Goldfish Pie

We survived the frigid temperatures (-25° C) in Harbin and managed to spend a few hours exploring the Harbin Ice & Snow World. Thankfully, there wasn't much wind, so instead of getting frostbite we just got really cold. I was wearing Sorel boots, 2 pairs of New Zealand wool socks, silk long underwear, jeans, ski pants, cotton undershirt, silk long undershirt, long sleeve shirt, fleece overshirt, winter coat with goose down, scarf, wool hat with Thinsulate, and my coat's built-in hood. And I was still cold – but keep in mind that I've been away from Minnesota for over 7 years; my blood has thinned considerably. That, and in MN you didn't usually stay out for more time than it took to get from building to car or vice versa. In Harbin, we were outside for a couple hours at a time before finding shelter/warmth.
The chemical heater packets we brought were no match for the freezing air, though inside a pocket one was warm enough to keep the small camera from freezing up. Unfortunately, T's EOS was too big to put into a pocket, so it fell victim to the cold (until I warmed it up inside my coat) and she couldn’t get as many shots as she would have liked. You can see our photos here: Harbin set on Flickr
T's outrage at being charged 40 RMB ($5.80) for a small cup of instant coffee didn't keep her warm, either. But we did finally warm up in the Shangri-La Hotel's lounge, where we enjoyed listening to the house band’s version of Jambalaya (On the "Bah-yo"): "Jambalay, goldfish pie…" Mmm, goldfish pie.

Son of a gun, we had some fun.

This weekend: off to Chengdu (Sichuan province) for some Buddha Zen time.