Harbin Ice Sculptures and Haicang Tourism Park

We have on our list of "things to do while in China" to go to Harbin in the dead of winter and brave the sub-zero daytime temperatures to see their ice sculptures. So when it was advertised that some of the sculptures had been brought to Xiamen we initially thought "Where could they possibly be in this heat?" quickly followed by "Let's go!"

So we found ourselves at the Haicang Tourism Area that has a tourism park dedicated to the Fujian gambling game Bo Bing. We paid, and then made our way up the mountain. We passed a series of wall carvings that lay out the supposed history of Bo Bing - it's all in Chinese though so we didn't linger.Then we were at the temporary shed housing the sculptures. Mummy had been prepared, making the kids wear their ski pants and jackets and bringing their hats and gloves. The centre did have some long jackets to lend but it was more convenient to simply walk it.

Here are Brett, Alex and Sebastien at the Great Wall. There were polar bears,
pirate ships,
and an ice slide that both Alex and Sebastien loved - they went back again and again (and between you and me, those ski pants worked a treat to keep their butts dry).Finally there was a section of "snow". You paid extra to go in - you were given shoe covers for your feet - and experience "snow". Well, what passed for snow. It was falling from the high ceiling but here is a handful of it - pretty much shaved ice is the texture. But I guess for anyone who hasn't seen snow, and isn't likely to travel to see snow in their lifetime, this is just fine. Daddy and Mummy shared a private chuckle - though perhaps because it is so cold in Harbin this is what they have...

Sebastien and Alex enjoyed picking it up and throwing it up in the air - throwing "snowballs" was popular too. Sebastien was pretty taken by the snowman. We'd taken a photo of a family just down the hill from the Ice Sculptures and so they returned the favour - one of the rare "whole family" photos we have.