Metro Construction

Construction is finally underway on the Harbin Metro's Line 3! What's disappointing about the construction is that instead of working on one segment of the line and only disrupting traffic in one corner of the city, someone decided it would be best to begin construction on ALL of the stops. (Pictured is one of the construction sites on Hongqi Avenue.) Line 3 is a ring line, so there's significant disruption to the Harbin's traffic going on all around the city. Even so, I have the feeling that Harbin will be much easier to get around in a few years' time!

Burger Spice

This is the first truly amazing salad I've had since I moved to Harbin two years ago! For anyone who's also missed awesome salads (or great hamburgers and french fries/chips!), go check out Burger Spice, a great Western restaurant in the Hongbo International Exhibition Center Mall at Hongqi Avenue and Huanghe Road. (The restaurant's on the ground level of the portion of the Mall that is underneath the park across the street from Harbin's International Exhibition Center.)

Event Parking [Mis]Management

Cars parked three deep on Gongnong Street (a north-south artery) - a 6-lane road with space for curbside parking - due to a school event. On the right of the picture one lane of traffic is very slowing moving north, with traffic behind backed up well past the intersection of Gongnong and Zhigong Street down Gongnong and so far up Zhigong that it was blocking up Aidemongdun Road/Chengxiang Road (a major north-south artery). Not a policeman in sight where the actual problem was (the parking craziness pictured above) despite the insanity of it all. There's just so much ridiculousness here when it comes to cars!

Tulip Time in Harbin

It's tulip time again at Harbin's Botanical Gardens! By way of update, the summer admission cost for the Botanical Garden's has risen to ¥20 for adults and ¥10 for children and students.

It's so sad how trampled the flowers get from everyone taking their selfies and group photos. All too often there is absolutely zero respect for rules, fences, or just plain common sense here. (A quick google of news stories about Chinese tourists and travelers abroad will highlight some of the problems this can cause.)

Ewergency Shelter

Well, it's always good to know where your nearest ewergency shelter is!

Construction in Qunli

It is utterly amazing and also a little scary how quickly buildings go up here! These were just foundations the last time I walked by two weeks ago and now they're already quite tall...

Riverfront in the Spring

Some of the lovely trees in Stalin Park! (I still have no idea how its kept that name all these years given who it was named for and the rocky relationship his country had with China for many years before the former's collapse.)

The four people in the center of this photo had my friends and I in stitches! The two young men (seated) were taking turns taking pictures of each other posing by Songhua when the older couple paused to take pictures of one another in the same spot, interrupting the ongoing 'photoshoot' in the process! It was too funny, especially given how selfie and photo-obsessed so many people are here...

Public School Bathrooms

I've had the privilege of teaching in several of Harbin's public schools and while I've enjoyed working in them, I have yet to work at one that had doors on its bathroom stalls! It's not a matter of finances I don't think as I've worked at rather well off schools. Indeed, at one of the schools all of the stall doors were stacked over the stalls to give them all roofs! One just never knows what to expect in the PRC! (But I have very much come to expect that there will not be stall doors in public school bathrooms!)

Spring Is Sprung!

I was away for a long weekend over the Labor Day holiday and I returned to find that spring had finally sprung in Manchuria!