Leong, a travel writer, was chosen by the Quebec Ministry of Tourism, along with other travel writers from the United States, to visit the French-speaking province in Canada. For Leong, the highlight of the weeklong trip turned out to be a stop at a hotel built totally of ice.

"We had the option of either staying overnight at the hotel or just visiting it during the day," Leong says. "But after reading about this place, there was no way I was going to pass up an opportunity to stay there."

The Ice Hotel is a novel concept conceived of by the tourism department. The entire hotel--every wall, every table, every chair and every bed is made only out of ice.

Each year, the hotel is rebuilt with new designs and new rooms and from January to early April attracts tourists from all over the world.

"The hotel doesn't have a single iron beam or wooden frame to hold everything together," Leong says. This year's hotel was constructed with 15,000 tons of ice and snow; it has 32 rooms and theme suites.

Leong's adventure began on Feb. 8 when she set off to experience a new country and new culture amid bone-chilling temperatures.

Before going to the Ice Hotel, Leong read a lot about it.

She knew that an overnight stay was not for everyone and that a few guests slinked away to the warmth of a nearby lodge if the temperature became too difficult to handle.

"I told myself that if I were going to stay, I would refuse to surrender to warmth," she says. "I flew over 3,000 miles to purposely become a frozen, fossilized mummy. I would not cut this once-in-a-lifetime, crazy event short," Leong says. According to Leong, the Ice Hotel always keeps two rooms available for the "one in 100 patrons who wimp out before sunrise."

Leong bought new sweaters, thermals, jackets and woolen stockings and garments and packed them all into a suitcase so large that Leong could fit herself into it.

"As soon as I got off the plane, I realized that no amount of research had prepared me for the freezing temperature. And I was glad I had bought the $100 worth of woolens just for the trip," she says.

After a long flight, Leong and another American journalist arrived at close to midnight at the Ice Hotel, about 30 minutes outside of Quebec City. The front of the hotel was a reception area--a log cabin with a cheery fire crackling in the fireplace. There was no sign of ice. Leong says this was her last brush touch with reality before the long night ahead.

Leong and the other journalist were introduced to the marvels of the ice structure when they were taken to the hotel bar, built solely out of ice.

"The only drink that they serve in this bar is variations of vodka," Leong says. "That's the only drink that can survive the cold temperature without freezing." She says that, in fact, even the drink is served in a glass fashioned from ice.

Leong remembers experiencing moments of shock when she saw a bunch of tourists smoking in the bar. But the guide was quick to point out that smoke from the cigarettes was hardly sufficient to melt the bar--so smoking inside this ice edifice was perfectly OK.

After the bar, it was time to tour the ice chapel, which Leong says is a marvel of artistry and civil engineering. Inside the chapel were rows and rows of pews sculpt out of rock ice, with an ice altar and stained ice windows of patron saints. There was an ice chandelier that changed color, thanks to fiber-optic cables running through it.

"This was an actual chapel that is used for weddings, baptisms and what have you," Leong says. "I didn't dare to ask if funerals were also performed there." According to Leong's guide, the chapel had recently been the site of a wedding, and the bride rode up in a dog sled.

After the tour of the chapel, it was time for Leong to retire to her own ice room for the night. The guide walked her down a long, narrow, dimly lit hallway where on either side, rooms branched off into ice chambers. There was absolute silence. The walls of the hotel were 4 feet thick, which created a sense of eerie quiet.

Leong's room had an Egyptian theme. At the center of the room was a queen-size bed made of clear ice. On top of it was a large wooden plank with foam to provide a bit of comfort. The bed sat under a giant ice sculpture of the head of Queen Nefertiti. In one corner of the room stood a frozen sculpture of an Egyptian god with a jackal head that stared at Leong. The jackal god, called Anubis, was revered among the ancient Egyptians for his embalming prowess, not a comforting thought to Leong.

Having spent all that money at home to keep herself warm, Leong layered herself before she slipped in to the mummy bag (a sleeping bag) the hotel provided. From top to bottom she was covered--thermal underwear, padded woolen ski socks, charcoal ski pants, a long black wool coat, a parka, gloves, a ski cap and face mask. She also slipped her digital camera and video equipment inside her mummy bag to prevent it from breaking in the frigid air. It was 28 degrees Fahrenheit, and she says it felt as if her blood was going to freeze.

But in all her preparation, she failed to consider one thing. All cocooned in her sleeping bag, the journalist decided to capture her initial impressions on a piece of paper, so she pulled out her pen only to find that the ink had frozen, and she hadn't thought to bring a pencil.

The time was 2:30 a.m., and she was tired. However warm and comfortable Leong was in her sleeping bag, she found she could not let her body drift away to sleep.

"My body was exhausted. I was warm, and I didn't have to go to the bathroom, but the air was so cold that every breath I took in cut into my lungs and hurt. If I didn't have to do such as simple thing as breathe," Leong says, "I would have been asleep very fast." She tried to cover her face and nose, but then found it difficult to breathe.

So Leong tossed and turned and even tried different yogic poses. But none helped her slip into the sleep her body so desperately craved. She never did sleep that night.

When it was almost 6 a.m., a legitimate wake-up hour, Leong knew she had done it. She had survived the room, and she could head back to the real world. The first thing she did was head for the section of the hotel where she could take a shower.

"I probably stood in the hot water for 45 minutes, and nothing in the world could have dragged me out of there at that point," she says. Later, she found out the journalist had slept like a baby because he had soaked in a hot tub before heading off to his ice chamber.

Soon the memories of the Ice Hotel would become part of the bigger trip the tourism department had created for Leong and other journalists. But for Leong, the experience in the hotel is proof of how much she can challenge her body and mind and emerge victorious. So would she be ready to head back to the ice chambers for a sequel?

"Sure," she says. "I'd love to." Maybe next time she will sleep.

To learn more about Ice Hotel, go to www.icehotel-canada.com.

Leong hosts a travel website at www.BayAreaFamilyTravel.com.

El Camino Hospital