The Songhua River -- FROZEN

So, I've realized that the best way to travel in China (Asia for that matter) is to arrive in town and find a cab driver and hire him for the time I'm in town.  Our cab driver, it turns out, was a distant relative of the actor Jackie Chan. Our cab driver, in the know, took us down to the Songhua River for ice activities.

PC and Tao standing in the middle of the Songhua River.

The ice on the river was over a meter thick.  This picture doesn't convey the beauty of the ice.

Dog sled rides on the ice. 

This one rail train bridge was the first to cross the river in Manchuria.  It was built by the Russians to connect Siberia to Vladivostok.  The Japanese had control over this bridge during its occupation of Manchuria.

This being modern China, a high speed train bridge is being constructed right next to it.

Ice fishing!!  Unfortunately, the guys we met didn't pull up any fish that day.

CRAZY swimmers!!

The river is a "highway."  Whenever we wanted to cross the river, our driver simply drove down to the banks of the river and drove across the frozen river!  It was amazing.  Also, we say people using parasails but instead of boards on the water, they used their boards on the ice.  I'd be interested in trying this.