Ice Capital of the World!!

(This is Mike again.)

We got on a train last night in Beijing... barely. The train station was packed: What craziness. We are getting closer to Spring Festival (begins Jan 26), which is the Chinese New Year celebration. So, 1.3 billion people travel around back to their hometowns to celebrate with their relatives and friends. Until then, all bets are off and people travel all over vacationing.

We rode the night train up to the metropolis that is Harbin. (Just a note: night trains rock... unless the guy next to you snores loud enough to wake the dead and then answers his phone at 1 am and talks full volume for 2o minutes!)

During the winter months, Harbin does actually turn into the Ice Capital of the World. Again, as soon as we can, awesome pictures will follow! There are ice sculptures on every corner all over town; it is just beautiful.

We got in this morning safe and sound. I got to see my little buddy Kanyon (who is now walking and it is so great). We went to lunch at one of the Taylors' favorites, and then M'Lynn, Amanda, Jim, Kelley, and I set off to find a ATM and a travel agency that could book us a ski trip to the nearest ski resort.

After some hokey pokey involving 2 buses, a wet bus seat, and many minutes wandering around in the cold, we finally found the travel agency and booked our trip and for a great price per person.

We have transportation to the hill for skiing all day, a hotel to sleep in, all our meals, and another half day of skiing. We are a little skeptical but we will keep you posted! (Side note: Another blog post will follow with all the "actual" details of how that day actually went).

We made it back from the travel agency after another crowded bus ride where we had some dinner (I had a Big Mac which I cannot get in my town) and now we are settling down (Amanda is already sleeping).

We are safe and doing well. We will keep you posted and hope to get some pictures up soon.

Love you all!!!!