China's Ice City BLEW ME AWAY! : The Harbin ICE Festival Experience

Summary

The video transcript describes a vlogger's experience visiting the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. The vlogger expresses excitement about finally being able to attend the festival after wanting to go for years. Upon arriving, the vlogger is amazed by the scale and intricacy of the ice and snow structures. He is impressed with how the structures are engineered and illuminated with LED lights. As he explores, the vlogger notes the chilling temperatures but says his excitement keeps him warm. He points out accommodations like non-slip stairs to make the experience safe. The vlogger recommends visiting the festival, noting that if you live in China as an expat you absolutely should make the effort. He suggests arriving early to avoid long lines for attractions like the Ferris wheel. The vlogger observes that he hasn't seen any other foreigners at the festival and wonders if the extreme cold deters them. He films areas under construction, indicating the festival is still preparing for the formal opening the next day. The vlogger plans to return and film with his drone to capture aerial footage. He notes the festival likely generates tourism revenue for Harbin. The vlogger buys a traditional candy treat but finds it frozen solid in the cold and has to go inside to thaw it. He grabs a coffee and continues exploring the massive venue, impressed by the size and variety of structures. As the evening grows late, the vlogger expresses fatigue from filming all day in the freezing temperatures. He decides to call it a night but is glad he bought tickets to return the next day. The vlogger closes by recommending the video, giving it a thumbs up, and inviting viewers to subscribe if they enjoy China content.

Takeaways

• The video shows a tour of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in China
• The festival features impressive ice sculptures and structures lit up with colorful lights
• It takes workers just a couple weeks to build the enormous ice constructions
• The video focuses on describing the sights and providing reactions to the festival
• The host was very excited to finally visit after wanting to go for years
• The festival appeared to be having a soft opening or pre-opening when the video was filmed
• It was very cold but the host stayed warm from the excitement of experiencing it
• The festival is challenging for foreigners not used to the extreme cold temperature
• The festival brings in many tourists and money for the city of Harbin
• The host plans to return the next day and fly a drone to capture aerial footage

Q & A

Where is the festival located?

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is located in Harbin, China.

What is the festival known for?

The festival features massive ice and snow sculptures and structures with colorful lighting.

How long does it take to construct?

The host mentioned it takes the workers just a couple weeks to build all the ice constructions.

When did the host visit?

The video was filmed on the opening day and soft opening of the festival.

How did the cold affect the host?

The host said he stayed warm because he was very excited to finally experience the festival.

How much were the tickets?

The host said tickets were around 288 RMB (about $30 USD).

What was challenging for foreigners?

The extreme cold temperatures can be very challenging for foreigners not used to it.

How does the festival impact Harbin?

It brings many tourists and money to the city of Harbin.

What are the host's plans?

He bought tickets for 2 days and plans to fly a drone to capture aerial footage on the second day.

Would the host recommend visiting?

Yes, he highly recommended that people visit the festival if they have the opportunity.

Outlines

Introduction and Excitement to Visit the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival

The speaker expresses excitement about finally being able to visit the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival after wanting to go for years. He shows his ticket and talks about the large crowds and soft opening happening that night.

Awe at the Massive Ice Structures

The speaker is in awe of the massive ice structures built for the festival, including buildings, bridges, and staircases. He wonders how they construct such elaborate things out of ice and lights them with LEDs.

More Description of the Large Scale and Variety

The speaker continues to describe the large scale and variety of ice structures, including a temple, sled runs, and more. He recommends visiting and plans to get drone footage to share.

Seeking Warmth Inside and Getting Food

The speaker goes inside to warm up after being out in the cold for hours. He checks out the shops and restaurants inside and gets a coffee at KFC and frozen strawberries, which are difficult to eat frozen.

Back Outside and Overview of Experience

After warming up inside, the speaker returns outside for more exploring. He talks about the long line for the ferris wheel that he won't wait for tonight. He ends by encouraging viewers to visit if they can handle the cold.

Keywords

💡Harbin Snow and Ice Festival

The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival is one of the largest and most spectacular winter festivals in the world. It takes place annually in Harbin, China. The festival features enormous, intricate sculptures and structures built from blocks of ice and snow. The video focuses on the narrator's visit to the festival, describing the sights and his reactions.

💡Ice and snow sculptures

The main attraction of the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival are the massive, elaborate sculptures and structures built entirely from ice and snow. The video describes giant buildings, temples, bridges, and more constructed from intricately carved and assembled blocks of ice.

💡LED lighting

Many of the ice sculptures at the festival are illuminated from within using LED lighting at night. This adds color and enhances the visual spectacle. The narrator frequently mentions the use of internal LED lighting to light up the transparent ice structures.

💡Construction and design

The video mentions the incredible talent, planning and effort required to design and construct the enormous ice sculptures. It took teams of workers only a couple weeks to assemble the festival's icy environment.

💡Weather and climate

The festival takes place in the extreme cold of a Harbin winter, often -20°C or lower. The narrator mentions frequently how bitterly cold it is and the challenges of filming in such frigid conditions.

💡Crowds and popularity

The festival attracts huge crowds of primarily domestic Chinese tourists. The video describes dense crowds and long lines for some attractions, indicating the event's popularity.

💡Vendors and shops

The festival has many vendors selling food, drinks and souvenirs inside heated buildings. The video mentions seeing vendors selling treats like candy-coated fruit.

💡Drone footage

The narrator mentions he has drone footage of the festival construction, which he encourages viewers to watch on his other channel. This presumably provides aerial views of the ice structures.

💡Night vs. day experience

The video focuses on the evening experience at the brightly lit festival. The narrator mentions he has visited in the daytime for the past several days to watch the construction.

💡Foreign tourists

The narrator expresses surprise at not seeing almost any other foreign tourists. He speculates the extreme cold may deter international visitors.

Highlights

Narrator is very excited to finally visit the Harbin Ice Festival after wanting to go for years.

The ice structures and buildings are massive and intricately detailed, with colored lights inside.

It's incredible that the entire ice city was built by hand in just a couple weeks.

The Harbin Ice Festival must bring huge tourism revenue to the city.

The cold is challenging for filming and operating equipment, with hands and batteries freezing fast.

There don't seem to be any other foreigners visiting, perhaps due to the extreme cold.

Blue tickets may allow access to more attractions than red tickets.

There are shops, restaurants, and even a stage inside for breaks from the cold.

The Ferris wheel has an enormously long line that snakes around the park.

Narrator plans to return tomorrow and arrive early for the Ferris wheel.

Drone footage shows the ice structures under construction over previous days.

It gets dark at 4pm in Harbin's winter, so it feels much later than it is.

The cold is exhilarating at first, but gets tiring for filming all evening.

There is a surprising lack of foreigners visiting this famous festival.

The ice structures and scale are even more impressive in person than expected.

Transcripts

okay guys it's prime time

I'm here at the Harbin snow and Ice Festival

I've been looking forward to this for so long

I've been wanting to come here for a long long time

I've got my ticket look

it's about 270 RMB to come in

I've got my ticket

Any minute now we're going to be going in

they haven't opened the doors yet by the looks of it

but I think we'll be going in soon

it's really busy here

loads of people

it's the first night

I think it's a soft opening

I've actually bought two tickets

one for today and one for tomorrow

it's a bit crazy here at the moment

but I think we're going in soon

don't people are going in yet or not

but let's give it a go

I'm super excited

Blue ticket please go that way

turn left at the gate

ok, Thank you

I seem to have a blue ticket

everybody else has got a red ticket

I don't know why

Are you cold?

oh, not cold

do you speak English?

a little, a little

why this blue ticket and some red ticket?

what's the difference?

Can you translate?

Blue ticket is individual ticket

Red ticket is group ticket

oh why is some red some blue?

what's the difference?

I don't know

oh okay, thanks

doing my ticket just scan me in

I'm good to go

whoa I'm in, man

oh my God

this is going to be super exciting I think

whoa look at that

that is ... oh my God look at that

oh my God

that is crazy cool

there's a map on the wall over here

let's just have a look at that

it's huge, man, look at that

oh my word, look at this

it's nuts, man

whoa

I can't believe all this is built of ice

that's crazy

can you believe they've built that from Ice

that's huge, man

I have a video of where they're actually building this construction

it's got loads of cool Drone footage in

of all the guys building it

so if you want to see that video check it out here

cuz that's a really good video the way they're building it all

but it's just mental how they can build all this out of ice

just check that out, man

and it's all got LED lighting inside it and everything

oh my

I think ... tonight it's the 17th of December

I actually think this is a soft opening before they open properly

I think the proper opening is tomorrow

it's a bit strange though cuz the guy on the door

told me it wasn't open but it obviously is

it's absolutely huge

I honestly don't know how they've build

such structures out of snow and ice

it's just mental

look at this

everything's all wired with LED lighting and everything

I've got to say this is the first time

I've ever seen anything like this on this scale

I'm going to have to bring my drone here tomorrow night

and get some Drone footage for you guys

cuz this is just something on another level

it's absolutely mad

in fact I'm so excited I don't feel cold anymore

look at this

epic ain't it?

look at the structures

there's a big wheel over there, look

wonder if the blue ticket lets you on the big wheel maybe

I don't know

I'm going to have to go on there though

it is absolutely amazing really

I've been coming here for the last 3 days in the daytime

watching with my drone and watching them construct it

and now I'm finally inside

and I'm just breathless, man

I just don't know how they can do such stuff out of ice

I mean I suppose it's just like building with bricks

but ice is slippy how do they make it all stick together

I have no idea

but it's absolutely mental, look

there's a big Ferris wheel over there

it's just so nice, it is so nice

it's still tiding up a little bit I think

as I say it's like a pre-opening as far as I'm aware

I don't know what that is over there

check that out later

but look at this look at that

how on Earth do they build this

and I wonder what all the guys do

who build it after it's finished

look at this, it's ice steps and an ice Bridge

how bloody cool is that

it is just mental

it's absolutely crazy

wow

it's mad

look at this

the steps are made from Ice

have you ever been up at ice stairway before?

I haven't that's for sure

look at this building in the middle

holy moly

it's absolutely crazy ain't it?

look at that

oh my God

they've put like this fabric on the stairs

so they're not slippy

cuz obviously if it was just ice

you'd be slipping all over the place wouldn't you?

so what I'm also going to do

I'm going to do a walk video here as well

where I actually walk around it all so you can see it all

if you want to grab that you can go to my walk fly drive Channel

get it there

we got a character here look

wonder if he's warm in that or is he cold

hello, hello

it's spectacular

I just find it unbelievable that

this is all built out of ice

it's kind of beyond belief really

look at this, it's so lovely

oh this must be the center attraction here, look

this great big thing

look at this

it's absolutely fantastic

I've literally waited 3 or 4 years to come here

all the time I've been in China

I've wanted to come and I never have

and then when I had the opportunity

it was Covid so I wasn't able to

but now I've come

and I'm seeing this

it is just it's just stunning

it's just incredible that you know

I think it only takes them a couple of weeks to build it all

so I'd love to know what the planning is behind all this

cuz it's pretty amazing really

and look at it all

so much of it

it's a huge area

I didn't realize it was so big

doesn't look so big when you're droning it

but when you get in here it's huge

it's very cold mind you

right now it's probably about minus 20 something

but cuz I'm excited of being here

I don't feel cold

but I am super super impressed the way all these

big ice blocks have all been built into such a structure

literally they've built a city out of ice

that's what they've literally done

they built a city from ice

that's got to be like cool ain't it?

what's also quite strange

I've been in Harbin like 5 days now

and in the whole time I've been here

I haven't seen one other foreigner

and do foreigners not come here?

it is challenging for sure the weather

somebody who's not used to dealing with tempreture this low

it is very very challenging and especially

when you're trying to film

cuz equipment and batteries and your hands

you you can't operate the equipment with gloves on

so you take your gloves off

and you know your hands and stuff ...

oh my God there's loads more over there

good the hell it's massive

it's challenging but I tell you what

if you're an expat living here in China

you want to be coming here

cuz it is absolutely stunning

well let's go and have a look around this

look at at that

it's it it is bloody amazing really

I wonder what time it stays open till

I hope it's like 10:00 or something

I hope it doesn't close too early

there's a lot of people in here

but saying that I I got to the station it was busy

you can get here on metro line two

and the station is actually called ice and snow world

let's have a look here wow

look at this

it's just amazing

look at that, at all that ice

the ticket was about I think it's about 288RMB to get in

and I had a blue ticket

which I'm not at this point sure why I had a blue ticket

there's different color tickets

there was blue tickets there was red tickets

and there was green tickets

I just presumed there was one type of ticket

and that's what I got

she gave me a blue one so I don't know whether that means

I don't know whether that means I can go on other things or not

I can't go up there at the minute apparently

but as I say, I think it is a soft opening tonight

this is well thought out

they've got all like this kind of fabric

that they've stuck to the steps

so you don't actually slip

this must be the largest

if not one of the largest ice structures in the world I guess

because I I don't know anywhere else that has something like this

and you know let me know in the comments

if you know any different one

but this has got to be one of the the

biggest ice structures in the whole world

it's absolutely fantastic

I mean this is It's really big

I'm going to work my way over to the ferris wheel over here

it's the first time I've seen it all lit up

cuz I've been droning it in the daytime in the mornings

as I say if you want to check out that Drone footage video

you can pop over to my Flight Drive Channel

cuz I'll be putting it on there

got this truck looks if it's got to been stuck here

oh they're trying to get it out

it's got stuck in the snow

I think he's giving it too much REV though

he needs to put it in second gear

yeah he ain't going to get out REVing it like that is he

look at this it's just beautiful

absolutely beautiful

wow

I don't really know what to say

cuz I've not ever seen or experienced anything like this before

and it was just amazing

what's this is it some sort of tobogan run?

let's have a look

it looks like some sort of tobogan run this does

is it a tobogan run?

oh no, I think that's for sledges

but people seem to be walking on it

I don't think they're supposed to be walking down it

I think it's supposed to be sliding down here

I think this is for sliding down

I think you meant to get some sort of thing to sit in

maybe because it's the soft opening tonight

it's not available but I reckon that's what it's for

they look like some sort of bobsleigh or Luge kind of runs they do

let's carry on off here and another a look

we walk all the way up to the top

I don't know whether we can

maybe we can

just getting a bit difficult

oh see that's why it's difficult

you got to be careful

yeah perhaps that's not an option

I think I'll go back down

yeah that wasn't so clever

I thought this was a pathway up here

but it's obviously not

this is some sort of ride I reckon

I don't reckon you're supposed to be walking down there

I reckon for some sort of slide maybe

I'm not sure though

I could be wrong

but maybe we'll see tomorrow

cuz I've actually bought tickets for two days

cuz I didn't think one day would be enough

it really is smart

it looks like they're still doing a little bit of tidying off what's expected

I have no idea how long it takes them to build this

but I've seen a huge amount of progress

in the two or three days I've been coming here

burying some cables here look

yeah I mean even even yesterday

the place was full of cranes and bulldozers and diggers

and today it's all like ...

oh these steps haven't got that fabric on

these are slippy

so I need to be a bit careful on these I reckon

don't want going to be slipping over and falling

hello, hello

I'm actually getting a bit hot now

oh yeah yeah I think you're supposed to slide down actually

I reckon you should

I reckon you need to sit on something and slide down then

but it's obviously not open yet

ah you see, that's what you need

you need one of these to slide down look

she's got the right idea

she must have bought that herself because

I haven't seen any of them anywhere

it's a sled kind of run

so I thought so

these are like the Russian dolls over here look

see

oh the colors are just spectacular

it's really really nice

look at all that

it's quite mind-blowing really

it really is quite mindblowing

I'm extremely impressed by what they've done here

I would 150% recommend you come and visit here

cuz it's it is absolutely spectacular

it's hard to kind of explain the size it's on really

it's a must be a huge task

mind you it must make money it's great for Harbin

it must bring a huge amount of tourists

but as I say all the tourists I've seen here

are from China I haven't seen one Foreigner

in the whole time I've been here

that's pretty amazing really

maybe the cold weather scares them off or something

I don't know

but definitely worth coming to definitely

lots of photographers here

I guess there's a lot of press here today

cuz it's the opening day

they'll be reported in a lot of press around China

hi, hello, hello

okay we can go through now

oh my God it just goes on and on and on

well I've seen this a number of times on videos

but I'm finally here

and it's pretty exciting really

it's even better than what you think

you've got to come here, man

it's it's amazing really, it really is

I know I just keep saying that but

I'm just gob-smacked by the amount of effort they must put into this

although you may think the tickets are expensive

it's about £30 English which in Chinese terms is probably a little high

but the amount of effort they've put into this is just incredible

for me it's 100% worth that price for sure

I'm going to have to go for one of these sugar-coated candy

,sugar-coated strawberry, I really really like them

they're a little bit expensive at 25 RMB

but I suppose you got to expect that from the tourist place

Thank you

there you go, look

sugar-coated strawberry, I love these

holy moly that's cold

how do you eat the strawberries? They are frozen

I can't bite the strawberries, they're frozen

oh my God, how do I deal with that?

I didn't think about that

need to go inside so the strawberries can thaws out a bit

so I've come inside here

and I've managed to warm up a little bit

I was absolutely freezing

I was walking around out there for almost 2 hours

shooting video and having a look around

and it's quite interesting here

there's quite a range of shops

there's a Pizza Hut over there

there's a KFC

many restaurants and little stores in here

places to eat drink

there's even a stage in the middle where a woman's performing

Starbucks is not here yet, look

opening soon

I was actually looking for some coffee

I believe uh KFC do coffee

so might go and see if I can get a coffee at KFC

okay so coffee sorted

and I've come back out to have a little more walk around

there's a couple of things over here which are just amazing

there's this like Chinese temple

it's just all pretty awesome really

they're really really good

there's definitely a lot to see here

it's a huge area

I don't know exactly how big it is

I'll try and find out but yeah it's really good

I've actually bought tickets to come tomorrow as well

it's uh pretty tiring walking around

taking video all the time in this weather

as I said before it's really challenging

you can't have your hands outside your gloves for very long

cuz they just freeze, man

anyway let's head over to the big ferris wheel

it's a very large one

not sure quite how tall it is

but got some cool drone shots of it as well

oh my God

that's not the queue for the wheel is it? surely

bloody hell, I think it is

holy moly

that's the queue for the wheel

hello

is it for this?

yeah okay, thank you

wow massive queue for the wheel

oh my God I ain't waiting in that tonight

I'm going to have to get here early tomorrow

and go on now I don't want to wait in all this queue

that's just too much

I should have gone on earlier

there wasn't many people waiting earlier

snakes all around here

oh my God it goes all around there

look how far he goes

bloody hell

it'll be a all night waiting for that

but it does look pretty good

I'll come back tomorrow

but if there's a queue like this when I arrive tomorrow

I ain't going to be waiting in that

it's just wait way too much

so the queue comes all around here

and this is where it finally goes

God, it takes so long to to get around there

I'd like to go on

but I ain't going to wait that long for sure

I think it's time to quit for tonight

I've got editing to do back at the hotel

and I'm getting a bit cold and tired now

it's about 8:00 I think

it's weird here

cuz it gets dark at like 4:00

so you actually feel it's later than it is

like in the UK, in the winter time

I suppose not much difference in the summertime in the UK

it doesn't get dark till 10:00

well you don't get that in China unless you go to Xinjiang

like Shenzhen is dark about half six or seven

but here in the winter in Harbin

it's dark at 4:00 just after 4:00

so it feels like really weird

because you don't realize what time it is

you think it's later than it is

I hope this video is enjoyable for you

it's really been enjoyable for me

as I say check out the video I'm going to put up

about the construction of it

cuz that will be an interesting one

if you do like the video please please give it a thumbs up

it will mean the world to me

and if you do like the channel or interested in China content

consider hitting that subscribe button

however as always for now take care