Holy Protection in the Snow

Holy Protection Chinese Orthodox Church - the last functioning Orthodox church in Harbin - in the first snow of winter.

A Tale of Two Dentists

I had the great misfortune to break a tooth while eating at what used to be one of my favorite restaurants here, Casanova Turkish Restaurant on Xuanli Street. (They also have a second restaurant down at one of the malls on Xuefu Road - I wouldn't recommend going to either location as they don't buy high quality meat, unless your definition of "high quality" includes big chunks of bone where there oughtn't be any.) Going to the dentist is rarely a pleasant experience anywhere, but as I found it can be fraught with unexpected frustrations in Harbin.

My work strongly recommended I go to a dentist they had a discount arrangement with, Sunkiss/圣琪 on Xidazhi Street (pictured right). In addition to being the only dentist I knew of in Harbin - I generally avoid subjecting myself to any sort of medical "professionals" here due to past experiences here with going to local doctors for pneumonia and sinus infections - Sunkiss was further

commended by an English-speaking secretary named Betty, who was billed as being able to translate for foreigners with limited Chinese (me!) and generally make one's experience better than it would be elsewhere.

Boy was that a load and a half! Which really shouldn't surprise me given who it was recommending Sunkiss to me, but hindsight and all of that. I went in the morning after I'd broken the tooth and was subjected to more rudeness than usual, with any objection or question I had about what the dentist proposed to do being met by Betty with 'I have thousands (yes, thousands) of foreign friends and they all say this is the normal way to do this' and the dentist himself and his staff making fun of me in Chinese for being (A) unable to speak Chinese fluently, (B) fat, and (C) wanting anesthetic for the incredibly painful procedure they ended up doing.

Which would all have been fair enough - it's Harbin, not Vancouver or Chicago after all - if the dentist had been competent at his job. But he was not. I repeatedly explained that North Americans use a lot of anesthetic even for minor dental procedures and that if he was going to begin a root canal treatment that I wanted a lot (by local standards) of anesthetic and was more than willing to pay for it. What I got was about a quarter of what one would get for a far less invasive procedure in North America. I've been quite lucky in not having experienced any major traumas, so the pain of that quack drilling into my tooth to deposit some "medicine" (more on that in a moment) was incredible.

After inspecting my tooth the dentist informed me that I needed a root canal (which I did) and a crown, which altogether would take him a month and a half or two months to finish. Now I'm no dentist, but I'm no fool either and I could not believe a root canal would take THAT long anywhere, even in Harbin. But I was desperate and unaware of anywhere else to go, so I let the dentist begin the whole process as I contemplated the thought of being on a soup diet for two months. It wasn't until after I left and asked around that I discovered that I had been struck by the witchdoctor nonsense billed as "traditional Chinese medicine" (TCM) again. (For the first big time checkout my encounter with penumonia my first winter here.)

Apparently it's standard for dentists here - supposedly professionally trained medical personnel, right? - to use some herbal nonsense to gradually kill the nerve in the tooth needing a root canal, week after week scraping a bit more of the nerve out and then applying more of their witchdoctor concoctions to keep at it until the nerve is finally all gone. That's why a root canal here is such a long, drawn out, torturous process. And I'm not going to lie, when I found out that I'd gone to yet another supposed medical professional and again been treated with herbal nonsense instead of real medicine I wanted to break something.

Thankfully, my luck turned shortly thereafter. I couldn't face the thought of going back to the first quack I'd been to at Sunkiss - especially after finding out he was treating me with TCM nonsense - so I followed the recommendation of a couple of friends who have lived in Harbin quite some time and went to Shine Dental/圣安 on Dongdazhi Street for a consultation. And I am so, so glad that I did! Shine was the opposite of Sunkiss in every way - professional, polite, helpful, responsive. After Sunkiss I had a lot of questions about what exactly the dentist at Shine was planning on doing, and he very patiently answered all of my questions. I could let him witchdoctor me with TCM or have a proper root canal done - I'll let you guess which I opted for - and while the cost was high for here, the kindness, professionalism, and use of real medicine were more than worth it.

The root canal itself was awkward, but painless. Plenty of anesthetic was used and the dentist was properly sterile. The procedure was done in one day. I had a second appointment to mold my inlay, and then a third to actually finish the whole process. The dentist at Sunkiss wanted me eating soft food for months. The dentist at Shine had me eating normally again in less than two weeks. So if you ever find yourself facing dental issues in Harbin - or even just in need of a cleaning - I would strongly recommend you pay a little extra and go to Shine rather than the quacks elsewhere here! It may feel like you're paying a lot, but when you know what can happen elsewhere and compare the cost to North American dental work (where I would have paid four times what I did here) it's well worth it!

Update (20/1/2017): My inlay fell out on 17 January - just over a month after it was put in - not while I was eating hard candy or a tough steak, but pancakes. (Yes, the soft, fluffy Western kind.) In all fairness to Shine they're fixing it for free (there's a year's warranty), but I guess I'll have to go to the dentist the next time I'm in North America to make sure this second fix (assuming it lasts more than a month) is a good one...

Sunrise Over Nangang

Another gorgeous, pollution-enhanced sunrise. (I know I should love them, but I do!) I live in Daoli District, but the sun rises over Nangang just to the east of my apartment complex.

A closer look (from another morning) at the plumes of coal smoke rising over the city...

Fall Freeze

It's not even December yet and the Songhua is already frozen solidly enough for people to walk across it!

Ice City Roads

We got a lot of snow (for here) this November plus the usual fluctuations in temperature, which resulted in some incredibly icy roads even for Harbin! Pictured is the first bus I tried to take home from work. It got most of the way up this hill coming out of Qunli, but then got stuck on the black ice at the intersection. Most of us got out two or three times to try to push it along, but after moving a bit it would stall again and I finally called it and started the long walk home...

School "Parking"

Schools here apparently aren't expected to budget any space for parents to pick up their kids at the end of the day, 'cause every school I have the misfortune of passing by at a certain point in the afternoon is like this. People double and tripled parked, completely blocking side streets and even major, congested roads while they hang out waiting for their kids...this incredible selfishness and disregard for others (pictured above, but blaringly, shockingly manifest in all kids of ways in life here) is one of the things that has stunned me the most about modern China. The old China of Laozi and Confucius that I read about never prepared me for this, nor did my extensive reading about Communism. Who knows, perhaps this is a moment in time that will fade away as the country develops, but in the meantime it is what it is!

First(ish) Snow of Fall

Technically this was our second snowfall this fall, but it's the first that stuck! Early November and we're already into the winter weather, but I guess we can be grateful things got going in November instead of October!

Sadly enough, the bad visibility in the photo is due more to the incredibly bad air pollution lingering from the night before (when it was off the chart up in the 1,000s) than to the snow. The screenshot is from 9pm the night before. As you can see, by that point half the stations had maxed out at 999. (Later on in the evening when I checked all but two had maxed out.) By way of comparison, if I'm not mistaken a "bad" air day in Los Angeles or London is when the readings get up over the 70s. Not the 700s mind, the 70s. I won't lie, I can't help wondering when the lung cancer diagnosis is coming!

Dusk On Zhongyang Dajie

The air pollution isn't a great feature of life in Harbin in the fall and winter, but it does make for some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets! I took this at dusk a few days ago looking across Zhongyang Avenue down West 13th Street.

85th Anniversary of the Mukden Incident

Not a great video, but I wanted to share the eerie wailing of the sirens here this morning. Today marks the 85th anniversary of the Mukden Incident and the Japanese invasion of the Republic of China. World War II may have started later, but the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and Japan's horrific treatment of the people in the territories it occupied both before and after the start of the global conflict are still bitterly remembered here nearly a century later. (And rightly so given the feeble apologies - if they can be called that! - of various Japanese leaders since then.)

Fall Sunset in Daoli

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo, but it does capture a little of how gorgeous yesterday's sunset was! Fall is such a beautiful time of the year (until the air pollution hits anyways!). This is looking out over the south end of Daoli District, with Qunli off in the distance in the right of the picture.

Common Sense Takes A Holiday

I sometimes think common sense has taken a holiday here...a long, long, possibly permanent holiday! This is of the metro construction along Hongqi Avenue in eastern Harbin, and if you look closely on the left under the trees you can see a mom and her toddler, not even two meters away from where a huge steel beam is being lowered into the earth. There's nothing protecting them beyond the flimsy barricade pictured - one slip and someone will have lost his wife and child in an instant.

Sister City Road

A look north up Aidemengdun or Edmonton Road, named after Harbin's sister city! (If you can't come to Harbin to visit its Edmonton Road, then try for Edmonton's Chinatown, which has a lovely plaque dedicated to the relationship.)

A view of an apartment complex near Aidemengdun Road sitting next to a beautifully redone stretch of the Majiagou riverfront.

China: Safety First?

Road safety is such a big priority in China, as you can see here, where in the middle of repair work on a bridge for one of the city's busiest roads the city has very carefully separated vehicles and pedestrians to ensure the safety of all...haha, okay, so maybe not! But I have to walk through here most days on my way to work and I haven't been hit by a bus yet, so that's something...

Mall Randomness

You just never know what you're going to see in a mall here!

End of Summer

Zhongyang Avenue - Harbin's pedestrian street - is a big draw in both the summer and the winter. I'm still enjoying the leafy greenness of the trees, the beer gardens, and the blue skies, but even though September's barely begun a chill is already beginning to descend!

Amusement Park Church

I made another visit to the Harbin Cultural Park (formerly the city's Novoye Cemetery) to see how its "Electronic Amusement Hall" (formerly the cemetery church) was doing. Still closed and unrestored unfortunately...

Looking at the church from the walkway that connects it to the old cemetery bell tower.

The church is still in quite a state. Renovation work just began on the Harbin Railway Station's Church of the Iveron Icon, so perhaps Holy Dormition Church will be next?

Jile Temple

I finally made it back to Jile Temple after far too long. It's always such a lovely, peaceful place. (Although there must have been a holiday or an exam coming up, there were more people running around burning incense than normal!)

My favorite of the Temple's pagodas.

You can just barely see the ferris wheel of the Harbin Cultural Park (formerly Harbin's Novoye Cemetery) peeking out from behind the trees.

Daowai Traffic

First time I've seen THIS in Harbin! Daowai District is so great...

Summertime on the Riverfront

After a rather wet start we're finally enjoying the gorgeous blue skies of a Manchurian summer.

It's always so nice to see people out flying kites in the squares along the Songhua Riverfront.

Alas, accidents do happen on occasion! (But how is quite the question, I wouldn't have thought you could drive down to this part of the riverfront!)

Sunset on Youyi Lu

Sunset downtown along Youyi Road. Despite all its craziness, Harbin really is a lovely city!

This Also ≠ Parking

I'm told it's fairly common here to bribe your way out of parking and traffic tickets, and judging from this ridiculousness on the sidewalk along Xinyang Road I can only assume that it's true. If there are any OCD Chinese out there I can only assume they've all had breakdowns and been confined to mental institutions or had to leave the country, 'cause this isn't even the worst of the parking nonsense here!

Harbin Bus Races

It's a little hard to tell (apologies for the quality!), but all three of the buses pictured are of the same number. I'm not sure why Harbin's bus drivers think that they're all in a race with each other, but they do and they are and it's incredibly frustrating if it's a line that doesn't run many buses and you run up to your bus stop as three (sometimes four, once I even saw five) buses of that line drive away. It's then that you realize you either have a 45-minute wait before the next one (instead of, say, 10 minutes) or will have to pay 9 times or more for a taxi. Just one of the many wonderful aspects of life in Harbin!

Seattle Summer

My first two summers here were gorgeous, with blue skies and [mostly] clean air. This summer we're still enjoying relatively clean air, but there's been so much rain I feel like I'm living in the Pacific Northwest again!

Sidewalk Clutter

I love all the vendors and food carts that turn out here in the summer (pictured above are the vendors on Hexing 3rd Street along the south side of Qingbin Park), but when they take over the sidewalk and barely leave the width of a person for foot traffic to get through I start being less of a fan...

Summertime Scene

Shirtless old guys and chuar / 串 (street barbecue), this pretty much sums up Harbin in the summertime!

Riverfront From Above

A look north up the Songhua Riverfront from the lift over the river.

Sun Island

I finally got on a ferry and visited Sun Island! But I accidentally got on a ferry doing a tour of the wetlands near Sun Island, so I saw a lot of this for an hour before getting to the island itself...

Part of the sculpture park in the Sun Island Scenic Area featuring sculptures by Chinese sculptor Yu Qingcheng. The Scenic Area is a separate park on Sun Island and cost ¥30 or ¥35 to enter. (Not sure of the price 'cause a friend bought the tickets. Sorry!)

The neat dragon centerpiece of a square in the Sun Island Scenic Area.

A mini mountain beautifully set next to a pond in the Scenic Area.

This corner of the Island was particularly beautiful...and utterly spoiled by the Chinese music blaring from loudspeakers strategically scattered along all of the walkways.

The lovely stone path up the little mountain.

The pavilion at the top of the 'mountain.'

The esplanade along the ponds.

More of the ponds.

I took the lift over the Songhua back to downtown Harbin instead of doing the ferry again. For some reason the lift leaves and arrives at very Disneyesque castles...

Looking north up the Songhua at Sun Island, with Songbei (newer, left-bank Harbin) and a couple of the bridges connecting the two sides of the city in the background.

Mèn Guō ("Stew Pot")

This doesn't technically pertain to Harbin since I tried 焖锅/mèn guō ("stew pot," a Manchurian speciality) at a restaurant in Shenyang, but since it is a Manchurian speciality and I tried it at a restaurant with a location in Harbin I thought I might as well post the pictures here! Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures, I was snapping shots as the waiter was putting things together! Pictured is the first layer in the 'pot' of vegetables, mushrooms, and garlic.

After the vegetable layer came the meat (some of it marinated) and shrimp!

Once all the meat and veggies were in round one of cooking commenced.

Our 'pot' just after the first round of cooking. I hadn't eaten breakfast and it was after 2pm, so I was good to go at this point! I didn't realize more had to happen till the waiter came back over!

When the waiter came back he started whipping the super dark sauce you can see spread over the contents of the pot really fast till it had the consistency of tar. (And to be honest, it looks a lot like tar too!) 

Once the tar-like sauce was evenly spread over the meat round two of cooking began. At this point I was so hungry I was starting to chew on my chopsticks!

Then, at long last (well, maybe not that long!), our food was ready to eat! Everything tasted amazing!

One last glimpse after dinner. I think my friend and I did a pretty decent job at finishing off our 'pot'! I can't wait for my next opportunity to have mèn guō!