Train journey to Harbin

I'm sitting on a train going to Harbin from Mudanjiang (that's a 4 hour trip which we got up at 5:30am to make - we left at 7) - which is in northern China for those of you who aren't familiar with Chinese geography. We have had breakfast so it's Super C's all the way. The scenery is spectacular - very lush with many crops. We're travelling through a floodplain next to a river which I'm sure overflows in Spring - especially good for the rice. Funny, because when I think "rice" I think Vietnam rice paddies cultivated by farmers with pointy round hats, not like it is here.