We watch people slide down a three-story space ship made from ice. We enter a glowing, blue maze, trying to find the red sculpture at the center. There are a dozen or more such creations in all, glittering warmly like jewels. One almost feels like the ice exudes warmth. We find ourselves in a corridor of ornately carved clear ice sculptures from ice-carving artists around the world.
Dogs wait with sleds to pull kids around.
There are no taxis, and it's a bone-chilling, slippery walk back to the hotel. All is well an hour later as we gather around a Mongolian hot pot in a restaurant across the street from the hotel. The next day, we visit the 27th Annual Harbin Ice Festival, the main attraction just steps from the front door of the Gloria Hotel, alongside, and built upon, the frozen river. We spot some monstrous ice buildings below the embankment, such as a welcoming Arc de Triomphe, Great Wall, Pyramid, Materhorn, and Lhasa Buddhist Monastery. But the rubber-tire slides down the riverbank are the first order of business, and soon the whole family is sliding down repeatedly.