Published by Swiss James on 14 Jan 2008 at 12:04 pm
Warm weather clothing
I’m off to Harbin this weekend, the freezing cold city north of Beijing where they hold an annual ice festival.
In preparation for the weather in Harbin
[oh Jesus I've just looked at the forecast, it's going to be between -23 and -35 degrees celsius- why the hell did I agree to this?!]
Emma had been given a tip about where to buy cheap duck down coats. Just the ticket.
Buying a jacket in a place like this is about as pleasant as getting your finger trapped in a car door.
The rails are packed into the available space so people shove and elbow each other out of the way to get where they’re going, staff are all on commission so are on you like ants on a Fruit Pastille, and when it’s time to pay you have to queue up at a separate cash counter for the best part of a week- waiting for someone to rubberstamp a sheaf of sales receipts for you to take back to the harpie with your jacket.
“That was like being on the ‘Titanic‘ ” Emma said as we left. She had a point.
The jackets were cheap- 300RMB for hers, 400RMB for mine. In the end, though, it was a false economy since we spent 400RMB on afternoon tea at the Four Seasons to recover.
Duck Down jackets, 300-500RMB. “Palace Of 100 Products” (or something) Department Store, Nanjing Dong Lu
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well it looks like you’re up for a simply marvellous time James, I suggest you just get a taxi to the hotel and don’t leave until it’s time to get the taxi back to the airport.
Oh, don’t forget the thermal long sleeved vest you were wearing in the pub on friday night!
Great deal!
I think if I were in the same shoe, I would still spend 400RMB on afternoon tea – cos I love that kind of things.. you’ve got yourself a great deal… 3/400RMB for a down feather jacket. That’s like.. what.. 25 quid each?!
mmmm shopping… shanghai… may be I will take a trip westward!!!!
dingle- that vest got a very good reception at Harley’s if I remember correctly, but it was more of a fashion item than one made for warmth.
tzechuk- yeah it was a good deal, now I just need some ear protectors, a fox hat, gloves, boots, thick socks,…
Hey, I’m going up next weekend. -35! Sweet.
High of -23 degrees! Oh, that’s going to hurt! When I went up there, I took a suitcase full of clothes and wore everything at once. Seemed to do the job.
PS the taxi drivers drive just like they do in Shanghai, but on a sheet of black ice.
I’ll be climbing the Great Wall in Beijing where it’ll be slightly warmer but much windier. No cheap duck down for me though, I have my padded Hugo Boss coat which is nice and toasty and I didn’t have to wrestle with the hoy polloi to get it.
Why was yours more expensive by the way? Isn’t that sexist?
High tea at the 4 Seasons? And you call me flash!!
None of you are helping my fears here!
I’m not sure why mine cost a bit more- to be honest the prices were baffling, it was all random discount stickers and coupons and whatnot. I’m getting flashbacks thinking about it.
The Four Seasons is lovely though, even if they did charge me 40RMB to have an extra scone.
ah what the hell, nearly 3 quid for a scone is nothing for a man of your means
ya’ll can keep your minus 0 degrees celsius temperatures! that’s just ridiculous . . . and james, you and emma are going to need more than those items you’ve listed.
it’s 39 degrees F here and i’m complaining!
Harbin, absolutely fucking freezing but totally worth it….there’s something weird about having the inside of your nose crystallise everytime you breathe in…
I need more information on the coat please
For Chinese New Years two years ago my teacher suggested that I go to Harbin for the ice festival but instead of braving such temperatures I went to Hong Kong to regain the feeling in my hands and get out of the -10ºC weather that was in Shanghai at the time.
Be sure to post some pictures when you get back, assuming your camera doesn’t freeze as soon as you get there.
Warming up to -23C in the daytime, eh?
Put the camera under your armpit in between shots if you expect the flash (or even the autowind) to work.
I thought you were better than this :(
At least get a North Face or something
:D jk
Yeah shopgirls right Swiss, going somewhere really cold is not an excuse for not wearing expensive brands of clothes, Woai is going to the great wall in a Hugo Boss coat, sort it out for gods sake.
For a man who obsesses over what footwear to wear I am genuinely surprised at your choice of winterwear. On the other hand, it’s not like you’ll bump in to anyone you know so I guess there’s method to your madness!
Looking forward to the pictures but watch out for camera shake or practice taking pictures with your gloves on. My mate tried taking his glove off for 3 seconds to take a picture on a visit to Harbin and his finger froze and snapped off.
I definitely recommend two pairs of gloves – a thin pair that allows you to operate the camera but retain feeling in your fingers for the necessary amount of time.
Oh and your battery will run out in about five seconds due to the cold so take about six spares.
In case you’re having second thoughts, there are some good points to Harbin
- Hapi beer is the best in China
- You can slide down ice slides on a tray and pretend you’re a kid again
- there’s a great Russian style restaurant
- there’s a good planning museum with one of those huge city models and impressive plans for how they’re going to grow and become a city of ten million people living in the oppressive cold by about next summer (it’s hidden in what looks like a pedestrian subway behind the cathedral thingy)
- they have indoor heating unlike the so-called developed metropolis of Shanghai
CP I forgot to ask – how are your remaining fingers? And yes James, all the chicken Kiev you could possibly want!
I should also point out that the US has recently limited the number of loose camera batteries you can carry on to an aircraft, because the current security measures aren’t irritating enough already …… but you should be okay for Harbin.
Looks like I need to go back to the shops- the two pairs of gloves seems like an especially good idea.
To be honest I did feel a bit dirty buying some cheapo duvet with a zip from the bargain department of a shop. But let’s be honest with ourselves- no-one’s getting any style points for the type of man-made fiber Michelin Man jacket you have to wear in that sort of weather, even if Hugo Boss himself measured you up for it, so I might as well just give up and get value for money.
Besides, I can just photoshop the North Face logo in afterwards!
CP- where’s the Russian restaurant?
The POW museum is quite good too
It’s somewhere on the main shopping trip. Think it’s about the first one mentioned in the Lonely Planet.
That said, this is China, so it probably got chai’d a couple of years ago.
[...] my last post about buying a winter coat, all of your comments about how cold it is in Harbin worked me up into a [...]