New Year! (according to the moon)

Last night at 12 was the start of Chun Jie, aka Spring Festival, aka Chinese New Year, aka Lunar New Year. Lots of food and fireworks. Here are the pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34632245@N08/sets/72157612962528597/

And yes, I made some of those dumplings (the uglier ones).

Harbin there, done that

Went to Harbin last weekend for the snow and ice festival. It was amazing- I'd definitely recommend it. Also, it was, in the words of my guidebook, the cold was "villainous". Seriously, I wore 4 pairs of socks.
The city itself was cool, too- there is a lot of Russian influence, from the Church of St. Sophia and other old Russian Orthdox churches to Russian restaurants, shops, etc. Not many Russian people, though.
Here are the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34632245@N08/sets/72157612812869562/with/3214832608/

P.S. The ghostly-looking guy in the back of this picture is me.