Arctic Village of Mohe County

Arctic village is located in Mohe County, Heilongjiang Province, the northernmost village of China, it is also the only place to see aurora in China. Every year before and after summer solstice, you get almost 20 hours of daytime, this is what we call the polar day. If the sky is clear enough, you can see the sun and moon altogether. Locals will hold Summer Solstice Campfire Party during this time, singing and dancing through the night. As the September 23rd equinox approaches, nights grow longer and a colorful season for aurora begins.



Here, regardless of seasons, the annual average temperature are -30 degrees, the lowest temperature is about -50 degrees. I guess that’s what cold as ice feels like. The hotel gate was covered with frost, I tried to pull the handle but instead of opening it, my hands were sucked and couldn’t move. Then I realized someone once told me not to touch iron with bare hands in extreme cold weather, or you would get sucked with iron.



On the other side of Heilongjiang River, it’s Russia. It’s pretty interesting how people set borders with rivers, mountains or road. Borders are set by people, but nature knows no boundry. Sometime some dark clouds from Russia would make China rain heavily. Taking a cruise in the river would be cool, seeing two countries at the same time.

North Pole sign is sitting on a giant Chinese map in town square, the arrow on wooden poles nearby indicate the distance of North Pole to any other major cities of the world. Actually, in arctic village, you can see North Pole signs in everywhere, like northernmost post office, banks, border post and other buildings. I bought a dozen postcards and sent them to my family and friends, best wishes from the north pole.



Before I came here, I did a little research work online and found blueberry was a specialty in this area. Blueberry was one of my favorite berries, it would be insane if I didn’t bring some fresh blueberries back.It just happened they were doing Blueberry International Festival which meant the price was better. How lucky I was!

I heard there was horse sleigh for tourists, how could I miss that? An old lady from the local kept reminding me to protect my head, hands and feet, very nice and thoughtful of her. I was so excited but when it started, I was too cold to say a word! I sat there and curled like a ball, hoping the beautiful scene could kick the dead coldness away. Tall white birches were everywhere, perfect decor for cold place like this. It was such a white world with everything seemed so clean and flawless..

Arctic village was a cold place for sure but warm and hospitable locals did make me so warm inside. That’s what travel was all about-communication with heart and souls.