The thought of going to Harbin, China always enters our mind come December for the past three to four years but we never really pushed through. There was always the complexity of time as the Festival falls on the first week of January where students would have to go back to school and the adults to their businesses -but last year was different. Last December 2010, my aunts had decided to do it this January 2011 because well, as how they would put it-“Kelangan na natin pumunta ngayon kasi tumatanda na tayo”

As soon as the problems with soon-to-be-expired passports  a lot of drama happened because my cousins wanted to go but their passports will expire soon and the Visas were settled, it was final we are going to Harbin on January 4-8,2011.

For the whole month of December everyone of us were too excited for the trip that every time we converge, the main topic was about Harbin.

Among all the trips that we have been to,I am telling you this was the most magastos, mainly because we have to buy brand new winter gears. 

Our typical gear composed of:

• Down Jacket
• UGG boots/Snow boots
• Scarves and bonnets 
• Fleece jackets
• Thermal/Wool socks
• Thermal underwear from M&S
• and lots of extra clothes

I was actually surprise that we do have a good amount of selections for down jackets here in the Philippines but the problem was really the shoes. So we had to contact our aunt who resides in the US to buy some UGGs for us and ship it here in time for the trip.

Photo: my UGGs whilst I stand on top of the frozen river to watch the swimming contest.

So when everything was all well and settled, December passed, then the New Year, and finally January 4 came and the whole 25 of us made up of different age groups trooped NAIA 1 and flew from MLA - XIAMEN - BEIJING - HARBIN.

Next post would be about the scenery and stuff.:)