Old Harbin

This is us in front of the Muslim Mosque in Old Harbin. From left to right: Jesse's roommate, Jesse, me, Tamber, Tamber's roommate, and my roommate Ren Feng (Sorry to the other roommates, I don't have your Chinese names memorized).

Old Harbin was our first weekend day trip. We took the bus into the historic part of Harbin and checked out the old mosque, bakery, the Song Hua River, and ate at a muslim restaraunt for dinner. We definitely saw the Russian influence on architecture that everyone talks about, but not too many Russians. The river was low judging by the high water mark, and there was a long slope down to the water line. The river was about a half mile across and nice and brown. Standing at the crest of the slope down to the water, there was a wierd superposition of worlds. Down the bank, normal Chinese families were enjoying the day and fishing or swimming. Turn your head and the upper riverbank is stuffed with food vendors, junk hawkers, and begging children, all looking to get a buck from the river tourists - that was us. All three of the groups were benefitting from the river, but I felt a little bad because as a tourist I was ruining the river for the people who were just there to enjoy the water. I was the reason the bank was full of annoying vendors and beggars instead of just people looking to enjoy the water and day. At least in this place, it's not "I" as an American, just "I" as a tourist, because the other tourists we saw were Chinese. Besides, I definitely don't have to feel bad about being an outsider tourist wrecking the landscape here. They do that on their own, and build fake nature areas to replace them like the one we saw the next weekend.