Day 4 : Jilin - Snow Town of China

Ramada Hotel Jilin Purple Garden served good breakfast! I was most excited as I got to try some items that I had never eaten before! 

Laba garlic 腊八蒜 (bottom right) ... I'd always seen people eating it on social media and wondered what it tasted like. So I tried 1 piece and found it to be quite tasty as it's pickled so it's sweet, salty and sourish ... nice ... I ended up having a few more pieces of this pickled garlic 

 穿心莲 in a fruity dressing (right) ... I have no idea what this vege is called in English but it was crunchy and refreshing ... 

We set off after breakfast. Every day, the tour guide updated us about the weather and advised us about what to wear. Today, we were told to dress in our thickest clothes as we were going to the Snow Town that day. 

However, our first destination of the day was to the Jilin City Promenade by the Songhua River ... We were going to see rime. I didn't know what rime was till I looked it up! Rime ice is ice deposit that forms when cold water droplets freeze upon contact with extreme cold surfaces, and apparently the Songhua River Rime is famous for this! 

The rime was beautiful, but we felt cheated as we thought we would visit the Songhua Rime Island to enjoy the breathtaking frozen scenery ... sigh ... my friends and I thought we had to come back one day in the future to enjoy more of this winter scenery properly ... 

Near the promenade was the Jilin Catholic Church, a prominent landmark here in Jilin City. It is a gothic-style structure built between 1917 and 1926. 

Jilin Catholic Church 

After that, we set off. A lot of the expressways were closed due to the heavy snow storm ... I saw the bus turn back .... and we drove and drove and drove on an alternative route .... 

I did enjoy the winter scenery as we drove to Heilongjian Province ... only that the drive was very long! We were practically travelling the whole day and wondering why we hadn't arrived at Snow Town!! 

4 types of fish for lunch! 

We had a late lunch ... at 3.30 pm in the afternoon .... and then we continued our drive to Snow Town ... The China Snow Town is located at the Xuexiang National Forest Park in Heilongjiang. It is known for its thick, mushroom-shaped snowdrifts on traditional houses. Driving there from Jilin took normally 3.5 hours ... but that day, we drove the entire day!! We spent practically 9 hours in the bus! 

Because of the snow storm, many highways were closed ... and we had to take a 150km detour that delayed our schedule. Besides, the bus could only be driven at 80km per hour .... we only reached there at 7.30 pm at night. 

We checked into our room first .... We stayed at the oldest hotel there which was ... 雪乡第一酒店 ...

We were amused to see the Dongbei Big Flower patterned bedding ... Lol ... in Northeast China, since it was so cold, people slept on warmed platforms in which they called 大抗 ... Because the bedding was thin, we found the platform bed to be a very hard. We were told to sleep with our feet facing the window. Otherwise our heads would get really cold ... 

We had dinner at the same hotel. One specialty that we were served was the snow pear.

Snow pears or frozen pears  栋梁 are frozen and thawed repeatedly to soften the texture of the fruit and to intensify its sweetness ... I found the fruit to be pleasant and refreshing! 

And after that, we went to walk around the Snow Town ... 

The Snow Town was illuminated in colourful lights ... and there was upbeat music in the town square with lots of people dancing and enjoying themselves .... 

I liked to see the demo where hot water turned into powdery snow instantly! How fun! 

We walked around a bit before retiring for the night. 

Day 5 - Snow Town - Yabuli

That day was the coldest in our entire trip. After that day, the temperature for the rest of the trip was not a challenge at all .... 

Our breakfast was simple, but filling nonetheless. We were leaving right after breakfast ... 

So, in the end, we were in Snow Town for only a short while. Was it worth the long journey? I think not .... we went to the Ten Mile Ice & Snow Gallery 十里冰雪画廊. Now we enjoyed this place lots. 

We enjoyed strolling in the snowy trails and admiring the frozen landscape ... I took off my gloves to touch the snow and instantly regretted my actions .... cause I couldn't feel my fingers for a short while ... it was no joke as there was a big risk of getting frostbite! 

Another demo of hot water turning into powdery snow! I loved this! 

Next, we went to Datudingzi Shan. And there, it was really wet and cold .... 

First we took a an amphibious vehicle up the mountain .... In chinese they called it 雪龙号 ... 

Next, we had to queue up to take the snow mobile up to the peak. On that morning, the queue was long, and we waited in the open space ... it was windy and snowy and I could feel the wind penetrating my clothes .... brrr ... it was really cold .... 

In case we were scared that the driver would go too fast, we had to tell him that we were southern baby potatoes ... "南方小土豆" ... indicating people from the Southern part of China who is not accustomed to cold and not familiar with the culture and way of life in Northern China. Lol. 

Anyway, I rode the snow mobile by myself ... it was my first time. I had difficulty getting on the bike since the parka I wore was long .... then I didn't know where to hold! In the end I grabbed the back of my seat as the snow mobile zoomed towards the peak of the mountain .... 

It wasn't a long ride, luckily, as I felt that my hands freezing and going numb .... I wondered how long more I could hold on to the seat ... and then I arrived and got down ... 

We were to climb a long flight of stairs up to the peak .... and I was glad for this climb as it helped me to warm up ... I climbed slowly since my stamina was really poor and I was afraid I to fall .... 

But upon reaching the peak, we found that there was nothing to see ... lol .... perhaps it was really foggy on that morning .... 

Huh? What was there to see? 

We had to go down the mountain the same way .... so we carefully descended the steps, and joined the long queue for the snow mobile. Going down was better as I wrapped my hands around my driver's waist. It was a safer way! Then I hopped onto another 雪龙号 to bring me back down the mountain. 

I was glad to get into the bus to thaw .... 

I checked the temperature ... no wonder it was so cold .... I believe that was the coldest that I had ever experienced in all my travels. 

We had another late lunch that day .... at around 3.30 pm ..... and after lunch, we visited the Yabuli Railway Station ... 

It was snowing rather heavily and the wind was blowing furiously .... we jumped down the bus to snapped some photos and quickly ran back to the bus ... I think in my memory that was the coldest time ever! I looked through my photos and didn't find any ... I didn't take any? Lol ... I must have been so cold that I couldn't muster myself to take photos .... 

We stayed at Avaunce Yabuli Hotel that night ...  it was one of the hotels used for the Asian Winter Games 2025, and there were many flags of many different countries decorating the hotel lobby. But this was also the coldest hotel of the entire trip ... the corridor was cold and the room was big and cold, and the remote control of our tv was missing .... 

We called reception and he came to check .... he could not find it and had to bring us a replacement ... lol. We had dinner that night at the hotel itself .... 

Moutai to warm up .... the liquour is very strong but I love the smell .... 

A lot of us enjoyed this cold, sour appetiser ... 

Deep-fried wild vegetable balls .... 

Nobody wanted to eat this green radish .... but I enjoyed its crispy texture ... quite enjoyable with a meat sauce .... 

We had a long time to rest at this hotel ... 

Night time temperature ... brrr ... cold ... 

Day 3 : Shenyang - Jilin

I woke up and drew the curtains of my hotel room ... and was excited to see that the surroundings had become white! Shenyang was blanketed in snow!

I quickly did my morning ablutions, and put on clothes. My normal gear comprises: 

1) Thick thermal top and a fleece sweater

2) A pair of  Heattech warm pants

3) 2 layers of Heattech socks

4) A fleece neck warmer

5) Gloves 

All that plus a long parka is sufficient for minus temperatures up till -20 degrees. I find the neck warmer useful. I normally pulled it up to cover my nose and mouth because I did not want to breathe in the cold and dry air directly as it caused me a bit of discomfort and irritation. Just covering up my nose and mouth helped a lot. 

We were so excited to see the thick snow! 

 After breakfast, we went outside to take photos in the heavy snow storm, right in front of our hotel. 

But then, the heavy snow would make our travels inconvenient. Our first stop was the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was closed, and I could only take photos of it via a small opening at the gate. 

After that, we went to the Shenyang Imperial Palace or Mukden Palace, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Built in 1624-1636, it was the original palace of the Qing Dynasty's first 3 emperors before they moved to Beijing.

It was snowing heavily ... and we spent quite a long time here, enjoying the snow and taking photos ... I think we were all more fascinated with the snow than with the attractions .... lol ... We walked down the street to have lunch. Opposite the restaurant, there was a local market selling food stuff. We would love to try to street food sold here but too bad, we were full from lunch. 

After that, it was a long drive to Jilin City, the second largest city in Jilin province.

Normally, it would take about 4.5 hours by road. But because of the snow storm, a lot of expressways were closed and there were also speed limits on the ones that were opened. So, we drove for a long time. 

By the time we had dinner, it was at about 8.30 pm! 

Dinner

That night, we checked into Ramada Hotel Jilin Purple Garden ... it was nearly 10.00 pm when we settled in ... 

It was a long, long day, even though we did not see much ... However, because there were a group of use, we were really happy and cheerful throughout the journey. We had so much fun talking and laughing at the back of the bus ... lol ...