Harbin China

We got into China on China Airlines. Our flight landed in the dark and deserted airport in Harbin, The Harbin, Taiping International Airport. Outside a snowy windstorm only allowed us passing glances at the new world before us. We were now with people who knew the drill and had been there a number of times before. We were going to stick to them like glue if we wanted to survive. They were in the First Class cabin, while we were in Coach class (didn't need the first class on the shorter legs of our journey). We quickly discovered one of the more obvious cultural differences between China and Canada. The need to get ahead at any cost. Before the plane had even stopped, most of the cabin we were in had already unbuckled, gotten up and were pushing to get out. The plane was still taxiing. We needed to be close to our friends.
The plane stopped nowhere near the terminal..... just kinda in the middle of nowhere. We got out and saw our new friends going to a VIP little bus while the rest of the flight was loading up on a couple of big buses waiting beside the airplane. We followed our friends. We were then driven to the building, passing en route dilapidated buildings very much reminding me of my childhood homeland of Bulgaria. I was actually looking forward to seeing something that will remind me of Communist Bulgaria. Once inside the terminal we were amongst the planeload of people waiting to go through customs. Although very polite and somewhat efficient, there was nary a smile to be found either amongst staff or passengers. I remember this from Bulgaria too. Once through we got our baggage and found a very nice young man waiting for us on the other side. He was our volunteer guide and had a couple of cars waiting to take us to our hotel in Harbin. We stuffed ourselves inside and our drive began... very very slowly. It was a ways to the city and we were going exceptionally slow (which we later found out was because the roads were very icy and they don't sand the roads there, so there was no traction whatsoever. Once at the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised and off to bed for our first night in China.

We had a busy day ahead of us the next day for the Grand Opening of the Cold Zone Exhibition in Harbin, China.