha, Snoopy and the peanuts gang, a clock tower, a battleship and many others. All of the ice buildings are built at a scale that you can enter them and/or walk up their stairs. They had many ice activities for adults and children alike including skating, snowmobiling, tubing, luging, ice bumper cars, and my personal favorite the wind parachute plane which nearly runs down many people on each take off and landing, but allows the rider a view of the park from above. Keep in mind that we went at night and all these activities went on undeterred. However, the evening viewing was important as you can see below all the ice sculptures are internally lit. All in all it is an amazing and spectacular experience. Below are my photos:









































More and Bigger Ice Festival Photos

You can also see some professional photos of last year’s festival along with how the sculptures are made and some Harbin history at this website: http://www.rtoddking.com/chinawin2005_hb_if.htm

Coming soon to the blog... The family trip to the Northern Forest Zoo and the Gondola ride over the Songhua...

I am off again to Jia Mu Si tomorrow, goodnight from Harbin.

3 Losses, 1 Banquet and the Dragon Tower

We finished the tournament today with a 1-4 record against the young boys teams… a fairly disappointing result. We lost 6-0 to the stronger QiQiHar team on Monday, followed by a 6-3 loss to the weaker Harbin team (actually 4-3, with two empty net goals) and finally today we skated to a 2-1 loss to the only Jia Mu Si team in the tournament. We played very well at times, and very poorly at others, over the course of the week, still struggling to find our consistency.

Last evening after the game, the members of China hockey treated us to a Banquet to welcome my parents to Harbin. Coach Ji, Mr Zhou, Jenny and Mr. An joined Tim and I and my parents for the traditional “Hot Pot” dinner. Both of my parents very much enjoyed the meal, we kept the toasts to a minimum and my Dad was even daring enough to try the “devil wine” which he equated to drinking lighter fluid. I have not tasted lighter fluid, but I will take his word as I have tasted the “devil wine.”

After today’s game , we had some lunch and then headed to Dragon Tower looks like the Space Needle. You can see it below in the skyline as seen from my parents hotel and also from the base looking up.



We paid the $11 (US) to go up to the top and although it was very cold and windy we got a great 360 degree view of the city of Harbin which is indescribably large. The city spread out in all directions as far as we could see. At the top, there is also a revolving restaurant, which for $5 more we could have been seated. Also inside, at the entry level there is a three story atrium museum, and Harbin’s own Dinosaur exhibit, which our admission allowed us to visit also.

Here are some views of Harbin from above, clicking on them will give the bigger version…


Looking North towards downtown Harbin with the Songhua River further North.

Looking Northeast, the observant person can find the Ferris Wheel and the huge roof of the speed skating oval to its left in our Winter Sports Complex.


Looking Northwest as the sun sets, the Harbin golf course is in the foreground.

Good Night from Harbin, the Ice Festival pictures are coming soon….

Family, Ice & Snow and a BIG win!

It has been another couple days since I have posted. There is much going on here in Harbin to keep me busy. My parents arrived in Harbin on Friday night for a week plus of hockey and Harbin tourism. The team is competing in our second straight boys hockey tournament, this time with a little younger teams a bit closer to our skill level.

On Saturday, we lost to the Harbin boys team 7-2. We played well in the first (0-0), poorly in the second (4-0) and better in the third. After the game, we were whisked off to the Harbin Festival of Ice and Snow. A huge and amazing exhibit just north of the Songhua river. Harbin is actually most famous for this festival and people come from all over the world to see it. I will have to dedicate an entire post to it later, but for now it suffices to say it was huge and ver difficult to fully describe the magnitude of it. It is acres and acres of structures made entirely of ice and snow and lit up from the inside.

On Sunday, we won our first game since November (mostly because we have not played very many), 3-2. We defeated one of the two QiQiHar teams in the tournament. The game was an excellent finish to a mediocre performance, as we came back from down 2-0 to score 3 goals in a 5 minute stretch in the third period to win. After the game, we headed down to Center Street, the shopping/walking street in downtown Harbin. We walked down to the Songhua river. We stopped on the way for some pizza. We met up with Pei Ying and she brought us over to the famous Russian Church in Harbin, Sophia Church. And we finished the evening with a dinner. At dinner, we had some duck some vegetables some pork some beef and listened as PeI Ying and Tim made us laugh all night. They are quite the comedy team, many times with out even realizing it.

So, I leave you with the photo of the 5 of us at the Ice and Snow festival entrance. Yes, it is made entirely of ice!



Tomorrow we face the stronger of the two QiQihar teams, closer in level to the Harbin team we started the tournament with. Hopefully, if we play well, it will be a close game.

Rocket Bus

I am sorry it has been a while since I have posted. Catching up from a long week up north. Our final piece of the journey was the ride home from Jia Mu Si to Harbin. We traveled on a bus with the Harbin Men’s team. A few players went with the “Tall Man” and the equipment bus to make enough room for everyone.

We left around 8:00 am on Saturday morning on the big bus. After about 30 minutes of traveling to get through the Jia Mu Si traffic and out of the city we hit the highway. Our side of the highway was very rough, think cross-bronx expressway at its worst. The other side was newly paved.

Our bus driver put the pedal down anyway and we were off sometimes hitting huge pot holes tat about 75-80 mph, sometimes SWERVING around them at the same speeds. Occasionally, there would be a snow bank blocking our side of the road completely and a small opening in the guard rail with a small barely noticeable orange flag next to it. This apparently signals the road is closed for construction (although none was apparent) and we bolted through the hole in the guardrail at full speed into oncoming traffic in the north bound lane. There were no warning signs to signal this, no orange cones or jersey barriers to guide the traffic, just a hole in the guardrail and a snow pile in middle of the road.

Once in oncoming traffic, for the most part, drivers stayed on the right, but both sides passed traffic at will whenever someone slower was in front. We had three or four close calls trying to pass vehicles and having to swerve back into the right lane.

The most difficult thing to tell was when to go BACK onto your own side. There was the same small hole, and tiny flag, but nothing else on the road. We swerved at full speed through the hole in the fence a couple of times because the driver noticed it at the last minute, probably with the bus only on two wheels for a second.

We had to cross over and back twice during the harrowing, white knuckle ride home. We did make it home safely, but it was an unbelievable ride at amazing speeds. To top it off, at times the window was almost completely frosted over until the “spare driver” came over in front of the driver to wipe it off.

Half way back we stopped at a rest area for a bathroom break as there was none on the bus. It was nice to get some fresh air and catch our breath.

Back in Harbin now on solid ground. We begin our next tournament on Saturday, my parents arrive on Friday, so it will be a busy week.

Final Day in Jia Mu Si

We ended our tournament today in Jia Mu Si. We had a new schedule as they changed the game time to 2:00 p.m. We had our pre-game meal at 10:30 a.m. We were up around 8:00 for some stretching. Also, Tim got another dose of IV from Dr. Gao to complete his cold and fever treatment.

We got to the rink for the first time in daylight. It is a nice building from the outside, with the tournament banner hanging from the front.


Out back there were some kids playing on the outdoor rink and some shoveling of yesterday’s snow.


To the left of the outdoor rink there was also a speed skating oval. Inside the new rink, the natural light was enough to play by as there are huge windows in the ceiling and around the top level. They did not turn on any light during the game. However, it did create some sun glare on the ice.


Once the game began, it showed that we really had run out of gas at the end of the second period yesterday. It was 3-0 after the first and 5-0 after second period today. So, I made the decision to sit some of the better players in the third period, those who had stopped trying and were being a bit lazy. And, we were able to end on a strong note, winning the period 2-1, but losing the game 6-2.

Overall, it was a good six days as we finally got to play some games. The players learned the new breakout fairly well. They learned how to play defense against players who are bigger and stronger, and gained a little confidence in the process.

Tomorrow morning we take the bus home with the Harbin men’s team. Goodnight for the final time from Jia Mu Si.

Day 5 - Making Progress

Again we awake at 9:00 for breakfast. Spirits were much higher after scoring four goals. A couple players and Tim had gotten a cold an fever, so that was new.

Dr. Gao wanted to give Tim some Chinese medicine. Tim had found out in the past that he is allergic to Camomile, so he was leary. After some time on the internet with my Chinese language, we found that the flower in the Medicine was not the same. So, Tim was hooked up to an IV with the liquid. There were three separate bottles that had to drip into him. This happened over the course of about 3 hours. Afterward, his fever was gone and this evening he seems to feel much better.

I took another trip to the convenience store for some water. Again the younger lady was working along with her kid and dog.


But the big news was the game against the top team in the tournament so far, undefeated Jia Mu Si. We again used our new offensive style of play and threw them off much more than we had Harbin the night before. After 1 period, we were trailing 1-0. In the second it was more of the same. With about 5 minutes remaining in the second, we got our first powerplay. Zhang Ben tipped a nice shot by Qi Xueting by the goalie to tie the score at 1-1 and it would remain that way at intermission. In the third we seemed to run out of energy, but still held on to lose only 4-1, an excellent result against a strong men’s team. Our goalie, Shi Yao, played very well even stopping a penalty shot late in the third.

Tomorrow we have an early 2:00 p.m game time against QiQiHar. On Saturday morning we return to Harbin. Good night again from Jia Mu Si.

Jia Mu Si Tournament - Day 4

Breakfast at 9:00 am, Stretching, Pregame meal at 3:00 p.m. Meeting at 5:00 p.m. Warm-up next, head to the rink for on ice warm-up and then game four.

To break the monotony of that routine, I thought I would head outside for a walk in sunny Jia Mu Si today. It was very cold out and there was a decent strong wind. In spite of all that, many people were out and about. I headed down to the train station and into the big square. You can see the train station below:


Also, you can see a gazebo and some other businesses off the main square in Jia Mu Si below:


I walked back via a different route. The city of Jia Mu Si is a bit dirty as the snow piles are all covered in soot. For the most part the buildings are much older than in many places in Harbin also. After returning back to the Ba Yi Hotel, I went down the street to get some more water at the little store. I found a couple players in there picking up snacks. You can see Huo Cui below being helped by the lady who works there. A new lady today, but also very nice!


After my walk, I took a little nap before pregame meal. Like Bill Murray in groundhog day, I thought I would try some experimenting to change our luck. So, in the pregame meeting I changed our breakout to make us more offensive. Since we were already getting scored on a lot, we might as well have fun and get to play some offense today.

Well the outcome was better, as Harbin defeated us 12-4 today. Our new breakout generated many chances and two goals. We scored on the powerplay and also on the forecheck too. The girls seemed to have more fun today and learned a little something new.

Two more games and then we head home. I just found out this morning that we have changed our travel arrangements home and we will be traveling now by bus with the Harbin men’s team. Then, this afternoon, I found out they changed the game times here for Friday's games. You have to be flexible in this country as things can change any time.

From Jia Mu Si, goodnight!

Jia Mu Si Tournament - Day 3

Well, we have our own version of Bill Murray’s “groundhog day” going here. The same schedule today as yesterday and again the next three days. No matter what we try the outcome seems to end up the same.

We played much better for two periods (2-0 after one, 5-0 after two), but in the end the result was the same at 10-0. We have to readjust, try some new things and get through 3 rematches before heading home on Saturday.

Today was a pretty typical day. Lots of downtime, no banquets, pretty cold outside. I did manage a walk down the street to the small “convenience store” to get a few bottled waters. The lady recognized me from the other day and was very nice. The bottled water in her store is the cheapest I have found yet at 1 Yuan for a 600 ml bottle (about $0.12 US).

A couple of pictures from the Jia Mu Si rink, the first is the view from the goal judge chair, not really the best seat in the house and the second is Shi Yao and Tang Liang stretching before the game.

Jia Mu Si Tournament - Day 2

Today, we awoke at 9:00 am for breakfast. Then the players did some warm up and stretching. We were given a room to place the exercise bikes we brought with us. It also has a couple of workout machines in the room. After the stretching… the players had time to relax all day until the pregame meal at 3:00.

But this being China, the coaches had to attend a banquet at noon with the people from JiaMuSi hockey. It was actually an excellent banquet, not too much food, and it was pretty good. We met with the head of sports in Jia Mu Si and the head of hockey in Jia Mu Si and one of our players parents (Ding Xiao Lin). About two thirds of the way through, Coach Li arrived with two of his friends from Korea and the minimal toasting picked up considerably as we added a third language to the table. We got out of the banquet around 2:30 and Tim and took a bit of a nap before the 5:00 team meeting.

Tonight, we played the host team, Jia Mu Si. They are very strong, and just may be the best team in the tournament. They beat QiQiHar 1-0 last night in the opening game. We played another good first period and again found ourselves down 3-0. We ended today’s game as a 10-0 losing team. We had only a couple chances to score, but played much better defense today.

In the earlier game, Harbin defeated QiQiHar 3-2, setting up a meeting of 2-0 teams tomorrow between Harbin and Jia Mu Si, while we will face QiQiHar.

There is one thing of interest that I forgot to mention yesterday. If you were not able to find the scoreboard in yesterday’s photo, that is because it is a 20 minute analog clock with numbers that are hung to indicate the score. The interesting part is that to end the period the scorer literally hits a GONG when the clock reaches zero. It is quite amusing, our own Chinese gong show.

Jia Mu Si Tournament - Day 1

So, we got on the train at 7:30 this morning to head 5 hours north east to the small city of JiaMuSi (pop 500,000). The trip was relatively uneventful as we passed similar landscape and villages as on our skiing trip. We arrived in JiaMuSi to the heavy smell of coal. The city has high and very dirty snowbanks lining the road. The “tall man” drove up the bus with all of the equipment that would not fit on the train. He apparently made the trip in only 3 hours in the “Rocket Bus” he drives, beating us by 2 hours even though we did not make any stops on the trip.

We checked into our hotel and had lunch after arriving around 1:30. In true Chinese fashion, our game time changed several times during the afternoon, forcing us into adjusting our plans for pregame meal and warm-up. Finally, a 7;00 p.m. game time was settled on. We arrived early at the rink around 5:00 as it was the first day and everyone needed to get settled in.

Two of the three “boys” teams were playing when we arrived. This is when I found out that “boys” teams actually meant the feeder teams for the Asian league. The “boys” range in age from about 18-26, and they are very good. I was told that it was the TOP team in JiaMuSi the second team from QiQiHar (the first being the Asian League team) and a combination of the 2nd and 3rd team from Harbin. That leave us, in way over our heads, with six games to play this week, two against each of the three teams.

The arena exterior is brand new, with a nice stadium and seats. However, it was built around an old outdoor rink. The boards are still literally “boards” 2x3 boards running from the top to the bottom all the way around. The “glass” behind the goals was a tightly pulled netting, and although there are crazy bounces off of it, it is all in play. It is very interesting to see such a poor rink inside such a nice new stadium. Bonus points for all who can find the “scoreboard” in the picture below


Tonight, we played Harbin. We played very well in the first period and found ourselves still trailing 3-0. We played OK in the second, but the “boys” played much better and it was 9-0 after two. In the third we played all four lines and actually had our best period (3-2) to end in a 12-2 final. Our penalty kill was strong killing 4 of 5 and scoring a shorthanded goal.

It was a long day. Tomorrow we play at 7:00 p.m. again. Take a close look at the boards and netting in the picture below.

Chinese Ski Trip

So, by the kindness of China Hockey and Mr. An, Tim and I were treated to a two day, one night ski trip. The mountain was 90 km northeast of Harbin. The most dangerous part was the traveling to and from the mountain at breakneck speed, with the “tall man” at the wheel, over snow covered highways. Being that it was the New Year’s holiday, all the tollbooths were closed and the several hundred people hired to shovel the roads were home enjoying some time with family. On the journey up, it took us about 2 hours to cover the 90 km, as we had to slow down at some points for the snow covering the road. The trip took us through Midwest style flat agricultural plains, then some wide ranging hillside agriculture, reminiscent of my trip through Saskatchewan. After about 90 minutes, we reached the mountains. Along the way there were clusters of homes, mostly run down. Instead of spreading out like you might find in America, the “villages” were 50-100 homes crammed into what can only be described as a city-like close existence with the walls of houses no more than 2-3 feet apart. It was very interesting. During the trip we fish tailed once on the highway and had a close call with a ditch just after getting off the highway while hitting an ice slick. But, amazingly we made it in one piece.

We arrived at the mountain around noon. There was one lodge, and one under construction. The picture of the lodge below is neat as you can see the reflection of the mountain in the mirrored lobby windows.


They showed us to our room, which consisted of a door, 3 walls, a window, two small tables and four single beds. The bathroom was down the hall and the shower room was next door to us. Our room was on the second floor had an open balcony to the huge lobby below.


We were set up in the room and then taken for some lunch at the cafeteria in the lodge, while the “Tall Man” headed home.

After lunch, we decided to get some gear and try some afternoon skiing. First, we had to get our electronic badges, then we used those to get some skis and boots and poles at the next desk. The badges also swiped across the turnstiles at the entrance to the lift to activate them. The skis are much shorter than Tim and I remember as it had been about 10 years since either of us had skied. Anyway we headed out the mountain, which had but three trails. However, the two outside trails were closed.


There was one main chairlift that had a drop-off point about 1/3 of the way up, and then finished at the top of the mountain.


Apparently, the snow is mostly man made and the other two trails did not have enough snow to ski on. At the top of the mountain there was a little “Coffee Shop” that consisted of a building with a vending machine and a girl to give you change.


The one trail had a couple of nice elevation changes at the top and leveled out near the bottom, but not too bad and fairly enjoyable. The chairlift was fairly slow and quite cold near the top. We skied a few times and then called it quits for the day. Below, there is a view from the top and beneath it a view from about 1/3 way down from the top.


After the skiing we relaxed a little. And then, by chance, I ran into an old translator, Brandon, who had translated for me when I was doing the coaching clinic back in November. He is in school for ski administration and often spends time up at the mountain. He was helping to translate for a young couple. The man was from Austria and the woman from Switzerland. She had come for an intensive Chinese language class in Beijing, and they were checking out the skiing before her class got started. The five of us had dinner together and chatted for a while about our experiences.

We asked Brandon, what went on at night, and found out, NOTHING, no band, no bar. There were a couple of flat screen TVs in the lobby playing Harry Potter dubbed in Chinese, but that was it. So we went off to our rooms to relax a bit. However, at 8:30 we were called outside for an impromptu (?) fireworks display. It consisted of about 25 boxes full of fireworks in the parking lot, dangerously close to the lodge which were lit on fire by crazy running Chinese men. The fireworks went off low and some debris even hit the crowd. The Chinese were unfazed, but the non-asians like myself were close to the door.


After that, we got quite a bit of rest that night…

The next day we skied for a couple hours in the morning, had lunch, skied a little more and then waited about 20 minutes for the “Tall Man” to arrive. It was a bright sunny day, unlike the hazy first day. So it was a great day to be out on the mountain.
On our first trip up mountain, we hopped into the “Coffee Shop” as Tim wanted some coffee. I thought I would try the vending machine to get some OJ, and to my surprise the can came out of the machine, PIPING HOT. It was very odd, but strangely good. Tim got his coffee from the machine also, and all was good.

The ride home, was a death defying journey. Although we arrived in a car the day before, the “Tall Man” showed up to take us home in a small bus, apparently filled with his family: two sisters, one of whom is married and had her husband with her, the girls' mother and grandmother. Grandma was very nice and offered us some fruit. The younger girl (13) spoke English fairly well and translated on the ride. Grandma seemed to know some English too.

However, the ride home was taken at astounding speeds over the same snow covered roads. The trip that took 2 hours up in a car, took about 1 hour home in the bus, with Tim and I bounding up and down in the back as we hit numerous pot holes at high speeds. We dropped off the family around Harbin on our way in, and somehow made it home safely, happy to be safely back at the training center.

Our ski trip over, we had a full day of rest ahead of us before the coaching started again. On Feb 5th, the team will head north on the train to Jia Mu Si to participate in a boys hockey tournament for 6 days, so we must prepare.