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 ...