THERE is no question about it. We are hopelessly unprepared.

Irrelevant were the years of Outward Bound School courses in the Welsh mountains where instructors drilled into you the arts of basic gear preparation and maintaining body temperature.

They had evidently never been to Harbin, capital of northern China's Heilongjiang province, where visitors arriving by plane descend across a patchwork plain of snow-covered fields and frozen rivers.

Admiring wind-swept snow dunes glistening under the morning sun, the soothing voice of a flight attendant announces that the ground temperature is minus 23 deg C.

Exiting the airport without gloves or hat and heading for the nearest taxi just 50m away, the full realisation of what minus 23 means sweeps through us.

Tearing at the face, icy Siberian fingers penetrate the inner folds of our clothing, clawing out any residual semblance of heat. My fingers are tingling in the time it takes to open a car door and, as I would later discover, after five minutes outside without gloves, sharp stabs of pain begin emanating in the fingertips.

Harbin is, not on the face of it, a top tourist destination. Except that the place in winter has one thing that you cannot get at any other time of the year: ice.

Lots of ice which is chiselled into giant statues, carved into famous landmarks and sandpapered into park benches.

No wonder the city's annual ice festival attracts thousands of visitors.

Checking into our hotel and heading by taxi for the city's Sun Island Park, it is surprising how quickly the sensory overload of intricately carved works - such as models of StPaul's Cathedral and terracotta warriors - and blasting martial music takes your mind off the freezing temperature.

At least for an hour or so.

International heritage

FOUNDED by Russian traders in the 19th century, Harbin is rediscovering its international heritage.

Around the green onion-domed roof of the St Sophia Russian Orthodox cathedral, the sounds of Japanese, Korean and Russian blend with the guttural Mandarin of thronging shoppers.

Inside one of the few remaining churches in a city once famous for them - 100 of the original 120 were burnt during the Cultural Revolution - is a photographic exhibition of early 20th-century Harbin.

Walking around the cobblestoned city centre, you can still visit some of the palatial homes that once housed the Russian administrators.

Running adjacent to the church is the city's main shopping centre, Zhong- yang Street. Its designer label shops and restaurants eventually give way to the kilometre-wide Songhua river.

In winter, it lures revellers to its purpose-built ice slides and diving competitions for the clinically insane.

But the Songhua recently made less flattering news. In November, contaminated with over 100 tonnes of the chemical benzene following a factory explosion further upstream, authorities were forced to shut down the city's main water supply for almost a week.

Keen to reassure visitors, the officials say there is now nothing to worry about as the blocks of ice used for the sculptures are carved out of a tributary of the Songhua, and tests have shown no trace of residual benzene.

But those wishing to give the river a miss can head for the city's northern suburbs for a safari expedition the likes of which you may not find anywhere else.

Upon arriving at the 'World's Most North-easterly Tiger Park', you are ushered into a minibus and driven at high speed through the park's enclosures.

'Look at them run,' screams our driver as he points the vehicle at a pack of four tigers and floors the accelerator.

Parked along the ridge overlooking a semi-circular gladiatorial pit, the driver then hands over a menu. Here, you get to feed the animals and watch close-up as they devour your money.

Our faces pressed to the windows in anticipation of the culinary coup de grace, we watch as a fast-moving jeep enters the arena.

Slowing down, the driver partially opens his door and hurls out a chicken. Flapping around frantically, it avoids the first tiger, which slams into the jeep, but then falls right into the waiting mouth of a second tiger.

It is not a sight for the faint-hearted.

A few kilometres to the south is the city's most notorious exhibit. China's Auschwitz, the two-storey building simply known as Unit 731, was once used as a Japanese chemical weapons research centre.

Thousands of civilians are documented as having died here. As human guinea pigs infected with various plagues and diseases, and then monitored for effect, the story of their excruciating deaths, accompanied by video testimonies from former Japanese guards, is told in graphic and thought-provoking detail.

Harbin is also a base for one of the country's fastest growing winter sports - downhill skiing.

At Erlongshan, just an hour's bus drive east of Harbin - hotels can also arrange personalised tours - a small hill overlooks a stunning lake upon which ski bikes can be seen tearing up and down.

The slopes are populated by beginners whose modus operandi is to stand at the top, point their skis downhill and go straight until they come into contact with either a tree, another skier or a giant elastic net strategically placed at the bottom of the run.

Special guards, you hear, are even posted at strategic points to pick up the bits and pieces left behind.

You shiver - and this time, it is not only because of the biting cold.

The writer is a freelance writer.

HARBIN'S HIGHLIGHTS

Play

• Yabuli Ski Resorts
  Along with Erlongshan, Yabuli is rated as one of the best resorts in the region. It has several runs and caters to all levels of proficiency. Equipment can be rented on-site. For best bargains, book an all-inclusive tour through your hotel.

Eat

• Shangri-La Hotel's Ice Palace Restaurant
  Taking yin and yang to the extreme, the restaurant serves spicy hotpot off tables made of ice. Tel: +86-451-8485-8888

•  

• Huawei Russian Dining Hall
  Sited in Zhongyang Street, it mixes Russian and Dongbei (north-east China) cooking in an ornate setting. Hearty solid fare, the food is mostly dumplings, ribs and borsch.

Shop

• Underground streets
  The ones near the St Sophia square are the largest and you can buy everything from mobile phones to fur coats.

Visit

• Stalin Park
  Despite the Sino-Soviet rift of the 1960s, Harbin is one of the few cities in the world to name a park after the former dictator. Running along the edge of the Songhua river, it offers panoramic views and access to the skating rink and ice diving area.

•  

• Random Ice Sculptures
  One of the fun aspects of Harbin in winter is that the city really comes alive. Look out for works of ice art scattered round. Some are good while others are functional, such as the ice street lights in Zhongyang Street.