Post 177. China Holiday Part 4. Dongbei

We’re now getting away from the tourist areas and into the North East, where Y comes from originally. We had met her parents Jun and Ping when they came to the UK in 2023 and of course G had met many other family members since moving out there. It’s not an area many Westerners will visit. For that reason, there will be many more photos than usual.

We started in Songyuan where her parents live and were greeted at the airport like royalty! Having dropped our cases off we headed out for a meal of dumplings. The tradition is you eat dumplings on arrival, surrounded by love, and noodles on departure, for a smooth journey. We tried four types of dumplings, hand made in front of us by the ladies running the restaurant. As you can see from the picture, we started with various cold meats including pigs’ ears, which JD might be eating judging by his expression.

The Guoerluosi Hotel where we stayed had previously hosted President Xi. We decided to give the Presidential Suite a miss, even though we were only staying two nights. Would have been a bargain, right? Another tradition seems to be the whole family helping you to your room and examining it for appropriateness. (Not so difficult in Songyuan but in Harbin, with all the family, there were a dozen of us squeezing into each room and making suitable noises of appreciation).

We had a drive around and were shown where Y had gone to school then decided on a couple of hours’ nap before exploring further. China has only one time zone, so in the North people tend to do things early, with a local market from four till nine in the morning. They eat the evening meal around four to five in the afternoon then go to the park to dance, exercise or play chess. After driving round and being impressed by all this, we went for another sumptuous meal, late by their standards. At the table next to us was a group of men, smoking and drinking and swearing: even though JD and I obviously couldn’t understand them, the most sober told his pals off for showing them up in front of foreign visitors.

At breakfast the next day in the hotel, the waitress took pity on us Westerners and brought typical breakfast delicacies. We felt we had to try them, even though we weren’t sure what some were.

Later we drove out to Chang’an Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China. Ping got so excited talking to us (with Y and G translating) that he missed the turning and drove half an hour in the wrong direction before he realised! It’s easy to do in that area of the country, wide open flat land with eight or ten lane highways. (He reminded me of my dad, who once drove us into a farmyard when we were meant to be catching the Humber ferry. His excuse was that the car he was following looked like it knew where it was going. I suspect the driver did, and wondered why a strange car was tailing him).

The lake was packed, the first place we saw that really was busy. It’s become a tourist attraction only in the last 20 to 30 years. We managed to park and got a ‘bamboo raft’ to take us on a short tour of the lake. The ride got quite exciting when the propeller got tangled in a net, and while the driver (?) was freeing it, the wind drove us into the mud. He had a pole to push us off, so this was obviously a frequent occurrence. Unfortunately, he was not able to combat the wind until Ping redeemed himself by adding his strength.

We continued our trip then JD, G and Ping went for a walk up to a temple, while we three ladies stayed at the lakeside and enjoyed the sun. We then visited Y’s home town Xinli and saw where she spent the first few years of her life. As her dad worked in the oil industry, the once thriving town is now pretty deserted, with her first home a heap of rubble and her primary school lying derelict, although we could just make out the mural that Y remembers being created.

The highlight of the whole holiday for JD happened when Ping took us to the oil refinery with lots of ‘nodding donkeys’. I lost count of how many videos we have of different ones in action. We could see the future on the horizon, with wind turbines in the distance. At one time the donkeys were driven by motor engines, but now have their own solar power to drive them electrically. We had an in-depth run-down of how the whole field works. Water is pumped 1300 metres underground to force the oil/water mixture up through the nodding donkey pumps. At a centralised tanking area, the water is separated from the oil and pumped back underground again to be reused.

Dinner was another new experience, a stew restaurant. We chose a fish and a goose, cooked separately with different vegetables in two massive bowls. Our food was delivered by another robot (with some help from humans to put the plates etc onto the table and clear them away).  

The Dongbei province is very close to Mongolia and has a lot of Mongolian influence, with the stores having both Mandarin and Mongolian writing. We went to a park and saw statues of musicians and warriors, including a massive one of Genghis Khan. Can you see JD and Ping waving?

We hired a six-seater bike and cycled around as fast as we could, which was a mode of transport I’ve not experienced since I was a kid on holiday in Skegness.For the kids (small and grown-up), there were dinosaurs to ride.

Whilst we used to get goldfish for prizes, here you can give your kids cute fluffy chicks which have obviously been dipped in different colours.

The last night in Songyuan, we were kept awake by a great many fireworks. The hotel had two weddings the Thursday we arrived, one on Friday and three on Saturday as that was deemed an auspicious date (3 May).

Y’s cousin from Harbin drove down to collect us then we proceeded back in two cars, as there was no way we could get family and luggage in one. For the first time it was raining. Apparently, I guess because of the land mass, there is not usually wind and rain together, like in the UK, so the rain falls straight down and an umbrella can actually be useful. By the time we arrived in Harbin the sun had come out. We first visited the cousin’s Moutai ‘experience’, you couldn’t really call it a shop, it was so impressive. We did not sample any, much too early in the day, but we were photographed, so if you can find the website you’ll possibly see us advertising his wares.

We called into our hotel to drop off the bags then drove to the Harbin Indoor Ice and Snow Theme Park, opened in 2024 and in the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘world’s largest indoor ice and snow theme park’ (I don’t know how many others there are but no doubt number 2 is expanding rapidly to regain the record).

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/09/travel/biggest-indoor-snow-and-ice-park-harbin-china-intl-hnk

We donned arctic coats and wandered around like small children at Christmas. There was even a slide to go down but only the intrepid tackled it.

Dinner was in the cousin’s restaurant, a private room, naturally.  There were Y’s cousin and his wife, three of Jun’s sisters, a husband, and us. We had taken some English sparkling wine from a Somerset vineyard close to us, but I’m not sure how much the ‘aunts’ enjoyed it.

The Moutai flowed (as long as you stood up and made a toast) and the food kept coming. In the middle of the meal two birthday cakes (Western and Chinese) appeared for JD as well as a goldfish pudding (no real fish were harmed). The savoury courses then started again with sushi salad, dumplings and noodles.

On our return to the hotel we decided we needed to walk off some of the food. Harbin has a strong Russian influence and the street we walked along had a mix of Chinese and Russian shops. I was tempted to buy one of those Russian stacking dolls as it’s probably the nearest I’ll get to visiting Russia now. One stall intrigued us so much we had to try it. The four of us decided that ‘dry choked yoghurt’ is an acquired taste!

The hotel was the Royal Hotel 1903, an old Russian one with a lift from 1903 that you’re not allowed to use, but they’ll take you up and down in it for the experience. Jun even dressed up for the occasion. The staff were dressed appropriately and the rooms were furnished from the time.

The next morning, the breakfast room took some finding. The restaurant we’d seen on the ground floor was closed. Two of the staff (no one spoke English and my Mandarin didn’t stretch) took me by the arms and helped me out of the hotel, down the stairs, along the street, down some steps into the basement and voila! A room with Russian music and breakfast. There was Chinese or Russian breakfast plus the usual fruit.

We all caught the coach afterwards and went on a tour of the city: first the Russian Orthodox Church (closed due to its state of repair) where there were many girls dressed up as angels or as though they were going to Versailles.

Then onto a State medicines factory (a very popular Sunday place to visit), built in 2004 and incredibly opulent. I was told the owners were eventually arrested due to money mismanagement. As you can see, I was very popular with the locals. A large number came and took a photo just next to me: I wonder if I feature in their albums?

The rain then started with enough force (aided by wind) to put paid to more sightseeing so we went to lunch in a Russian restaurant. There were knives and forks instead of chopsticks: I had forgotten how to use them and dropped food everywhere, to great amusement from the Chinese contingent.

We had to rush for our plane with yet another meal on board (with chopsticks so I coped), onto our Hangzhuo hotel for three nights. Goodbye Dongbei.