First I flew to Shen Yang and met up with my travel buddy Soloman (a Hongki immigrated to Australia at 15 yrs old). It was the first time that I found a travel buddy online, it was quite scary at the beginning. But I think I can always go solo if I did not get along with him. Actually it turns out pretty well since we have a lot things in common - Speaking Cantonese, Living abroad for a while, like traveling and even taking LP. Therefore we get along okay, except he acts very bossy sometimes.
I spent 2 days in Shen Yang before heading off to Harbin. Shen Yang was a old military capital for Mongolians, the highlight of Shen Yang are the traditional Mongolian architecture like the old palace. The Shen Yang palace is only one-third of the size of Forbidden City, but it has its own distinctive Mongolian style. More importantly the entire palace covered with snow during winter, it adds an distinctive romantic flavor to the scenery. Walking in the palace made me feel like a noble living in Mongolian Dynasty. It reminds me the scenes at TV Series like 还珠格格 or 金枝玉叶.
Shen Yang is just 2 hours away from Seoul, so it has strong business tie with Korea. At night I went to the Korean Street and tried the authentic Korean dishes. Originally I would like to try the Korean "Fire Dragon Bath (火龙浴）", using hot stones & burning scents for massage. It supposed to help blood circulation and keep the "cold" out of body. At last minute I am scared the stones will burn my skin, I dropped this idea and went back to hotel after dinner.
Since the temp difference at Harbin from outdoors to indoors are over 60 degrees (from -40 degrees outdoors the 20 degrees indoors). I dont want my ears to fall off when I rub my ears, so Then I went shopping with Soloman to get all the clothing we need for the freezing weather in Harbin, we got ear cover, masks and wool socks. I put on as many layers of installations as I can.
The third day of the trip we took the plane flying from Shen Yang to Harbin.
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