The Festival, held annually since 1963, attracts visitors from around the globe. If you fly in on a Friday night, you might want to start your first day in the city by watching brave Harbin residents enjoying a 10am ice-swim at the winter swimming pool near Songhua River bridge (enter through the icebound boat). Taking a dive and crossing a roughly 20-meter pool with water temperatures at 4C (40 F) might instantly kill the inexperienced-either from heart attack or exposure-but the well-trained Harbin swimmers (including one 77-year-old woman) seem to genuinely enjoy their icy hobby. Indeed, they swear by its positive effects on their health.

Now that you're somewhat acclimatized, continue to the snow sculpture park in Sun Island Park (taiyangdao gongyuan), where you'll find more than 2,000 sculptures, built from roughly 20,000 cubic meters of ice and 8,000 cubic meters of artificial snow. The ice artists have chosen themes ranging from Western fairytale characters and classical masterpieces to Buddha statues and life-size houses. The grand finale consists of a replica-though not quite to full scale-of Canada's Niagara Falls.

Also located on Sun Island is the Siberian Tiger Park. Rangers will take you on a 30-minute pseudo-safari through the prison-like compound and let loose some live chickens to lure the slumbering cats towards, or even to the top of your vehicle. After this spectacle, amble through an enclosed walkway where you can sacrifice some poor fowl yourself. This experience is certainly in dubious taste, and the condition of the cages is a disgrace, but seeing these beautiful felines (including more than 300 Siberian tigers, lion tigers, black panthers, pumas and one white tiger) up close is worth the trip.

After dusk, put on an additional layer of clothing and head out to the Ice Lantern Festival (bing deng jie). This impressive collection of ice sculptures the size of temples, pagodas and palaces comprises one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals (along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival-see Excess Baggage, P58-Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival). At Harbin, the sculptors start building their gigantic 'ice lanterns' in December. Multi-colored neon lights embedded in the sculptures turn the village into a winter wonderland, which lasts from the opening ceremony on January 5 until February 25 (officially), but in practice extends until early March when the ice starts melting and the collapsing ice buildings become life-threatening before finally reuniting with the waters of the Songhua River. Allow two to three hours to traipse through this amazing city of ice, which includes replicas of a European Catholic cathedral, a Russian orthodox church, a synagogue, Buddhist temples and pagodas, abstract UFO-like artworks, and an ice-gallery of calligraphy. Don't miss the fun of sliding down a few ice-chutes, and try one of the colorful glazed fruit sticks sold everywhere-they taste even better when slightly frozen.

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