Spring Cherry Blossoms

Some of the lovely cherry blossoms currently blossoming along central Harbin's Xidazhi Street.

Unexpectedly Sacred Spaces

Growing up in the Horn of Africa I was familiar with the sight of a large tree with offerings of butter underneath it, remnants of a past animism that hadn't been forgotten despite the spread of Christianity and Islam in the region. It was a surprise, however, to see similar offerings (steam buns and incense) at an otherwise unremarkable tree outside the Harbin Convention Center Mall. "It's a small world after all..."

Spring on Hongbo

Hongbo Square's snowflake (on the site of the old city Cathedral of St. Nicholas) on a gorgeous, chilly spring day.

Dusty Skies

Brown skies as another wave of spring dust blows over Harbin...

The Great Meltdown

A look at the melting Songhua! Qingming Festival was our first day over 20 degrees this spring and even with all the dust in the air it was still lovely to be out and about on such a warm day!

A look at the patchwork of ice still clinging to the river.

Songhua in Early Spring

Given how warm (for here!) it's been lately I was more than a little surprised to see so much ice left on the Songhua! You definitely can't walk across it anymore, but it's still impressive how much of the river is still covered!

The trees are very wisely holding out till they're sure the warmer weather's here to stay...

People are already out flying kites again! (God knows there's always the wind for it!)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...Spring?

I'm a little afraid that we'll get a snowstorm after I post this, but we've had daytime highs well over zero for a few days now, so hopefully we won't! Pictured is the Harbin Concert Hall - the rather hideous present-day home of China's oldest symphony orchestra - on Qunli Way in southwest Harbin.

A closeup of a lovely sculpture outside the Harbin Concert Hall.

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.)

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...

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!

International Hotel in the Spring

In between all the air pollution and dust storms we do also have some incredibly beautiful days here in the spring! Pictured is the International Hotel building on Hongbo Square. (Note the tree front right - things don't really come back to life here till May.)

First Dust Storm of Spring

You know spring is well and truly sprung in Manchuria not by the buds on the trees or the blooms on the flowers (which likely won't come till May!), but by that first rush of gale-force wind bringing dust and sand from the Gobi!

Both of these pictures are from Qunli, one of the newer districts of Harbin on the southwest side of the city. I did see anyone sent flying there, but there's some crazy footage of what the wind did elsewhere in Harbin here.

Spring Sunrise

I definitely like the views from my new apartment! I'm not so sure I'm thrilled that the sun's already rising before 6am though! For more background on the PRC's bizarre time zone policy check out Wikipedia.

Spring in Stalin Park

A view of Gonglu Bridge from the south end of Harbin's riverfront Stalin Park. In theory it was spring here when this was taken, but it's still chilly enough that the trees didn't have buds yet a couple of weeks ago. (It's the end of April now and it's still nowhere near as green as I'd expected it would be.)

A view of another area of Stalin Park (around the Flood Control Monument) more recently, with the trees finally coming back to life!

Spring Approaches

The trees here along Harbin's right bank riverfront may still look dead and the temperatures may still be in the negatives [Celsius] a lot of the time, but the skies are blue, the air has been delightfully clean over the last week, and flocks of birds are flying north - one can't help feeling that spring is very nearly sprung!