When Malaysians dream of winter, we picture snowflakes falling gently on rooftops, steaming cups of hot coffee (or hot chocolate for non-coffee drinker like me), and maybe a ski slope or two. What we rarely imagine is standing in a city where the mercury sinks well below –20°C, where rivers freeze solid, siberian tigers roaming freely (sort of) and entire castles are carved from blocks of ice.
That was Harbin for us. In the dead of winter of 2016, my wife and I found ourselves in this city in northeastern China, bundled up in layers, shuffling through streets where our breath froze in midair. It wasn’t even part of our original plan. I was in between jobs, and we still had our Arctic-level winter gear from a Svalbard trip lying unused. Harbin felt like the right place to put those jackets to work again. A last-minute plan, but one that paid off.
Life on Ice – Zhongyang Street and the Songhua River
Harbin’s main artery, Zhongyang Street, doesn’t feel like a typical Chinese city at all at first glance. With its Russian façades and cobblestones, it was like walking through a set from another century.
Stalls sold dumplings and candied fruits, while ice carvings lined the pavements like little preview acts for the main festival. The cold cut through our gloves, but the street itself was buzzing.
What made it unforgettable, though, were the little random experiences. The locals were super friendly and despite my zero Mandarin language knowledge, I found myself playing a game of ping pong with a local in the middle of the street.
If that is not random enough, not too far away, a man in swim trunks climb down into a pool carved into the frozen Songhua River, dipping into water so cold I felt shivers just looking at him. It was bizarre, funny, and exactly why I love travel — stumbling onto things you’d never script.
We eventually made our way onto the Songhua River itself. Walking on a frozen river felt wrong at first, but once we joined the locals sledding, skating, and sliding around, it became one of those surreal “only in Harbin” memories.
The Tigers of Harbin
The next stop was the Siberian Tiger Park, and here the emotions were more complicated. On paper, it’s a conservation project — hundreds of Siberian tigers roaming a fenced landscape in their natural climate. Seeing them up close was awe-inspiring. These were enormous cats, their coats glowing in the winter sun, their eyes sharp and unblinking.
But the experience came with discomfort. Tourists could buy live chickens to feed to the tigers, tossed into the enclosures like a sideshow. We didn’t feel right about it, and it left us torn. On one hand, standing metres away from a Siberian tiger was unforgettable. On the other, the gimmicks dulled the magic.
There were moments of unintended humour too. Some of the English signboards in the park were so badly translated that we couldn’t help but laugh.
A City of Ice and Light – The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival
The headline act of any Harbin winter is the International Ice and Snow Festival. Even after seeing photos online, nothing prepared us for the scale. By day, the sculptures towered like frozen monuments, crafted from blocks cut straight out of the Songhua. By night, the entire park transformed. Neon lights illuminated the structures in dazzling colours — pink palaces, glowing blue towers, rainbow bridges.
We spent hours wandering through this frozen city, ducking into tunnels of ice, climbing staircases that crunched under our boots, and stopping every few minutes to capture photos our cameras struggled to handle in the extreme cold. Batteries died within minutes, lenses fogged instantly, but we kept going. The sheer spectacle was too good to walk away from.
Hand in hand, teeth chattering, we looked around and realised this was exactly why we had come. Harbin was cold, harsh, and often inconvenient, but in that moment it felt like stepping into a dream built entirely of ice and light.
Reflections from the Cold
Harbin wasn’t a polished holiday. It wasn’t even meant to happen. But that last-minute plan gave us one of the most extreme and unforgettable weeks of travel we’ve had.
It tested us with its biting cold and awkward moments, made us laugh with mistranslated signs and random street ping pong, and left us awestruck with its frozen river, mighty tigers, and neon ice castles.
Not every trip needs to be perfect. Sometimes the unplanned ones, stitched together by chance and curiosity, become the stories you tell again and again. Harbin was exactly that — a city frozen in time that left us both humbled and amazed.
