Over the September 2024 holiday I went alone to Kunming, Lijiang and Shangri-La in Yunnan, China. I met two women who were passionate about travelling in China :D They asked where I’d go next, perhaps Chongqing or Harbin. They said Harbin was far away, difficult to get to, expensive and dangerous. I looked it up and realised it was the place from the news where people threw boiling water into the air and watched it freeze. It can get down to −30 or −40°C there, in Heilongjiang in the far north of China.

Then winter came, and Instagram and TikTok kept showing me skiing videos. I was itching to go. I’d already been to Taiwan and made two trips to China that year, so at one point I thought I’d try the Philippines for a change. After a while looking for tickets, I found a cheap ticket to the New Cape (the scenery in Shanghai) should buy it, 119 USD ~ 3tr1. I'm also planning to go to Cape Xian next year, but maybe next year I'm not as excited as I am now.

I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 1
I’d thought that booking each leg separately would add up to the same price as a connecting ticket. In practice, booking the whole journey at once could be half or a third of the price. Trip also told me things like whether bags would be checked through or had to be collected, and whether I needed a transit visa. The result here also showed a free Shanghai layover tour at https://www.trip.com/hot/shanghaiexpress-halfdaylayovertour/. I still preferred to book through the airline’s own site :D
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 2
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 3

The bottom picture is the price per journey, total 975+660=1635 yuan, twice as expensive as the one above.
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 4
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 5
After paying for the ticket I remembered, I don't know if I can apply for a visa, I only applied at the end of August: D I thought if I didn't apply for a Visa, I would rent, lose the ticket, go to bed: D It's 1:00 AM:)))
I plan to go to Hong Kong again so I got a Hong Kong visa, waited more than two weeks to get a multi-year visa, hahaa, finally I didn't go in this round, I thought if I liked the snow so much I wouldn't spend time in Cape Nissin.
First time I fly transit so need to find out quite carefully, read a lot of information, read the baggage regulations of the company, each company will have different regulations (go to the home page in the baggage section will have all), first time to hear and also the first time to fly Juneyao Air, see few people review, some reviews are quite bad: D but my trip is delay 5 'vs 10', great, clean beautiful plane, nice stewardess: D, good food, hand luggage 10 Kg, check in 20Kg (in the ticket allow 1 PC but by default there is 1 hand luggages), quality as Vietnamairlines but I buy cheap as VJ.

I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 6
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 7
The rice and noodles with meat were lovely, though I didn’t take a picture, and the cabin crew looked nicer in person :D My flight left at three, and they brought the meal round at about four in the morning. Somehow I woke up right then. On other airlines, if I sleep through it I miss the food.

I'm sharing a little bit about my booking experience:D I searched on Google flight, I chose one way
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 8
Choose the day of departure and it will show the lowest price for each day of the month, and the lowest ticket price
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 9
This is on many apps n also appear (like Traveloka, Trip) but I used to search on Google flight, n show the ticket price on each app that, where cheaper then pay there:DD

I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 10
Another thing I just realized is that you can check the terminal, the desk for handling, the gates of the plane with the baggage receiving (vibration belt, baggage claim, carousel) on the company's website, instead of going to the airport check in the information board. For example, your flight info is from Harbin to Beijing.
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 11
We landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport at 7 a.m. Immigration took an hour and a half. I could already see the officer was strict, but I stayed in his line anyway. I know it's hard to count on the people in front of me, being asked a lot, while the others get through the customs fast. Customs asked me the purpose of the trip ("I'm flying to Harbin and have a ten hour layover in Shanghai"), asked me how many days to go, how many people to go, tickets back, booking, I only booked the first 3 days and was asked why not book all 9 days :D, I gave the itinerary to see and nodded ok checked for me.
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 12
Once I’d made it through immigration, it was time to look around. No rush now :D I wandered through the airport looking for the meeting point for the free layover tour.
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 13
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 14
I like these boards because they look good, they have a lot of information:D
Due to the long entry queue, I did not have time to go on the tour from 9am to 2pm, walk to Shanghai Tourist Information in Terminal 1, between counters 6 and 7, nearby there is also the Tourist Information but it is the airport and not the pick-up point of the tour.
Two people at the desk checked my flight details to see if I had enough time and told me to come back at 9:30 or 9:45. The guide was from Shanghai and spoke English. Groups were capped at ten. That day there were three people from England, three from Vietnam and two from Indonesia.
Going on this tour will be free everything: car, sightseeing tickets, wifi, guide,... lunch is on your own: D I chose to go on tour because I want to have a guide, but after going I find myself more comfortable going alone
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 15
The Seaside Park is on the way, from the airport to the Shanghai port is far, by private car it takes an hour, if you take the train from the school it takes about 30'.
I went on a 10-hour tour and there were some places I didn't like, but I was lucky because the end point was Shanghai Pier.
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 16
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 17
Airport shuttle bus to Terminal 1, look on maps you'll see free bus pick-up point from the parking lot, terminal 1 and terminal 2, my flight from Shanghai to Harbin, now it's domestic flight so check-in online, when you go out of the check-in desk, the staff they check in at the vending machine press a few buttons and you're done
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 18
You can get on the plane and fly to Harbin. There's a wireless charging station in the waiting area. You can watch the plane while you're charging, and that's a bit of a compensation for the slow charging.
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 19
My first time feeling what −18°C was like :D I still had plenty of energy that first day and got used to it quickly. It felt colder and colder towards the end and I was ready to go home :D
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 20
Look at the directions and find the bus ticket office to Harbin city center, 20 yuan.
The car took us to Harbin station, there are many late-night restaurants around here, so after dinner we went to get a room, 12:00 p.m. I wandered around looking for a room, on the app it was Chenchen hotel, but on the sign it was Baoxing hotel, and it was written in Chinese. I asked the locals to find me a room, they called the hostel to ask:D
I wanted snow, so I booked a flight to Harbin — photo 21
Your name is Elsa, I'm writing it with my left hand now, but it's still nice:D
From the trip Harbin. Read the Vietnamese original on Blogger