Exploring Haerbin

Friday, June 4, 2010--Hailaer and Night Train   Because my train is at 20:30 tonight, I stayed in the room all morning.  I organized things, read, cleaned up, etc.  Then I checked out about 11:30.  The hotel let me leave my suitcase and backpack behind their desk until the early evening when I showed them via letting them see my ticket that I have a train to catch.   I wandered through some of the back streets of the city.  Unfortunately, Hailear is not a pretty city.  It is quite dirty, and the layout of the city seems to be a hodge-podge of construction at various angles and streets that twist and wind.  Also unfortunately, they let cars park on their sidewalks.  Not only does it make the place look messy and create problems for pedestrians, but the weight of the cars has broken many of the paving tiles so that the sidewalks are ugly and a mess.    I stopped at a supermarket.  While looking, I realized that yogurt sounded good to me.  I bought a 500 ml (1 quart) container of raspberry yogurt which was licensed for sale via a Danish firm (Hansen).  I drank it as I walked toward the river.    The day is a bit windier than it has been, so there were few people at the river at noon.  I continued past it and went to the park.  The shady space within the large statue where I had seen a couple yesterday was available.  I crawled into it and read and drank a cola which I had also bought.  I was really just passing time.   At 14:30, I headed for the river.  There was a totally different group of men there.  As usual, they were all interested in the hair on my legs and arms and my white skin when I removed my shirt to sunbathe.  They encouraged me to go into the river to swim, and one even offered me a swimsuit to wear and motioned that the water would only come up to my chest.  I refused by indicating it would be too cold with the breeze.   An unfortunate event took place while I was there.  A small dog who hangs out there was picked up by one of the men and dipped into the river.  At first it seemed cute as the dog shook himself off, but then I saw that he was shivering.  I had nothing to use to dry him off; my shirt would have to be worn all night on the train, so I didn't want it to have a dog smell.  But no one else seemed to be concerned about how cold the dog was.  Later, a man (I'm not sure if it was the same one) threatened to dip the dog again by holding him over the water and touching the tip of his tail to it.  It's hard to understand how someone could be so cruel.    I began writing in my journal, and about 5 of the men huddled around me.  Asians are fascinated with watching westerners write.  Also, they find my lefthandedness to be interesting.  While being that close, several of them took advantage of the opportunity to feel the hair on my arms and legs as others have done.    With nothing special to do, I returned to my hotel at 17:30, got my luggage and went to the train station.  I had some peanuts, some cookies, and some cola for snacking, so I didn't try to find a place for dinner.  I just sat and read until time for the train at 20:30.  In fact, I was so busy enjoying my book that I was surprised to see it was already 20:12 when I checked my watch.  I rushed to the door and exited to the platform which was filled with hundreds of people waiting for my train.   Apparently weekends are a big time for traveling here.  Almost everyone waiting for the train was making the 9-hour trip to Haerbin like me.  I guess they were going to the "big city" for the weekend.  Fortunately, when the train arrived, I had no problem getting space in the luggage rack for my things.  Many of the people were just carrying small bags, since they were making only a weekend trip.    Saturday, June 5, 2010--Haerbin   I had thought that the schedule for my train would be perfect.  We departed last night at 20:30 which meant that we would be going straight to bed.  That proved to be true as the conductor turned off all the lights at 21:30.  We were scheduled to arrive in Haerbin at 6:45, so I assumed we would sleep until just 30-45 minutes before that.  That's where things didn't go as well.  As I have written before, the sun is up here at 4:00.  Well, I was awakened at 4:05 by two men talking very loudly.  I was in the first compartment, and these men had gone between cars where it is noisy and were yelling to be able to hear each other.  I put my earplugs into my ears and tried to go back to sleep.  But a few minutes later, even with my earplugs, I started hearing loud exclamations by women.  I looked down to see my compartment mates playing cards.  Apparently they had been awakened by the yelling men.  And in their excitement about going to the big city, they could not go back to sleep.  Playing cards here is very animated with cards being flung down hard with a flourish.  And often there are loud reactions.  The women's voices were so pearcing that they were coming through my earplugs.  There was just no way to sleep later.  I pulled out my bood and started reading again until just before we arrived.   I knew it was a big early to go to my hotel, so I decided to stop at the ticket booths and buy my ticket for the 3-hour journey on Monday to my next stop.  After that, I headed out for my hotel.  The journey became more of an effort than I had expected.  My map in my guidebook shows only the major streets.  I would come to an y-type intersection that wasn't shown on my map and, due to the lack of street signs, have problems determining which way I was supposed to go.  Somewhere, I chose the wrong way.  I eventually discovered it and started asking for directions.  Fortunately, my reservation voucher for my hotel had the street address and the name of the hotel written in Chinese characters.  Every 2-3 blocks I would show it to someone and get a new hand motion to indicate whether I should keep going straight or turn.  Eventually, I made it to the hotel about 8:15.   I was surprised by the street in front of the hotel.  It was alive with activity related to a street market.  There were vendors selling clothing, meat, fruits, vegetables, etc., and there were portable kitchens making all kinds of breakfast foods.  I watched as I walked past it to the hotel.  Inside the hotel, they could not find my reservation, and they seemed surprised as I showed them my voucher.  At first, they wanted to rent me a room at the normal rate, but I showed them on the voucher that I had a set rate that was lower.  Someone who is in charge of reservations would be there soon, so I left my luggage and went to explore the market and find something to eat.   It was a surprise to find that the market was being closed down at 8:30 when I went back outside.  It has been a bustling place just 15-20 minutes earlier.  One of the food carts was being pushed to a side place just around the corner, so I followed it and a group of customers who still wanted to buy.  I waited while they made fresh patties to sell to us.  They are the size of Egg McMuffins.  I am not sure what the outside coating is--rice flour?  They cook a small layer of the coating in the bottom of a round muffin-tin type mold.  Then they had an egg.  Next, they put some bean paste.  Then they put another layer of the coating.  They keep flipping them so that they brown on all sides.  After they are cooked, they are sprinkled with seasonings and then placed in a plastic bag to sell.  I got two of them (which is what others were also buying).  They were very hot from the heat.  The eggs inside had the texture of having been poached until the yellows were mostly solid.  They were very tasty treats.   When I returned to the hotel, they had found my reservation and they had my room prepared for me.  It has all the basics--private bath, hot water, TV, a/c, etc.  But it is in an older European-style building and is a bit worn.  It's also the cheapest room I have had on this trip--$19 per night.  It is fine, and there are very tall windows letting in lots of light.   I was tired, so I decided to stay in the room and finish reading my book before going out.  It was Arthur and George by Julian Barnes--historical fiction that was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2005.  I found it very well written and a very interesting story about the lives of two men which intersected briefly.  I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4 and would highly recommend it to anyone who finds the synopsis of it interesting.   Haerbin is best known as the site of a huge ice festival in winter in which they even build an ice hotel where people can stay.  It is just south of Siberia in Russia.  It has lots of Russian architecture along its main shopping street, since many Jews left Russia in the early 1900s to come hear to escape the revolutions and the persecution they were experiencing there.  In fact, my hotel is in the old Jewish quarter where there are 3 old synogogues.    The city was also the site of a Japanese germ warfare experimental camp in WWII.  I decided to take the bus to there to see the museum in the afternoon.  I had not read about this camp before, but the Japanese were experimenting on the Chinese in much the same way that the Germans were experimenting on the Jews.  There were even ovens for burning the bodies of those who died from the experiments.  The museum was interesting, but limited.   I had just thought earlier in the day that I had gone a whole week without seeing a westerner.  I had seen a few Russians in Manzhouli, but they had lived just across the border and come there to shop.  Since I left Berlin, I had not encountered another western tourist.  That is so unusual.  As I have often said, even in the remotest part of the world I am likely to run into French travelers.  Well, there have been no French, no backpackers, no nothing!  Then as I entered the ticket office of the germ warefare museum, there was a young western man in line.  We immediately began talking.  He was Anton from Sweden and is studying Chinese in Beijing.  He had come here for a weekend get-away.  We went through the museum together and then returned to town on the same bus.  In fact, he was staying in a hostel in one of the old synogogues just around the corner from my hotel.  I told him I had two novels I had finished, and he said he would be very happy to have them.  He also told me his parents are coming to China later this month and have never traveled without being on a package tour.  I shared my websites I have used to find hotels with him, since they will be traveling for 3 weeks independently without him.    After Anton left, I decided to clean up.  I had not showered in the morning and the afternoon had been very hot.  I took a shower and changed into a fresh shirt.  Then I headed for the Pedestrian Street, a cobbledstoned street that, as I wrote earlier, is lined with wonderful Russian/European-style buildings from the early 1900s.  The street was alive with people.  I stopped at a snack street and bought a small chicken sandwich.  Then I just walked.  There were street entertainers drawing crowds, so I occasionally stopped to enjoy the music and watch the crowds.  I also went to a food store and bought more yogurt (this time with red date favoring), since I was still craving it.  At 20:00, the police came through and closed down all the street entertainment.  I don't understand why they did it so early, but it is apparently their normal procedure.  Without that, there was no need for me to remain in town.  I bought some water and returned to my room.   In addition to my craving for yogurt lately, I have been having occasional foot cramps.  I especially have them when I stand in one position for a while such as when I was listening to the street music.  My guess is that I am missing something in my diet that is causing them.    Sunday, June 6, 2010--Haerbin   I awoke to the sounds of the street market outside my hotel this morning.  I don't know if it occurs every day or is just a weekend event.  My hotel serves breakfast, so I went to it first.  There were various cold vegetable dishes, boiled eggs, bread, and rice porridge.  I ate a little bit of all of it.  I was surprised that there was no tea, however.   I explored the market starting at 8:00 and took some photos.  But just like yesterday, at 8:25 the stalls started packing up and at 8:30 it was all over.  Yesterday, there was another market on the street in the evening, but it was an eating market with small sidewalk cafes set up along the sidewalks.  It's an interesting neighborhood.   A front must have come through in the evening.  The air was cool and the skies were cloudy when I left the hotel.  I could see blue skies to the northwest, and by 11:30, they were overhead and the temperature starting to rise.  I walked along the riverfront.  Then I went down the Pedestrian Street.  I found this cyber cafe and made a stop.  This afternoon, I will explore an old Russian church and maybe go across the river to an island that is a popular park.  Tomorrow morning, I leave for my next destination, so I must see what I want to see of Haerbin today.