Appooppanthaadi - 35

During the winter this river solidifies. We can walk on this. The picture on the right side was taken while standing in the middle of the River Hai, Tianjin during the winter in 2008. People indulge in various sporting activities like skiying on the solidified water surface . 


Also, it was quiet interesting to see so many people sitting on the river, making holes in the ice layer and fishing. Struggle for existance continues even in the bone chilling cold too... Almost every water body turns into solid state by the mid of December and it remains so till March in the northern parts of China

Though the winter in Eurpoe is also harsh, I could not see the rivers like Seine in Paris, Main in Frankfurt, Rhein in Mannheim in solid state. They all were found flowing with full of water all through the winter.

The River Songhua in summer

The river Songhua in Harbin too is a block of ice now. Harbin faces the harshest winter in China with the mercury dipping to as low as -30 degree celcius. The city is famous for ice festival that attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world.


They exibit ice sculptures all over and there will be buildings made of ice. Since the temperature throughout the day remains below zero degree, these ice blocks never melt. Sadly I missed all these this time

The landmark of Harbin city is the Sofia Church. The church built in Russian architecture in 1907, is a marvellous structure in the middle of the city. It went dysfunct during the cultural revolution and still it is not functioning as a place of worship. Instead, it is a tourist spot that gives nice photo op to the visitors. 


All around the church, there are a number of shopping avenues, especially under ground. The inner side of the church is turned into a museum that depicts the evolution of the city of Harbin.


The famous Central street in Harbin is just a walking distance from this church. Central Street is a spawling three kilometers long road with beautiful buildings constructed on either sides in the Russian style. Central Street is meant for shopping. There are so many shops in this street that sell exclusive Russian goods. This is the place where I saw fried grass hoppers in one of the eateries


Russian influence in Buildings in Russia is conspecuious. There are so many bus shelters on the arterial roads in the city that look like Russian buildings.



During the communism's heydays, Russia helped China a lot and the remnants of their benevolence is still visible. The bonhomie between the earswhile comrades is still warm. Look at the way they stood together to veto the UN resolution against Syria just recently


For more photos : Images from the road sides