The first thing we did on January 2nd was to witness the ice swimmers.
Here's some information from the internet on these crazy, cold water swimmers:
"Winter swimming is a physical activity with folk rich cultural characteristic in Harbin, showing off the native people’s strong physique and iron will in Harbin. In winter, the outdoor temperature in Harbin drops to 10 or even 20 degrees below zero. Winter swimmers break up the ice of the swimming pools on Songhua River and make it a natural swimming pool for winter swimmers. The very time of winter swimming is from five to six o’clock in the morning when the sun hasn’t risen yet, but the winter swimming performance begins from 10 a.m."
All the swimmers we saw were people in their late forty's and fifty's. . . . Old guys like us! You'd think they'd have more sense than that. Or maybe that's what's keeping them strong and healthy.
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