Entry 15/04/2026

I did a really stupid thing yesterday. I locked my car keys and my phone in my car boot. I could not open the boot after that, so I lost access to my car. I had to hitch a ride home from my colleague, take my spare key, and then took a grab car back to my workplace to get my car. Only then was I able to drive the car back home.

Gawd. I felt so stupid. 

My office is on the first floor of Block D. Every day, when I come to work, I have to climb up to the first floor of Block A to clock in. That's where the admin office is. So every day, before I leave work, I have climb up again to the first floor of Block A to clock out. 

So we often bring all our bags to drop them in the car at the parking lot in order to reduce the number of times we have to climb up and down the stairs. And yesterday, I had 3 bags. 

Bag 1 - Laptop and Ipad. 

Bag 2 - Miscellanous items

Bag 3 - Handbag 

It's customary for us ladies to bring many bags to work. 

So I was going to leave work already. I opened the boot of my car, dropped in 2 bags and closed the boot. Then I went to the ladies'. Whilst there, I realised that I had put the wrong bag in my car boot. So I went back to my car .... and only then I realised that I could not open the boot anymore. 

So silly! I was so angry at myself, but at least, I was very calm about the whole thing. It was not the end of the world. I just needed to access my spare car key in order to open the car door. 

I saw that my colleague's car was still there at the parking area. We stayed in the same housing area. So I seeked her out to help me ... and of course she gladly dropped me at my house on her way home. Luckily mom was home because I did not have my house keys too. They were in the car! 

Mom opened the door for me. "You are getting old," she said. 

After a brief explanation, I quickly grabbed my spare car key. I had to borrow Mom's phone to call for an e-hailing ride. 

The car came in a few minutes and I was driven back to my workplace .... and as soon as I got down the car, I pressed the 'open' button of the smartkey and it instantly opened. Urgh! So mad! 

 

Day 7 - Harbin Grand Theatre, Volga Manor, Chinese Baroque Street, Central Street, Songhua RIver and St Sophia Cathedral

The weather was fine that morning .... 

We dropped by the Harbin Grand Theatre, snapped a few photos. It's one of the most recognisable building in Harbin. I took at photo of the building, but I was more interested in the small field in front of the theatre, where I could take photos of the snow and the trees ... lol ...

 

And then went to Volga Manor. I like Volga Manor ... it's so spacious, the architecture was so uniquely Russian ... and I liked the landscaped grounds .... In the cool weather, it was just so pleasant to stroll around the area .... 

Next was a stop at the Chinese Baroque Street .... I suppose that if we were to walk along the street, we would better appreciate the architecture and the atmosphere ... but we merely stopped here at the in front of this building and there was .... nothing to see ... 

We went to the Central Street next, where it was mandatory to eat an ice-cream .... 

Modern 1906 ice-cream .... 

It was not as creamy and milky as I had expected; hmn ... not a very memorable taste ...

My friend had told me to bite into the ice-cream and not let it stick to my lips.

From the Central Street, we walked to the Songhua River bridge ... there was a large recreational area where people enjoyed winter activities .... 

After that, we went to eat dinner at this buffet bbq restaurant .... I hardly enjoyed the meal ... it was just so tiring to cook the food by myself .... 

Finally, we stopped at St. Sophia Cathedral, a church built in 1907, and a landmark of Harbin. 

So many pretty young men and women took photos in costumes here ..... it was very amusing to see. We headed back to the hotel after this last stop. I honestly enjoyed the night drive through Harbin back to the hotel at Songbei, since the buildings were light up very beautifully and colourfully lit up! 

Day 6 - Yabuli Horse Cart - Harbin Ice and Snow World

Yabuli Ski Resort is China's largest and one of the most renowned ski area ... and during breakfast, I saw lots of people in colourful ski outfits .... I didn't know till now that the Chinese in fact liked skiing ... they were not only youngsters but also a lot of middle-aged people! 

We, of course, did not want to ski nor want to learn to ski nor was skiing included in our tour .... so we left our hotel and headed to ride a horse sleigh ... 

A snow mobile on the grounds ... just like the ones we took the day before .... 

After that I enjoyed ice tubing .... we had to drag our own tube up a slope and then there would be someone there to kick our tubes down the ice track .... it was fun as I spun down the track ... I had to give it another go! So I played again .... 

We finished our morning activities in -23 degrees temperature ... 

After that, we drove to Harbin! We probably took around 5 hours to get there. Lunch followed ... 

And then it was to the Harbin Ice & Snow World. It was one of the highlights of the trip. It was the world's largest ice theme park. The compound was huge and featured massive and illuminated ice sculptures. That evening when we were there, it was -20 degrees Celsius.  

We didn't feel cold even though it was -20 degrees Celsius ... after experiencing -27 degrees Celsius, -20 degrees did not seem overwhelming at all! 

We were given 3 hours to visit this place ..... and we walked one round through the park ... 

If you told people you went to Harbin, they would ask whether you visited the Ice and Snow World. Every year, the structures were built using ice harvested from Songhua River. But well, we thought it was overrated .... though the ice sculptures were impressive and brilliantly illuminated, hmn .... it was after all man-made .... 

We had a late dinner .....  

 

Braised pork leg 

I enjoyed this candied sweet potato the most! 

We checked in to Mercure Harbin Songbei ... I like this hotel and was glad we were staying for the next 3 nights

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 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.