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...