Today we rode the 127. This route runs from the Xiangbin Road tunnel (香槟路桥) in the Northwestern part of Xiangfang (香坊区) across the river to Longjiang village number one (龙江第一村) in Jiangbei (松北区). It follows a fairly interesting route South of the river. Running along Wenzheng street to HIT (哈工大) where it jogs a few blocks South to Wurui street (五瑞街) before turning up Xidazhi street (西大直街). I believe this route will change slightly once the construction at Yikuang street (一匡街) is done, but I don’t know the specific details.
The route then quickly turns West again onto Tielu street (铁路街) which it follows up to the main train station (哈站) before circling back to the Anfa bridge (安发桥) and crossing the tracks headed towards the river. It turns south again on Jianguo street (建国街) and then West on Hayao road (哈药路) which takes you across the river on the Songhua highway bridge (松花江公路大桥). North of the river the route is somewhat less interesting, providing a few stops for the Harbin University of Commerce (商大) North campus and one stop at the Harbin Conservatory of Music (哈尔滨音乐学院) before ending at the number one village.
The terminus is a very odd juxtaposition of old and new, rich and poor, with one side of the street lined with new villa style suburban houses and the other lined with old countryside village style row housing. The route varies only slightly in the other direction when it uses different roads to circle back from Anfa bridge to Tielu street. The roads in this area are mostly one-way.
We started our journey near HIT after a hearty lunch at Marhaba (玛尔哈巴中东美食). First we headed West to the nearby Xiangfang terminus, where we stood around for a bit admiring the industrial scenery and high rise apartments, and the trash piles. We then reboarded and began the real journey through Daoli (道里区) and across the river to Jiangbei. The route through Daoli to the river gives some good opportunities to see the older side of Harbin’s urban landscape, with tightly packed together buildings and narrow lanes.
This is a stark contrast to the broad tree lined boulevards and loosely spaced buildings to the north of the river. We stayed on the bus for the whole route finally getting off at the terminus in Songbei. We considered exploring for a bit near the terminus, but as it was a suburban residential area with very little of interest we got back on and headed to the university campus.
We explored a bit of the neighborhood just to the West of campus, which was a fairly lively mix of residential and commercial, and then we wandered around the campus for a bit admiring the architecture and scenery. Feeling a bit chilly and tired we decided to head back into town as far as Jiaohua (教化广场), where we ended our trip on the 127.
