My Silent Traveling Companion

You might think I traveled alone this holiday, as you see I had a room for one, bought one train ticket and had no one else in my pictures. But that’s not true. I didn’t travel with another person, but I didn’t travel alone. I traveled with someone very popular, someone who kept me warm when I was cold, and never complained when we hiked all day in the rain. That someone? The Harbin Jacket.

You see, despite my hearty New England upbringing, Xiamen has made me soft. Winter in Xiamen is in the 60’s, which means a light jacket, maybe a sweater, nothing more. No need for hat, gloves, scarves or especially a warm winter jacket. When I moved here I threw away my very old winter jacket assuming I’d just buy a new one when I needed it. But I’ve never needed it. Not in Xiamen. None of us do. So none of us have winter coats.
But, we have to leave the warm embrace of Xiamen sometimes, and one of my friends had to take a trip, in the winter, to Harbin. Harbin is in north China, near the tippy top, and is known as the coldest city in China, with averages way below zero (in both Fahrenheit and Celsius).

So she bought herself a warm winter jacket and The Harbin Jacket entered our lives. Since then, whenever any of my friends needs to travel somewhere cold, we use this jacket. After all, there is no reason to spend a lot of money for a jacket we use for just a few days. And my friend is nice enough to share.

So the jacket has some amazing adventures. As the traveling partner of the jacket I was lucky enough to have some adventures with it. It played a big role in my trip and many times was the star of my photos: