Asian Travel Blog

China’s northernmost major city, Harbin is a delight for those who love to see a great range of architecture. The city was actually founded as late as 1897 as a camp for the Russian engineers who were building the Trans-Siberian Railway. The demand for workers brought in people from across Russia, Poland and from within Manchuria itself. Russian influence on the city continued due to the fact that after the 1917 Russian Revolution monarchist refugees escaped to Harbin, and the Russian influence is still clearly visible in many ways from the architecture to the food. During World War II the city was captured by the Japanese, and subsequently taken by the Chinese in 1946. Harbin has thus grown from a remote Russian outpost to the tenth largest city in China.

Harbin lies on the southern bank of the Songhua River, and has been alternately called Oriental Moscow, Oriental St Petersburg and Oriental Paris due to its unique European-influenced architecture. It is indeed one of China’s most beautiful cities.

One of the city’s most impressive streets is Zhong Yang Street, which has a fabulous array of varied European architectural styles, including Baroque and Byzantine façades, traditional Jewish architecture, small Russian cake shops and bakeries, fashionable French clothes stores, and Japanese restaurants. Nearby is the Russian Orthodox St. Sophia Cathedral, which has now been made into a museum.

Harbin has an Old Quarter near the Songhua River which is mostly made up of buildings that were constructed by the Russians at the turn of the 19th century. Most of these are built in Baroque or Byzantine style with intricate spires and cupolas, and painted in eye-catching shades of yellow, white, green, and red.

Harbin is also famous for its Russian influenced cuisine, and, unlike the rest of China, has plenty of bakeries producing a variety of differnt types of bread. Harbin is also known for its tasty European-style sausages.

Harbin has been holding an annual International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival since 1985, and this starts on January 5th and lasts one month. It is one of the world’s four largest ice and snow festivals.

So if you are looking for somewhere unusual to escape to in January, you could consider Harbin.

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Having already developed a liking for Chinese and Indian food in the UK, moving to Japan opened up new food possibilities.

In Japan I found slightly different variety of Chinese food, and enjoyed eating garlicky gyoza dipped in chilli oil, vinegar and soy sauce. Gyoza are a bit like a Chinese verion of ravioli, with a little parcel of meat or prawn wrapped in a type of thin pasta. I also found in Japan the popular Chinese dish known as Ghengis Khan, which is stir fried slices of lamb with vegetables.

Another discovery in Japan was Korean food, and I once had a great meal at a Korean restaurant in Kyoto, where we had fried garlic, delicate slices of raw liver – yes, I really didn’t realise how raw liver could taste so good – and then grilled meat and kimchee.

From Japan I visited Thailand, and here I was willingly seduced by yet another variety of food. The Thai food combines the fieryness and spice found in Indian food, with some of the crispiness and soupiness of Chinese food. I fell in love with Thai green curry, which I now often make at home. An additional feature of Thai food which makes it so tasty from my point of view is the plentiful addition of coconut milk and pulp which I so much like.

One feature that runs throughout all of Asian food is rice, and I am sure that this is one of the reasons why I like it so much. Although British, I am more a fan of rice than of bread and potatoes.

In future posts there will be more mention of Asian food – hardly surprising since it has so much to offer the tastebuds.

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If anyone asks me what my favourite food is, the answer is simple – Asian food. I really do love just about all of it.

As a resident of the UK, my love of Asian food probably started with the excellent Chinese restaurant in my small home town, run by a couple from Hong Kong. The crispness and freshness of the ingredients grabbed me at once, as well as the delicious flavours of char sui, (red cooked pork), duck, and other exciting dishes. Having discovered Chinese food I was then eager to try other establishments, and with other foodies went to restaurants in Leeds and Birmingham.

Then it was Indian food, and many a time, when out with friends, we couldn’t decide whether to go to an Indian or a Chinese restaurant. I once heard that to eat Indian food is to take a glimpse of heaven, and I have certainly found this to be true, with the irresistable flavours, the spiciness, the rich sauces, and the lovely scented pillao rice. My friends in the UK who come from Indian families recommended Indian cookery books for me and other Indian food enthusiasts to try, and we cooked up some very passable and tasty dishes of our own.

Then I moved to Japan, and discovered how delicious sushi can be – particularly liking the sushi rolls. Here I also discovered many different kinds of noodles, from the lovely ramen with pork that you can have in the small ramen shops after a night out, to the fine, white somen that are so cooling in the summer. I also discovered miso soup, which I still have to this day.

Being in Japan also led to other new food findings, which I shall relate in the next post.

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When you think of Hong Kong, you probably think of skyscrapers and shops, bustling streets and double decker buses. Hong Kong has all this, but I found that one of the most scenic and enjoyable parts of my trip to Hong Kong, was my journey up, and walk around, the Victoria Peak.

Victoria Peak is a mountain in Hong Kong, located in the western half of Hong Kong Island, and is 552 metres high. Although the summit of Victoria Peak is occupied by a radio telecommuncations facility which is closed to the public, the rest of the peak is mostly publicly accessibly park land, including a circular Hikers’ Trail around the peak, which affords magnificent views over the city of Hong Kong, its harbor, and the surrounding islands. The Trail is well laid out and signposted, and a stroll around it is a wonderfully peaceful way in which to spend a day, well away from the hustle and bustle of lively downtown Hong Kong.

You can get to the top of the Peak by means of the Peak Tram, which is a funicular railway, and in a mere 12 minutes whisks you from Hong Kong’s busy financial district to the top of the Peak. Alternatively, you can catch a bus, as I did, having chosen the one day that the Tram was closed for maintenance. Both tram and bus bring you into the shopping and leisure centers above the park, composed of the Peak Tower, and the Peak Galleria. At either of these you can grab a nice meal, with fine views, before setting off on your hike.

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