Here is a place to spend an afternoon at in Harbin
If you are visiting Harbin in the summertime you will probably want to visit Sun Island. On the north shore of the Songhua river it's a pleasent way to kill some time. Here you see a beer wagon. Does this remind you of something in the states. Well it doen't have six clydesdales but just like the king of beers it is owned by Budwieser. Let's hope they don't wreck it and turn it into a bud clone. You see alot of horse and donkey carts and wagons in Harbin, which is nice, I think. The are trotting down streets transporting many different things. These horses have had an nice haircut recently. Be sure to try the Harbin Beer, if you are a beer drinker, you can't go wrong with a cold Harbin beer.
Larry aka worldtour
Finding that special someone in China
Let's face it, everyone needs some love and affection. I have to say that on average the Chinese women are among the most beautiful on earth. I am not just talking about the outer beauty but they are also possess an inner beauty that is very appealing. Now I am an older guy, even though my Chinese name is Yong Bu Lao, never grows old, I'm sure I could get a much younger women. Asian women don't mind being with an older man. I think you will be much happier with a woman that is closer to your age. Here in China there are many women that have divorced and these women sometimes find it difficult to find another man. Plus young women here are just so immature, they have little experience romantically or at least that is what they profess. Chinese men generally don't want a ready made family or even a women who is divorced, they have that old fashioned attitude of "she is used goods". Now that in itself is quite ironic as they might run the streets, and frequent massage parlors or worse, so the double standard is quite pervasive. It's easy to get divorced in China so there are many women in their thirties and forties who are without a man.
I recommend that you never date anyone at the school you are teaching at, especially the students. There are too many predatory teachers breaking hearts and giving the teachers a bad name. It is quite easy to meet a nice woman here. If you can't find one on the streets, meaning you may just happen to talk to someone when you are out and about, then I know you can find one on
Asianfriendfinder. You can test the waters a bit and email them and then meet for a lunch or dinner at a public place and ease into it. Chinese women are quite reserved and before you can become close you will need to show them your better qualities. For some that can take quite awhile, for others it is about the same as in the west. It's hard to generalize about this but I have had good luck with the online dating that is available at Asianfriendfinder. Perhaps you may chose to find a partner when you are out and about. This is a bit harder it seems to me. Most don't go out and party and friends or relations may try and set them up. My advise, get a woman and leave the girls alone. You also need to realize that a thirty year old could still be a girl. Many don't mature much until the reality of marriage sets in. In general, both boys and girls are really immature in China. The only thing they know is school and that is their major if not only responsibility, everything else is given to them by their parents. So don't expect them to be like the girls you know at home who have been dating since they were 16, because it just isn't the way it is. Most have no where to go to have any privacy and they are more intimate with their girlfriends than with boys, as they are basically segregated, and truthfully college girls are about the equivalent mentally and emotionally to a junior high school girl, so how fun could that be? Of course if you are a recent college grad yourself and teaching abroad then I'm sure it would be okay for you. The main point is, it's a whole different ballgame here. In many ways I feel it is really sad. Most Chinese young people have little to no life experience until they decide to get married. The only thing they know is school and study, they really don't have the same kind of learning regarding social skills, relationships, as we do in the west. Once they are married that's it, the work life has begun, then the child, and taking care of the folks and that's it. End of story. I know this sounds very generalized and of course that is not a good thing to do, but these things are generally true.
Here is a contrast, by the time I was 19, I had lived in my own house, had worked, had been to the university, had traveled to Europe with two buddies, had 20-30 girlfriends, not all at once, wink, and had been doing summer jobs since I was 12 years old. The average 19 year old in China has never had any kind of job, does not have any responsibilities at home beyond studying, has never been intimate, gets everything from his parents, has never been out of his country, feels he is too young to have a girlfriend, is more comfortable walking with his arm around his male friends than with a girl, has never been on a date, has never kissed a girl, dreams of being given a high paying job that requires little or no work.
I guess that is why we call it a foreign country.
Larry aka worldtour
China Summer Vacation: it's here sort of
China's school calendar is quite different from in the States. They have two vacation times, one is in the winter, well they call it spring, during the New year or Spring Festival, the other is during the summer time. However, that doesn't mean the children will be taking a break. What I mean is, this is a time for more classes. So for someone like me who is teaching their own classes it means more work and more income.
It's always a challenge to get the schedule to be suitable for all the students parents but most want at least double the classes that they have for their kids. So from the second week of July until near September most private schools will have a busy schedule. This solves one problem that most private schools have and that is utilizing the space at the school during the monday to friday period. Most teachers at a private school have a very heavy schedule on the weekends, and only the better schools can make enough connections to place their teachers into the universities or other public schools, although this can be a major source of the schools income. Being a one man show at my school it's a bit different but it is a time when I can basically double my income for a month, both in the summer and in the winter. It does mean that it is difficult to travel as these times are when many teachers and Chinese family do travel.
Chinese workers don't really earn vacation status like in the states. There are national holidays so most everyone is off of work at Spring Festival and they may or may not receive full pay. There are really quite a few holidays so most people get about 3 weeks during the year when they and their fellow workers on at home or traveling. It does make for a challenging travel scenario as so many are traveling at the same time. Some private schools will give you a week of paid vacations and you should always try to have national holidays paid with your regular salary. If you are at a university you usually will be offered a travel stipend of between 1-2 thousand yuan. That will cover your travel by train but not much more, so save your money if you want to have more of a fling during these times.
I never thought of myself as a workaholic, but I have usually ended up working during the breaks to bring in a little more income. When I was teaching at my first school here in Harbin I did some traveling. I would say to have a good time and a decent hotel you may need your entire months salary, unless you are willing to stay at the cheap hotels which may not be to your liking. In most places 30-40 dollars will be charged for hotels. So around 3-4 hundred yuan. That adds up quickly so ask around or search the web for a decent hotel that has resonable prices. For example, when I traveled to Nanning my first night was at a 4 star hotel and it was quite nice, as it should be, but at nearly 500 rmb per night I would not have the cash to do other things, and who wants to spend all their money on a place to sleep? The next day I found one for only 150 rmb, one third the price with everything I needed. A clean room, a TV and a good bathroom, it also had breakfast included, a restaurant on the first floor, and they were able to book my return flight. Perhaps in the future if I make it big I will opt for the nicer hotels again, but I'd rather spend that money away from the hotel doing interesting thing and seeing the city I am in.
Larry Rhoe aka worldtour
China housing, how much do you want to spend?
I've written about housing before and expressed my preference to live in my own apartment. Check my past posts for the story behind my last move. There is a wide range of housing. Because I am not at a university at the moment, and I have students, I chose to get a pretty upscale place. This shot is from my balcony window and shows the inside of the courtyard. Most complexes are large, this one is designated as a "model" complex. This is an award given to the best level. Private schools can be rated this way to as well as other things. It has nice flower beds, the bridge on the left traverses the fish pond. You can see the entrance from the street in the center. It is right off a major street, it is not as noisy as most places, so there are a lot of good things including an elevator.
Now don't get me wrong, if you come to China you will not be given a place like this to live as it is just too expensive. However if you team up with another teacher or two you wouldn't be spending that much more than you would be for a mediocre place and 1/3 the size. I rented it to draw in higher end students and to give my current students a nice place to come and study and also for me. You can find smaller places that have been remodeled for about 1000 rmb, and your average 40 - 50 square meter place will be 5-6 hundred rmb. Considering you should make 4-7 thousand rmb that is not to expensive. Right now I'm taking things a bit slower than in the past and I'm in the black so it's a good thing for me right now.
Most complexes have 1st floor businesses on the street side of the buildings. This complex has a large internet cafe on the ground floor to the left of the entrance that you see in the picture. The gamers are having their fun. On the opposite side is a small restaurant. Every thing you want or need is nearby. It's kind of nice to look back at my beginnings here and track my success at least from the housing side of things. I would say that this place is the nicest place I have ever lived in aside from Hancock Park in Hollywood. Remember I have been a starving artist most of my years. Well not starving but certainly struggling. Plus I led a rather simple more rustic life in WA. State living in a converted barn. That may give you a little insight into my past. Well tonight I'm going to have a nice meal on the sidewalk where the night market is and watch the scenery.
worldtour aka Larry Rhoe
I've written about housing before and expressed my preference to live in my own apartment. Check my past posts for the story behind my last move. There is a wide range of housing. Because I am not at a university at the moment, and I have students, I chose to get a pretty upscale place. This shot is from my balcony window and shows the inside of the courtyard. Most complexes are large, this one is designated as a "model" complex. This is an award given to the best level. Private schools can be rated this way to as well as other things. It has nice flower beds, the bridge on the left traverses the fish pond. You can see the entrance from the street in the center. It is right off a major street, it is not as noisy as most places, so there are a lot of good things including an elevator.
Now don't get me wrong, if you come to China you will not be given a place like this to live as it is just too expensive. However if you team up with another teacher or two you wouldn't be spending that much more than you would be for a mediocre place and 1/3 the size. I rented it to draw in higher end students and to give my current students a nice place to come and study and also for me. You can find smaller places that have been remodeled for about 1000 rmb, and your average 40 - 50 square meter place will be 5-6 hundred rmb. Considering you should make 4-7 thousand rmb that is not to expensive. Right now I'm taking things a bit slower than in the past and I'm in the black so it's a good thing for me right now.
Most complexes have 1st floor businesses on the street side of the buildings. This complex has a large internet cafe on the ground floor to the left of the entrance that you see in the picture. The gamers are having their fun. On the opposite side is a small restaurant. Every thing you want or need is nearby. It's kind of nice to look back at my beginnings here and track my success at least from the housing side of things. I would say that this place is the nicest place I have ever lived in aside from Hancock Park in Hollywood. Remember I have been a starving artist most of my years. Well not starving but certainly struggling. Plus I led a rather simple more rustic life in WA. State living in a converted barn. That may give you a little insight into my past. Well tonight I'm going to have a nice meal on the sidewalk where the night market is and watch the scenery.
worldtour aka Larry Rhoe
Relaxing in a Chinese Park
Dancing is something you see often in China. Like everything else here it is slightly different than you might imagine. This shot is in a park in Harbin in the Daoli district. There were actually more dancers but my "date" wanted to take a shot of me. During the summertime some streets come alive with as many as 100 or more people dancing. It is usually the older crowd and the dancing is a group thing. Much like line dancing in Country music. Music might be taped or there may be a drummer and another musician. I think it exemplifies the Chinese mindset. The communal aspect of living, the group dynamic and fitting into the group. I remember the first time I went to a disco. My employers at the school treated us to a night out and we went to a nice hotel, in a busy commercial area that is very popular with the locals. Our host, my bosses husband was most generous keeping our beers coming and there was also a bottle of Jack Daniels. He is a high ranking policeman, way high. There were also several lovely young women who were invited to sit with us. I do mean lovely too, and even though they were probably working, their decorum was very "traditional".
Now, the dancing here, I can only describe as somewhat strange. First there were gogo girls on each side of the DJ area, which was in front of the dance floor, and dancing boys. Now a couple of them were definately boys, complete with that swish swish thing, and an outfit with a plunging neckline, which was definately not purchased in a mens shop. Here the dancing is like one group grope, without the grope. Rather a communal powwow, tuning in to the music and tuning out to everything else. You don't dance with anyone, you just grove to the music, in many cases you could not really say it was dancing. You know like that guy at the sock hop who used to do the Chicken Scratch. It was a little suprising to see the kids tuning out and rocking in solitude. This sort of dancing is common but you will also see more of what you are used to, a guy dancing with a girl, at different venues. It is quite common to also see the boys dancing with each other, as well as girls dancing with each other. It is very common to see older women dancing together in the streets, as there may not be enough men to practice the ballroom type steps you may see. In the discos however you really see alot of solo dancing, and it's okay as there are many that are doing the same thing. It's actually quite the opposite of the way things are in the west, where solo dancers are often seen but it is generally the person who is the freebird of the group. The iconoclast. There are some really great Chinese dancers in many styles, but there are also lots of people who have two left feet. This impediment does not affect their enjoyment. Being a new arrival, I really would have liked a night cap with one of the girls but it was far beyond my means, and who knows it may have been a sort of test by my employer. It was great fun though as it was one of my first nights out in Harbin. We hopped in my bosses Land Cruiser and headed out into the night. Later I wondered just how he was able to drive a 60,000 dollar SUV. Well come to think of it he didn't have to pay for any of the drinks so I'm sure that helps.
Larry aka worldtour
Mask of China
I'm always interested in seeing what else is out there when it comes to living and working in China.
Mask of China is a blog from a Canadian that goes by the name of Dezza. He has spent time in Dalian, which is a nice seaside city. Dalian is a prime destination for many who are teaching in China. It is also very popular as a destination for the locals as well. Dezza has a unique perspective as he is a Chinese Canadian. I think you will find it interesting.
This picture is at Center Street. The Chinese children are really cute and fun to watch. They really got into the band that was playing and also loved the dancers. If you come to Harbin for a vist you must see Center street. If you're in need of some shopping therapy, you can get it here.
worldtour aka Larry Rhoe
Having fun in Harbin
Teaching can be fun but let's face it, it is also a lot of work. There are lots of things to do in Harbin and one of my favorite things to do is to take a taxi to the older part of Harbin by the Songhua river. There is a street called Center street. As with many cities the river has been and continues to be a vital part of the economy and this is the historic center of Harbin. Harbin was the eastern terminal of the Trans Siberian Railway, so the Russians have been here for a long time. There are many Russian building in Harbin and some of the nicest ones are here on Center street. It is a 4 or five block stretch of shops and wonderful architecture. You have the multi-national businesses here like KFC and McDonalds and you will recognize some of the major labels in clothing too. Basically it's a shopping paradise. There are no cars on this street, it is for strolling, there is only one street that crosses the large cobblestones that the Japanese put in during their occupation.
Many people who you meet might assume you are Russian at first, assuming you are a Caucasian. Although many are now good at spotting the differences between the Russians and the American, Aussies, Brits, or Canucks that populate the teaching ranks. I do frequently get asked if I am Russian, to that I say "Wo shi Mei Gua Ren".
today's pictures are from Center street. It was the 4th of July back home so I was in a mood to get out, cut loose a little, so Michele and I jumped in a taxi. The street is wide and the streets that meet have no cars. The street basically is one block and the cars are a block away from you, so you have side streets that have different shops or in this case a beer garden. Harbin beer is the oldest in China and in my opinion the best, and most everyone enjoys beer. In the summer performers will take to the portable stage. Here we have some beautiful Russian girls doing their thing. You will also find Russian performers at the discos or nightclubs. Chinese seem to love a show and this one is free at Center street. The area was upgraded this year and now has a canopy over the area with a beer station in the center. The outer edges of the street area have single vendor food booths. You may want to try some barbecued lamb, or oysters, noodles, or knaw on some boney pieces of chicken. There is a wide variety of choices. Have a pitcher of beer for 10 yuan and enjoy the show, both on the stage and in the audience.
Be good to yourself and to others.
Worldtour aka Larry Rhoe
Moonlighting while teaching English abroad
You may want to make a little extra money while you are teaching abroad. If you are a good teacher you will probably have lots of chances to pick up some students on the side. If you are teaching at a university you will have most of your weekend free. In China you can command anywhere from 100-200 rmb per hour for one on one tutoring. The students you have maybe preparing for one of the test they must take to study abroad, such as the Ielts tests, or entrance exams for getting into a college or graduate school. You may also find business people who are looking to improve their English skills. Right now, I am tutoring a 15 year old girl who has been accepted into the student exchange program, and will be leaving to live and study in Great Falls Montana. I charge a little less than most as this student wants a class every day. So for one month, 90 minutes a day I will receive 3000 rmb. She is quite advanced so it is a pleasure to teach her. It also gives you a chance to teach about cultural differences and what to expect when you arrive. With a couple of students like this you can double your salary. So keep your ears open and you can pick up some extra bread.
You could also do some part-time work at the numerous private language schools and for that you should be able to pick up 100-200 rmb for a two hour class. Sometimes the private schools have better students than you find at public schools and universities. So if you feel like you are knocking your head against a wall at your full time job, try branching out a bit and you may find that you will get the satisfaction every teacher desires teaching somewhere else.
Right now I have 70 students in my own school, I teach one class a week at another private language school and I have the private tutoring for 90 minutes every day. I teach 5 days a week with her and on Sunday night we watch an English movie. Sometimes I go longer as the time flies. This student was recommended to me by the teacher who found me for the private school that I teach for. Networking. One thing I can tell you is that if you are any good at teaching word of mouth will bring you many students. You may want to specialize in one on one teaching as this is the most profitable way to make money.
Happy Trails
worldtour aka Larry Rhoe
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Teaching Abroad has its rewards
Teaching English Abroad can be a very rewarding experience. You can travel, explore new and exciting cultures, make money and gain a lot of new friends. This is a picture of Jack. Jack was a student of mine when I first came to Harbin. He was the kind of student we all want, but he was also the kind of student that other students sometimes resent. Why? Well he just was far superior in his development. This can sometimes be a problem in a classroom. He just put a lot more into it and so he was head and shoulders above the rest. I often face this same problem with my younger students. There are a few that just are exceptional students and progress much faster than others. They want to answer all the questions and when you are trying to involve everyone this sometimes creates a problem in the classroom. I usually deal with it in a humorous way. For example if I call on a student and another students jumps in with the answer, I thank the student who answers using the other students name. This works especially well with students of the opposite sex. Boys don't like being called a girls name. It's all done in fun but gets the point across well and nobody gets hurt.
We all want students like that so having a way to deal with it is a plus. When you see someone getting ahead as a result of your teaching you know you have made a lasting impression on them. Jack, who became my partner when I took over an existing school is a great example of what most of us hope to accomplish beyond the monetary reward. We ran the school together for a year or so and then he decided to pursue other options. I didn't resent that at all as we had become good friends and I wished him well. He is currently working in Wuxi, which is near Shanghai. He is working for a fellow Harbiner in an import export business. He escorts business people who come to China to companies and facilitates purchases and the company exports the products. He will soon travel to Africa where most of their clients are for a trade show to further the companies interests. This is something that could never have happened without his English skills. I'm so proud of him and I'm sure we will remain life long friends. Most Chinese have difficulty traveling as the visas and expense is beyond most Chinese, so this is a really big deal for him, being able to see the rest of the world.
You just never know how your influence will affect someone that you are teaching. This is ofcourse common for teachers, it's just great to see it and is a big part of the reward that is part of being a teacher. So for those of you that are considering teaching in china, you can really have a major affect on the students life, enabling them to fly high. Good Job Jack!
worldtour aka Larry Rhoe
I am the pizza king of Harbin
I am the pizza king of Harbin. Okay all you wanna be teachers or future teachers in China listen up. If you have read some of my posts about teaching in China you know that your money will go a long way. In fact you will be solidly in the middle class. That's the way it is now. I'm not sure that it will stay that way as much of the Chinese economy seems to be "artificial". What I mean by that is that there are a lot of jobs and workers who really don't have much to do. The supermarkets are a good example although it seems to be a common in most business situations. There are always hordes of "workers" in the stores. They are usually dressed in aprons and may even have a paper crown like they sometimes wear at Burger King. Mnnnn, that sounds good right about now as Mickey D is the only hamburger joint here in Harbin. I'm not a big McDonalds fan. These workers usually are just standing around talking with each other. Perhaps they think I cannot speak any Chinese, so I don't require any help. A small store might have 20 of these workers. They sometimes stock product or they weigh and tag things that need to be bagged by the customer, so you may stand in line several times as you bag fruit or candy or any number of different items as the price is then put on the bag. Most stores have bar code readers, the larger stores, not the mom and pop stores. There are a few stores that have imported goods. Sometimes you can find the same item that is Chinese at a much lower price. Here in Harbin there are three stores where you can find some of the things you may be craving. Case in point pizza fixings. Those stores are Metro, a German Chinese Joint venture, Carrafour, a French store, and Walmart. Now I should say that none of these stores will be laid out in a way that you are used to. Like so many other things here in China logic seems to have taken a vacation. In the States, placement of product is well thought out with the purpose of forcing the shopper to traverse most of the store. For example, the everyday items that you may need such as milk are almost always placed in the back of the store so you have to pass lots of other products even if you only want milk, same goes for bread, it's usually on the wall on the right or left, so you pass by the displays at the ends of the aisle and perhaps you will have an impulse buy. The bargain items are always on the bottom shelf and the more expensive items are at eye level. Most of you are familiar with this marketing scheme.
In China, like items may not even be grouped together, or they will have changed position since the last time you were at the store. Walmart is the worst offender here. They have obviously failed to transfer the corporate culture to China. They do however do a brisk business. You can really only find a couple of types of cheese at Walmart, mostly cheddar, edam. No mozzarella! You will be able to find two or three other soft Chinese cheese. Something you might spread on a cracker, not brei but something akin to that in nature. They are also about 2o percent more expensive than Metro.
Metro is really the best. They have bilingual signs and logical food groups in aisles. In other words, the flour is in the same aisle as the yeast and the baking powder and baking soda. Metro is almost like what you are used to except for all of the strange food that is in China. I thought I had died and went to heaven the first time I went into the section with the cheese. Then when I saw the price I thought I was going to die. The sight of a full wheel of high quality cheese was well, wonderful. The price is too high for most Chinese and frankly they are much more comfortable eating chicken heads and fish lips than cheese. Most would find a nice sharp cheddar or even a mild havarta or jack, awful and there is a good chance that many would spit it out. I have witnessed this with a friend who professed to like everything and demonstrated that at many a dinner.
Carrafour is a French company. I don't shop there, need I say more? Well perhaps I should. I got really turned off to that store in Beijing. It was early in my teaching adventure and the crush of humanity was nearly too much for me. I'm sure you can relate, because I don't know anyone who likes to wait in a line at the grocery store. Now imagine 25 checkers, and 30 people in line at each checker. Be prepared to have the entire contents of you basket or cart examined by most everyone. They are curious.
So I recommend Metro. If you live in a larger city you probably can find one as they have over 25 stores in China now. Now the bad news. 200 grams or less than half a pound will cost you 25 yuan or about 3 dollars. Black olives in the can will cost 16 yuan or two dollars. If you don't know how to make a sauce and opt for a bottled spaghetti sauce add another 2-5 dollars. I just buy an envelope of tomato paste for one yuan, and add a chopped fresh tomato with Italian spices. I got a big container with a mixture of the traditional spices. That cost me about 10.00 dollars. Everything else is cheap and can be found at the street markets, onions, pepper, mushrooms. Metro is the only store I have been able to find Italian style sausages. I opt for the salami, it's made in Shanghai and comes in three different varieties. That's another 3 dollars or about 25 yuan. It is what you expect. It is about 7.50 per pound. If you were to get the whole sausage, 100 yuan for about 18 inches of hard dry style salami. I did also see pepperoni but it was sliced and bulk style and when I turned the back over it was brown on the bottom and the top was a sort of red and 10 dollars for 2 lbs. If you have to have the traditional Italian sausage, and I mean the fat one that is mostly pork, you know the one that comes regular or hot, then you can get it but you have to buy one kilo and that will be about 80 yuan or about 10.00 dollars. You could easily spend 20 bucks. There are some alternatives, such as a certain sausage from Sechuan, but hard to find. There are also some cheap ham type of meats that can work well if you are doing a pizza similar to a Canadian bacon pizza.
I have never really liked the chain pizza, except for Pietro's so I make my own. I found early on that I could not get along with out an oven so I make pizza, I make roast beef, even tuna casserole. There is something that just transports you to your home when eating a roast beef dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy. So I indulge myself a few times per month. There is one independent pizza place here that I know of that does a decent job. You can get four eight inch pizza with 400 grams of cheese and the can of olives and the salami, so that's about 10-12 dollars. Still cheaper than what you would pay at the pizzeria but quite expensive here. You will only be able to bake one at a time as your oven will be just big enough to accept the eight inch pan, oh and I forgot that pan will be about 5 bucks too, but you only have to pay once for that.
You may find the whole process of making the dough and the sauce and putting them together and baking them quite therapeutic if you are suffering from culture shock or just a little homesick. If you are a Midwesterner like myself you may opt for the Land o Lakes brand cheeses and savor every bite, only at Metro. For all you novices here is an easy dough recipe that works for me. 1.5 cups hot water in a medium size bowl, if you take the hot water out of one of the water machines you will have to wait for it to cool a bit or it will kill the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast onto the water and cover the water with yeast, about a half a package if you are buying the individual packets. If not just cover the water so it looks brown. Add a little sugar to get the yeast going and a pinch of salt. You can add a small amount of oil too or wait and add it just before you add flour. Four cups of flour added one cup at a time. You have to work the dough until it does not stick to your cutting board and it starts to show some elasticity. Your hands will know. Let it rise for at least a half an hour. It should triple in size. It should make 3-4 pizza depending on how thick you like your crust. Your oven should be on full blast, 450 degrees and will take about 20 minutes.
Grab yourself an ice cold coke or Harbin beer and your set.
Larry aka worldtour
If you are visiting Harbin in the summertime you will probably want to visit Sun Island. On the north shore of the Songhua river it's a pleasent way to kill some time. Here you see a beer wagon. Does this remind you of something in the states. Well it doen't have six clydesdales but just like the king of beers it is owned by Budwieser. Let's hope they don't wreck it and turn it into a bud clone. You see alot of horse and donkey carts and wagons in Harbin, which is nice, I think. The are trotting down streets transporting many different things. These horses have had an nice haircut recently. Be sure to try the Harbin Beer, if you are a beer drinker, you can't go wrong with a cold Harbin beer. 
