在大冰库里找乐子 — 哈尔滨冰雪大世界
This is my favorite place in Harbin! I am in awe of all the life-size LED ice sculptures. You can walk across bridges, dance inside castles, have fun sliding down the numerous ice and snow slides. These sculptures were just too amazing! The entrance fee was damn expensive (RMB330) but it was totally worth it!
The whole place was like a freezer, so do remember to put on more warm clothing especially your feet! I would suggest putting heat pads in your boots.
Many of the sculptures featured ice slides which you can slide down. There were many larger slides as well. This year, they featured a mega long ice slide at 320 meters! I did not play this as there was a long queue and the waiting time was about 1 plus hour. No, I am not going to stand in the cold for 1 hour!
I had fun sliding down the other little ice slides. No queues and I can slide as many times as I like 😍 I must thank the 2 ladies who approached us to join them tubing down snow slides. It was really fun!
There were vendors outside the Ice and Snow World urging you to buy a thin plastic sled at RMB 10. (selling price inside the park was RMB 20). You will sit on the sled and slide down without getting your pants dirty. Don’t buy! You do not need that. In fact, you are not allowed to use it to slide down most if not all of the slides and slopes.
The venue was big. Other than the mega slides playground and LED ice sculptures, there were many other activities too. Activities include ice-skating using different gadgets and also dance and animation shows. All these usually attract long queues. You can easily spend at least 3 hours or more here. So do time your visit well. You may want to go in before sunset to play first then enjoy the LED sculptures at nightfall.
Transport to Ice and Snow World
There’s a public bus No 29 from the Flood Control Monument bus stop that goes to Ice and Snow World. It is cheap at RMB 2 only. I would recommend taking this.
You can also take a cab there but if the driver asked if you have purchased the entrance tickets, just say yes.
We got into this cab and upon learning that we had not bought our tickets, he drove us to a travel agency. So you buy the entrance tickets at this travel agency. The ticket includes return bus services at no extra cost. Well, sound fair enough but it is wasting our time. We sat there waiting, for quite a while for the bus to come and for the bus to fill up. We eventually entered the park at about 6pm, 1 plus hour later than what I originally planned to.
After we were done with our visit, we were supposed to go to a meeting place to board the bus which will bring us back to the travel agency and from there find our way back to the hotel. However, we saw a public bus waiting at the entrance which sends you back to Central Street for RMB 5. We immediately ditched the free bus and boarded this public bus.
Despite the cab saga, we had enjoyed Ice and Snow World. This is really a place you must visit during winter.
雪花芬飞的时节 