*Getting there: Manzhouli has its own airport. But train is cheaper, direct trains from Beijing are available. Speed trains do not serve Manzhouli as a destination as of 2017.

*WiFi: Poor. Public wifi hot-spots cant be connected to without a Chinese mobile number.

*Money: Visa/MasterCard accepted in very few establishments. Mobile payment is the preferred mode of payment. Cash otherwise.

*Language: English not widely spoken, so be prepared with some standard Chinese phrases. Even better write it down and point-shouldn’t be so hard with all the translation apps.

*Tips: Dress warm in Winter!!!! Explore the local food culture and maybe go shopping.

Manzhouli is a very peculiar city, brightly lit, big buildings and shopping malls. This is in sharp contrast to the border town in Russia. Approaching Manzhouli already felt like Vegas, a sparkling city blanketed otherwise by nothingness and shadows.

Manzhouli is really cold in winter, but apparently still warmer and expecting upto -40C normally.We check into a hostel with attached bathroom for 10Eur a night. The hostel has a very distinct Mongolian feel along with idols in Genghis khan, Mao, Stalin and Lenin.

We meet a very skilled player of a type of Chinese stringed instrument called Guzheng and he courteously plays for us a piece epitomizing the mountains and rivers. Such a beautiful piece it was, it was so easy to envision along with him the sound of water in the music itself. he has been playing the instrument for 13 years and on a work-away vacation and plans to become a professional musician later. This is a description of the instrument from chinawhisper.com website “The Guzheng is a Chinese plucked zither. It is made of 18-23 or more strings and movable bridges. People believe that it has been invented during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). The performer pluck the strings at the right portion with right hand, and left hand presses the string on the left side of the bridge to produce pitch ornamentation and vibrato. The skilled player can create sounds that can evoke the sense of waterfall, thunder, and even the scenic countryside.”

Loved the Manzhouli food culture. The biggest shopping mall in town has a full floor dedicated to a eatery with a wide variety of cuisine in different stalls on offer. I choose a kind of Korean dish with rice and cooked vegetables in a hot stone bowl. The idea is that the ingredients get slightly scalded by coming in contact to the hot stone bowl. The ingredients have to mixed together and must be stirred continuously. Sea weed soup to go along with it. The portions are really generous. There are other options as well like vegetables deep fried in oil and topped with seasonings, hotpot on a conveyor belt, steamed buns. The fate of the vegetarians are looking up! Average meal costs about 10-18Yuan.

China has their own network of credit card providers, so visa is not entirely accepted at all merchants. but finding a bank with ATM is not very hard. What is also very common is mobile payment. We would also see it elsewhere in China, they are used by all service providers from street food vendors to shopping malls and beyond. It seems to be a social media network, chat platform and payment platform rolled into one. Extremely convenient, maybe not very privacy friendly.

Manzhouli seems to offer much more in the Summer and is also the peak season. We leave for Beijing after an overnight stop.