My Winter Vacation Part 7 - Volga Manor 伏尔加庄园

Part 1 click HERE

Part 2 click HERE

Part 3 click HERE

Part 4 click HERE

Part 5 click HERE

Part 6 click  HERE

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Destination:  HeiLongJiang (黑龙江), China

Duration: 23 - 30 Dec 2015 (8 days)

Mode of travel: Package with Chan Brothers Travel

Flight: Air China  (via Beijing)

Damage: S$1,878/pax, Tour Guide Tip: RMB200  Local Guide Tip: S$16, other compulsory/optional tours: RMB1,420 (slit throat + heart bleed)

Currency: RMB (we rough divide by 4.5 to convert to S$)

Time Difference:  Same as Singapore

Weather: -22 to -30°C

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28.12.2015

Leaving fairy tale land Snow Village.

Part of me was reluctant while the other part wanted very much to escape from the cold.  Why cold and beauty comes in one package >.<  But I know for sure, I can boast about this unique experience for the rest of my life lolxx.....

Breakfast before setting off.

Gantry like our MRT to enter into the restaurant, amusing lolxx..

Some stir fried dishes to go with porridge, rice or steam buns.

 One whole stretch of trays right?  But actually the trays were repeated dishes with about 6 choices only.

Squeezed into this little bus which drove us out to our big coach.

They don't allow outside buses to park at Snow Village, which I don't understand why.

We spend the rest of the morning travelling on coach...

and sleeping (with triple chin >.<)

Woke up, eat again, lolxx.. 

Looked more like a canteen than a restaurant.

It was boring.

Was craving for all sorts of food except for chinese food: ramen, pasta, ribeye steak, roti prata oh gosh......

After lunch, just a short journey, we reached Volga Manor.  We dumped our luggage in the room and dashed out before the sky turned dark at 4pm.

Volga Manor 伏尔加庄园

Chenggaozi Town, Xiangfang District, Harbin 150039, China.

Volga Manor covers 600,000m2, featuring Russian-style buildings which makes one forget that it's China.  Scrolling down, you will agree that this is a MUST VISIT in Harbin.

St Nicholas Cathedral is one of the attraction.

We found a cuter attraction inside.   According to our tour guide, this is a wild cat from the forest.

But it was very gentle, and crazy fluffy.

The interior has many intricate facades and paintings, photo not well taken >.<

The sun was setting, beautiful but damn it.

 Cos' not all places got street lights, it's not possible to explore when it gets dark, so we had to hurry.  Half running made me felt warm which was great, minus the breathless part.

Every single corner of Volga Manor is photo worth.

Souvenir shop aka "thaw station".

Found another wild cat.

Carried this beautiful big fluffy ball.

That romantic feel.... like one of those beautiful scene in movie...

Snow was thick, my boots entire sunk in.

This building is called Pushkin Salon, is not a salon but a museum.  It named after a Russian writer/poet call Alexander Pushkin.

Fairy tale house.

Enjoying the sight of snow, I think this garden must be very beautiful too in spring.

Another fairy tale house, in PINK!!

Imagine how far I had walked run to take this pic of the 2 fairy tale houses.

No idea what's inside the yellow and pink.

Very busy taking pictures, one spot with different angles lolxx....

  

  

Then, I saw something and screamed until I startled my tour mates...

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BAYMAX!!!

I was jumping and running around the snow Baymax, if I have a tail, I'll be wagging it like hell, omg....  Soooooo CUTE, I died....

I wanted to hug it but cannot hug finish; want to jump on it but scared to ruin it; want to sit on it but it was too slippery.

It took me a while to calm down to have this decent pic taken, heeheehee...

Photo credit: Snap Snap

So yes, the whole world now knows I LOVE BAYMAX!  I am sorry Garfield and Tweety Bird, you all have to be past tense already.

Volga Manor is really beautiful....

Spot snow Baymax's little back view here.

Mini ice building.  Called it mini cos' in the next day back to Harbin's Ice Sculpture Festival Exhibition, what we saw was many times taller and larger than this.  I mean it.

These are not all, will load up more photos of Volga Manor in Part 8.

Chosungah 22 K Beauty

Was honored to be invited to launch of Chosungah 22 in SaSa.

I suppose some may not heard of Chosungah 22, it is an award-winning Korean cosmetics company!

Launch event was held at Arteastiq Social Painting Studio.

Make up artist came all the way from Korea to demonstrate how to create a natural Korean look and we gotten a few beauty tips from him ^.^

Let me show you some of the Chosungah 22 cosmetics...

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Blend Fresh Mix (SPA30/PA++) S$58.00

This liquid foundation comes with a sponge applicator and promises to deliver the following:

* long-lasting and faultless coverage

* provide skin with extra moisture and nutrition (wow, skincare foundation sia!)

* whitening, anti-wrinkle and UV protection (SPA30/PA++)

* elevates volume and facial contour (means slimmer face!)

* fills in fine lines (oh god, I need this!)

Can't wait to try this but I still have a few bottles of half used foundations on the table staring at me >.<  金牌败家女

BROW MAKER Brow Tint (3 shades) S$55.00

My natural brows before makeup.  Basically I draw them longer and fill the sparse up.

I am trying the Black Brown shade in purple package.  I had been using eyebrow pencils all my life so this is something different and new to me.  It's tacky.

With pencils we draw eyebrows in "feather strokes", but with this, it's painting eyebrows like chinese calligraphy.  It takes a minute or so to be completely dry, after which it stayed for good 9 hours, no need to touch up at all.  The lasting power is amazing.  The amount of effort to remove these is the same as removing water-proof mascara.

JELLO COLOR KIT Eye Shadow S$60.00

Funky packaging that looks like a pencil case.

Opens up with a mirror and 6 colors.

These looked like any other eyeshadow powders in pots, but in reality, they are not powders.  They are FLUFFY CUSHIONS EYESHADOWS!!!  They are BOUNCY!  You can see them bounce back when your finger press and release, freaking fun to play with!  Texture is something like mousse.

The colors blends smoothly without flaking.  The shades are easy for daily wear and compliments all skin tones.

Colors description from the left:

#22PLUTO [MATTE IVORY]: A primer base color before applying the main color

#22VENUS [SPARKLE PINK]: A pink glitter to apply on the inner corners of your eyes to make them look bigger

#22JUPITER [MATTE BEIGE]: Natural beige brown that creates delicate shading on your eyelids

#22MERCURY [SPARKLE BRONZE]: A sparkling bronze that makes your eyes look deeper and profound

#22MARS [SPARKLE DARK BROWN]: A chocolate deep brown that forms dark points outside the corners of your eyes

#22BLACKHOLE [MATTE BLACK]: A Black that creates dark and bold lines

DUAL LIP TINT & GLOSS (4 shades) S$32.00

Having with me LACE: Orange tint and pink gloss

Applied the orange tint on the inner lips, then pink gloss on the entire lips for Korean gradation lips.

Need to go easy with the gloss as too much can be very thick and sticky.  The tint was very very lasting.  I wipe off the gloss during meal time and the tint "survived" after my meal!  Needs proper removing like eye makeups to remove it cleanly.

RED CHEEK SMOOTHER Blusher (3 shades) S$31.00

It's the first time I seen blushers in tube packaging.

Squeeze the tube and the color will ooze out from the sponge applicator.

Color swatch, from the left:

BERRY ADE, LILAC DROP and SATIN PEACH

Application was extremely easy, just dab dab dab.  All the 3 three shades are very sweet and light with a dewy finish, it's impossible to end up like a opera singer no matter how you apply.  It takes about a minute to settle down.  After 9 hours, it looked as good as freshly applied without fading.  It's the most lasting blusher I had ever used.

Here's the overall look with:

BLACK BROWN Brow Maker Tint

SATIN PEACH Real Cheek Smoother and

LACE Duo Lip Tint & Gloss

Orange Peach colors make me look fairer and refreshing, heehee....

Find your strength instead of hiding your weakness in the process of makeup.

Find Chosungah 22 at Sasa.

Chosungah 22 is now available in Sasa stores, do check them out!

Click in for more information:

www.sasa.com.sg/chosungah22-kbeauty

My Winter Vacation Part 6 - YangCao Mountain 羊草山

Part 1 click HERE

Part 2 click HERE

Part 3 click HERE

Part 4 click HERE

Part 5 click HERE

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Destination:  HeiLongJiang (黑龙江), China

Duration: 23 - 30 Dec 2015 (8 days)

Mode of travel: Package with Chan Brothers Travel

Flight: Air China  (via Beijing)

Damage: S$1,878/pax, Tour Guide Tip: RMB200  Local Guide Tip: S$16, other compulsory/optional tours: RMB1,420 (slit throat + heart bleed)

Currency: RMB (we rough divide by 4.5 to convert to S$)

Time Difference:  Same as Singapore

Weather: -22 to -30°C

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27.12.2015

So, we were recommended to visit YangCao Moutain 羊草山 to see more snow.

YangCao Moutain 羊草山 is the tallest mountain, about 1350m above sea level and it's introduced as the most beautiful place in Snow Village.  Best time to visit is during sun rise or sun set which we did neither -____-  We went around 10am.

This pic taken in the museum which also shows how the mountain looks like in spring/summer.

After visiting, I felt that it's not as beautiful as described....

YangCao Mountain 羊草山 = Botak Mountain

Botak Mountain = COMPLETELY EXPOSE TO WIND...

We paid RMB350 for this freaking windy botak mountain and the 梦幻家园 (Dream/Fairy Tale Land).  Overpriced but no choice....

Scroll down to see scenery of the botak mountain

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B.O.T.A.K........ with colorful flags flapping like mad ie. mad windy.   The vast of snow actually blings as if there were diamonds on them, it's a pity that the blings didn't show up in photos.

The glares from the "blings" will actually cause temporarily blindness, so I avoid staring.

Not much pine trees here, only unknown trees with skinny branches that looked as if they were coated with icy sugar.

Slope was extremely gentle, totally didn't feel like we are going up to a tall mountain.

Mini tank was actually a buggy to drive visitors up, we all walked, so not sure of how much they charge.

Blue sky, no clouds.

Not sure "Don't Climb" refers to the tree or the rocks behind.

Giggled like crazy while holding a snow ball as if I was holding a gold ball.

As I had mentioned in the previous post, snow in Snow Village is different, it's "sticky" yet fine, it's really difficult visualize I know..... Put it this way, Snow Village's snow is like super branded atas loose powder which you cannot compare with drug store brands' loose powder, heehee....

So, some people said the most beautiful snow in China is found in Snow Village.

Our tour guide told us he had brought numerous tour groups to Snow Village and there was a tourist (from other province) which left him the deepest impression a couple of years ago.

He said it's common and perfectly normal for ladies to travel solo, but a bit unusual for men.  I suppose men in nature can't deal with being alone.  So there was this particular middle age man, by himself in a tour group.  This man was well dressed, quiet and always seemed to be having something in mind.  While he didn't look too depress, he wasn't like other tourists,  not particularly happy and excited but remain polite.

The tour guide said he had to pay attention to him, fearing something might happened.  And something did happen when the tour group reached Snow Village....

From what I remembered, he said the man, collected some boxes/bottles of snow and request the tour guide to help him to transport it back to his home 0__0   Our guide was very surprised by the request.  It's not a problem to keep snow while in HeiLongJiang, but how to bring the snow up the plane??  Portable fridge is possible but the arrangements are going to be extremely tacky.

The man gotten very anxious and finally revealed the reason:

His son about 7 years old, critically ill and his wish was to see and touch snow.  To the father, it was the last thing he could do for his son: 

To bring to his son the most beautiful snow....

Oh god... why.....  TT____TT   It was not easy, and was expensive to transport snow but arrangements were made, to help this father to fulfill his child's wish.

All I want is my children to grow up healthy, have their own happy family, grow old and make life worth it.  I am really glad to have my children with me, no matter they are top students or not, no matter how much mess they make in the house, no matter how much they piss me off.... (actually they are quite good boys, seldom make me angry one ^.^).

The kind of scene which I'll never get to see back in Singapore.... expensive botak mountain, but still appreciate lah.

Hair started to froze and I was licking the salty drips from my nose beneath the mask.  Nevertheless, chio selfie, heeheehee....


No signage, nobody, we helped ourselves sliding tyres.

 After a long long time, a man came out of no where came to collect a fee from us -_____-  We should had just run away instead of paying.

This post is sweet snow and short but Part 7 is going to be long!   We traveled back to the city and felt "warmer" and more comfortable.  Temperature was about -22 in Harbin while in Snow Village it's between -25 to -30.   We tried moulding snow balls there and couldn't though.  But we had lots of fun at Volga Manor!

Another thing, thank you for dropping comments, so I know I am not writing/posting to space, heehee... thank you!