Zhongyang Ice and Snow Festival 2017

This isn't part of the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival per se, but it was cool to see the lanterns rising over the Flood Control Monument the evening I went to check out Zhongyang Avenue's ice and snow sculptures!

The snow and ice sculptures of Chinese dumplings near the Flood Control Monument - the ice sculpture is almost good enough to make you hungry!

One of the ice-block beer gardens set up along Zhongyang this winter! 

This year's Coca-Cola store and snow sculpture.

My favorite of this year's ice sculptures along Zhongyang!

The Simpsons in Harbin

I just never know what I'm going to run into here! On Sunday it was The Simpsons apparel store at Zhongyang Avenue's Euro Plaza mall!

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.

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!

Ice and Snow Sculptures on Zhongyang

大白! A snow sculpture of Dà Bái or 'Big White,' as Baymax is known here. Apparently Baymax likes Manchurian kvass...

A sweet ice sculpture near Zhongyang Avenue's Bomele 1931.

An ice sculpture commemorating the 118th anniversary of Harbin's founding in 1898 by Russia's Chinese Eastern Railway.

Another lovely ice sculpture.

Another of the snow sculptures up now along Zhongyang Avenue.

Ice Sculptures In Progress

An ice sculpture dedicated to the coming New Year!

It's amazing how delicately beautiful so many of the ice sculptures along Zhongyang Avenue can be!

One of the ice sculptures outside the Coca Cola hall on Zhongyang Avenue.

An homage to the contents of the Songhua River, which I'm told is where all the ice blocks for Harbin's Ice and Snow Festival come from.

Ice Blocks Building an Ice City

It was so neat to see the ice buildings and ice sculptures start to go up on Zhongyang Avenue recently! Despite the at times horrific air pollution the winter really is a magical time in Harbin!

Zhongyang Avenue in the Wintertime

Lovely Zhongyang Avenue in the wintertime just before another snow. 

Another view down Zhongyang Avenue...

Bomele 1931 in the Wintertime

A wintertime view of the Bomele 1931 on Zhongyang Avenue. A great place for a coffee or a cheesecake!

Evening Light

I was out wandering around Zhongyang Dajie with friends earlier this week and the evening light struck me with such a quiet peace as the day wore on. It was really striking how calm and peaceful the shift in light made otherwise busy and bustling Zhongyang Dajie feel!

Maan Coffee

From my favorite cafe (so far!) here in Harbin, Maan Coffee. Great coffee, good food, chill music, a fun setup (a mix of industrial and elegant), and efficient staff. The only downside is the smokers and the cafe's failure to ban it. (Banning indoor smoking would probably cut their business by two thirds though, sadly enough.) Apparently there is a second location opening up soon, but for now you can get your Maan Coffee fix right next door to the Walmart off the top of Zhongyang Dajie, where the pedestrian street ends at Stalin Park and the Flood Control Monument. Enjoy!

Streetside Ice Sculpture

Winter is a magical time of year in Harbin, thanks in large part to the many gorgeous ice sculptures and ice block constructions scattered around the city. I passed this particular beauty on Zhongyang Dajie, the city's pedestrian avenue. (It was just one of many lovely ice sculptures lining the street!)

Zhongyang Entryway

The archway at the foot of Zhongyang Street, East Asia's longest pedestrian avenue.

Early Winter on Zhongyang

It snowed a bit yesterday - a nice compliment to our 'real feel' -26 degree [Celsius] weather - and the light dusting everywhere made the downtown quite magical...and also scarily slippery. (I'm pretty cautious in snow and ice and I still bit it pretty hard while I was out and about.)

Bomele 1931

The lovely Bomele 1931 cafe downtown on Zhongyang Avenue. (A brief article on this particular branch can be found here.) Bomele 1931 is a nice local alternative to Starbucks, and a cheaper one at that! It's not cheap by local standards (a latte costs ¥24), but that's a better deal than the local Starbucks!

Beer Garden

One of the outdoor, covered beer gardens (is there a better kind of garden?!) along Harbin's Zhongyang Dajie. The local beers are pretty decent and a 500ml-bottle (roughly a pint) generally only costs around ¥4 ($0.65), which is pretty epic!

Flood Control Monument

The Flood Control Monument at the center of Stalin Park and the head of Zhongyang Dajie, Harbin's pedestrian street. Stalin Park was laid out in 1953 to commemorate the friendship of the Soviet Union and China, whilst the Flood Control Monument commemorates the successful control of a massive flood in 1957 and the victims of another flood in 1998.