Step inside Moody Gardens’ ICE LAND: Christmas Around the World, where it’s 9 degrees and pure holiday magic.

Enthusiasm soared among about a dozen hardy swimmers during a daily ritual in northeast China’s “ice city” of Harbin even as the mercury dropped well below freezing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is concluding a two-day visit to China by emphasizing the countries' strategic ties as well as his own personal relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they seek to present an alternative to U.S. global influence.

A closer look at how Ice Land is made at Moody Gardens and the ice carvers who create it.