Special District: Harbin: Drawing the Tiger's Bones by Tim Stickel

Author:Tim Stickel [Stickel, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

From Tsitsihar, the train crossed the River Nonni on a bridge that paled in comparison to Harbin’s long railway bridge over the Sungari, but Borya could still admire it as another example of modern Russian engineering. Soon the ground began to rise as they entered the foothills of the Great Khingan mountain range, leaving the steppe lands behind. Occasionally, towns nestled up against the rail line, surrounded by bare hillsides where the pine trees had been shorn for timber. They stopped at some of these towns so the locomotive could take on more water and sometimes coal, but most of the time they were surrounded by undulating hills and ridges of thick pine forest that made it feel like they were going back in time. It made Borya appreciative of Harbin, which truly stood out in the north of Manchuria like an oasis of modernity and culture. True, they had not seen the real Tsitsihar, but he knew it lacked the number of monumental public buildings of New Town or the number of bright lights in Pristan.

They passed by Tchingis-Khan, named after Ghengis Khan, the Mongol leader, and after that, the tracks began climbing the steadily rising mountains in a zigzag pattern like the switchbacks of a mountain hiking trail. First, the train would labor up each long slope until it reached a level stretch where it would gather speed before tackling the next rise in the opposite direction, both locomotives belching thick clouds of black smoke. Borya now knew what the signalman meant about the need for a second locomotive.

The next stop was Djalantoun and its fairy-land train station of painted brick with elaborately decorated windowsills and entranceway and roofed in black corrugated iron. It looked exactly as Borya remembered it from his childhood. One glorious, hot summer, Borya’s father had secured a week’s vacation for the family at the CER’s celebrated health station here, high up in the cooler mountains above the sweltering summer heat of Harbin. That had been before his youngest sister, Min, had been born, so he figured he had to have been six or seven at the time. They had walked the short distance from the station, trailed by porters carrying their luggage to the grand Railway Club, a stately edifice fronted with stone columns. Inside, the young Borya marveled at the carved railings and dazzling chandeliers in the lobby, while his father checked them in at the reception desk. He also remembered his father’s angry tone, although he couldn’t hear the words. When his father rejoined them, his face was bright red, and his voice deliberate, but strained. There had been a mix-up, he said, and their reservation was at the health station’s boardinghouse nearby. The procession of family and porters all trooped back out of the gleaming lobby and walked the few blocks to the two-storey stone lodge. Borya’s mother claimed this location was much better, being closer to the river and most of the recreational features. It was years later

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.