Houston gets an icy Christmas from China

In its third year, Ice Land Ice Sculpture, a holiday attraction offered by Moody Garden in Galveston, Texas, will take guests on an "underwater" journey from the shores of Galveston Island through the Gulf of Mexico and all the way to the Caribbean.

Chinese ice carver Fan Yongqiang puts the finishing touches on an ice sculpture on Nov 11, the day before the Ice Land Ice Sculpture attraction opens for the public in Galveston, Texas. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY

Over 40 master ice carvers from the Harbin Ruijing Carving Team spent a month and half transforming two million tons of colored ice into scenes of Christmastime under the sea. It opened to the public on Nov 12 and will last until Jan 8.

Visitors will discover sunken treasure, schools of colorful tropical fish, eagle rays, turtles, dolphins, hammerhead sharks and see Santa and other Christmas surprises along the way.

Visitors will also have the chance to board a submarine and look out onto the undersea world; or climb the stairs to the top of the oil rig platform and slide down an ice slide into a bar carved entirely from ice, complete with tables and disco lights.

"We have created signature scenes that tie in with other exhibitions in Moody Garden," said Jerri Hamachek, marketing manager at Moody Garden. "You will see iconic images of Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico."

This year the Chinese ice carvers had freedom of creation, taking the concept of an undersea world from Moody Garden and transforming those ideas into images.

Ice carver Fan Yongqiang came to Galveston for the third year to create an icy Christmas for the people in Texas. "It's more of a challenge to carve coral, boats, and fish to reflect a realistic undersea world," said Fan. "We used colored ice, transitional color and coloring techniques."

Hamachek said that ice sculpture park usually attracts mostly families during the holiday season. She estimated that the park will get 100,000 to 150,000 visitors this season.