Doubt creeps in, am I in over my head?

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When I make my travel plans, I don't usually think about how daunting or crazy the idea is, and I think it's because I'm focused on the goal, and I don't let things get in my way. Maybe I should. I also don't usually get home sick. I'm not going to lie, Harbin almost got the best of me. The minute I walked off the plane and down the ladder (no jetway) and it was so cold, and I immediately felt like I was getting sick. Are you kidding me right now? My guide and driver picked me up, took me to the hotel and I knew I had to crash. I had that afternoon and the next day free, and knew I would be sleeping, willing the cold to leave my head. Um, just so you know, it doesn't work. It also didn't help that my way of keeping in contact with my friends, blogging, Instagram and occasionally Facebook, were not working, so that made me feel more isolated. I did email people, and that helped, but then it seems so pathetic. I also wasn't eating all that great, as in, just my granola bars. There was a breakfast included in my hotel stay, but I'm used to Frosted Flakes or eggs and toast, not whatever it was. I'm not judging either, but I like to know what I'm eating, and I couldn't ask because the people at the hotel didn't speak English, and I got the sense that the food was more in the savory spectrum, which I can't do in the morning. So: sick, isolated and hungry. A combination for disaster and self-doubt. But, China isn't Chicago or Milwaukee, you can't just hop on a plane and go home, so I coped. And it got better and I slowly started to feel a little more human.

I had four full days in Heilongjiang province, mostly in Harbin. Harbin is in northeast China, maybe 6 hours drive from the Russian border, and one of the snowiest and coldest places in China. My first day of the tour, we headed up to Snow Town, which is about a five hour drive from Harbin; I spent the night there, doing a lot on my own, then we headed back to Harbin. Day Three was very full: Siberian Tiger Park, Sun Island and incredible snow sculptures, a quick run through the old Russian part of the city, and then the highlight which was the Ice City with the sculptures and ice buildings. The last day was through another part of the city with Baroque style buildings over a century old.

I wanted to give you a run through because the next several posts will have little narrative and hopefully, if blogger cooperates, a lot of pictures.


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