Wireless Internet in Harbin

[venture160]

this is to anyone who is/ or has been living in Harbin...

does anyone know if there is a cafe, library, ANYWHERE in this city that has free access to the net that is not a web bar.. I am studying at HIT, and you can't access the schools network with a MAC, a pain in the butt to say the least. Is there anywhere in this city I can take my laptop and surf the web... even if I had to pay I dont care. Thanks for your help.

Also... everyone knows that Hamamas is moving to a new location right.. they won't offer food either... is there anyplace near HeiDa that is good?

[frobbit]

Hammas is moving??? And no food?!

Say it ain't so Ronnie! Where will I go to get my steak sub now?!

Not sure of any other places to get quality Western food (but was considering opening one myself), I guess there is always 'Yameiniya', but unfortunatly I have no idea of the address as the times I have been there is about three or four in the morning after Blues

But, they do good food there!

On the free net access thing, not sure. I say your best option is to just go to a net cafe. The machines are damn quick and you will only pay about 1-2 yuan for an hour (if that).

[Tobias]

you remember john from michigan?

he made the owner of one of those bad bars at the stinky canal near david disco get internet access. i dont remember the name. its on the side of the canal facing petersburg cafe. its the one with the bar build with books. got a tree outside. you can take your laptop there. they got a cable to connect if you dont have one. its for free but i guess it is polite to order something.

good to do some wasted surfing.

p.s. beware the owner. hard to stand when he is drunk

[venture160]

hey thanks a ton for your help, I know where the st. petersburg cafe is, or should we say "DJ Fridays" . About Hamamas, yup it is true, HIT has that whole hood slated for demolition to make way for a new classroom building and such. I guess ronnie is happy about it, he says he doesn't like cooking food anyways, they really just want a Cafe feel with light snacks, no word on the timeline though, I haven't been to Hamamas in about 3 weeks. Harbin really could use a good western restaraunt, right now all we have is Hamamas, but I'm afraid once they move its going to be really hard to find good food besides the buffet at the Holiday in and the Shangri-Li-La.

Also about the net cafe thing, I found a cafe today thats called the "blog cafe" "boke kafeidian" thinking they would have net I went in, but they don't have it, kinda funny.

[mrtoga]

Can you not get a line to your dorm room? Should be about 200RMB for the installation and 150RMB or so per month for constant broadband access.

As for western food......

Now that you mention it there are no really good places around HIT. I tend to be a hotpot or Korean food man when I go out to eat. Bread is a notable weakness in Harbin....

There is a pretty good Russian place in Kaifa-Qu called All Around The World. Owned by a native Russian - seems all the staff there are Russian too. Their prices are reasonable, food is pretty good and westernish, and you get a Russian chap warbling on stage as you consume your stroganoff or borsh.

[roddy]

Out of curiousity, is the Russian Cafe still there, by the KFC at the top (river) end of Zhongyang Dajie. The food there was never great, but it was always a fantastic place to stop for a rest after a winter's day DVD shopping. And to keep it on topic, it might have wireless.

Anyone ever go to the Velvet Cafe? It was short-lived, maybe only lasted a year or two, but was a very nice bar to hang out in. Japanese-run, I think.

I don't think we ever found any really good western food places when I was there (2001 / 2002), but there were a ton of half-decent cafes where you could get a variable cup of coffee and a mediocre pizza. Nice places to sit and study, but you wouldn't go there for the food. The best mediocre pizza we ever found was in a cafe in the basement of the International Hotel just off the Nangang traffic circle.

Did have some good Russian food at a place on top of a department store in Nangang - Giant, maybe? - can't remember the name.

Roddy

PS This is a million to one shot, but has anyone come across a Chinese guy who goes by the English name of Ricky Martin? He used to be a Heida student who worked at one of the Russian restaurants and tried to make friends with foreigners on Zhongyang in his spare time. Complete idiot.

[danZEman]

How fast would a decent domestic wifi system be in Harbin?

Also what is the best way to get around the firewall?

[Matty]

Probably should have been a new topic...

Internet depends on where you live in Harbin, access varies greatly.

The best way to get around the firewall is paying for a VPN. (Virtual Private Network) In this way all your internet is encrypted and sent to the server and requested from there. I personally find VPNs from Hong Kong to work well for me. Prices can range anywhere from $3.50 and up per month. I'd guestimate they average at about $5

[frank the tank]

Finding a cafe with wireless in the HIT area should not be a problem at all....

Kona coffee which is just near the Bank of China at the computer market probably has the best wifi.

Home Coffee has good wifi too...

or you could walk along 桥东街 (runs next to the train tracks just outside the student dorms) and check out the cafes there...

Just walk the streets around that area but more towards Hamamas...theres plenty of places

When I say good, I mean good for Harbin....