This is the trip I want to do for a while. Luckily, I got extra pay check from my freelance job for this trip and the backpacking trip after.
This is also the first time I ride on the Maglev train to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. It speeds at 300 km/hour on average. It’s on average because on a curve, the train slows down to a little under 300 km/h. With the top speed at 431 km/h, the Maglev takes around 7 minutes from downtown Shanghai to the airport. wow. I use my Shanghai Public Transportation Card (SPTC) and pay 50 CYN for the one way trip.
I take a flight from Shanghai to Harbin with China Southern Airline (ticket 1100 CYN) at noon and arrive a bit in the afternoon. The airport is 45 minutes outside the city. Since I arrive in the afternoon, the traffic is super heavy and it takes me close to 3 hours by bus (ticket 20 CYN) to downtown Harbin.
When I arrive, the sky darkened quickly since it’s winter. It’s snowing really hard mix with rain when the bus reaches the city proper. Plus, I get off at the wrong stop, so I have to look for the hostel I’m staying at. After asking and walking and asking under the worse weather I’ve been at -28˚C to -30˚C, I finally found it. I’m staying at Kazy Int’l Youth Hostel Harbin (哈尔滨卡兹国际青年旅舍). Winter is a high season for Harbin and the hostel tell tell me they don’t have a free bed, but a day before, they email me again and there’s someone canceled their reservation. It’s a bit rundown since the hostel’s building is old, but so far the room is warm and the communal bathroom has hot water. A night is 420 CYN in a female only dorm room of 4 beds.
I have dinner at the hostel, because I won’t going out anytime soon. A lasagna, chocolate cake and hot chocolate to warm me up.
Harbin Trip:
[Travel] Harbin, the Winter Journey Starts
[Travel] Harbin, Snow and Ice
[Travel] Harbin, An Architecture Museum in Zhongyang Dajie
[Travel] Harbin, Jewish and Russian Architecture.
101MonkeyMagic 
If you’re still in Harbin, I’d really recommend wandering along Central Street and perhaps checking out the Temple of Bliss and Seven Tiered Pagoda if you have time :)
yes I did go around a bit but I didn’t have time for Temple of Bliss and Seven Tiered Pagoda :) maybe next time! I love Harbin.
Hope you enjoyed it :) Ah, never mind – they’re worth a quick visit if you’re nearby but pretty similar to other temples/ pagodas in Beijing etc. :)
i see…. thank you anyway :) hopefully I can visit harbin again