Harbin

The last week of september we got a week off from classes. A lot of students travel back home though some stay around. After spending a saturday with the Russian speakers at a one day retreat (what they call an MT) we immediately left for Harbin. This city is in the north east most province of China and showcases famous ice sculptures in the winter and has a famous tiger park. At the tiger park various types of tigers roam free and you take an armoured tour bus around the campus. Kind of like Jurassic Park for tigers. I traveled with four of the Russian speakers and two of my co-workers.


Here are the students excited to begin the 10 train journey up north.


Here I am ready to take off. It's not easy having to sit erect for 10 to 12 hours starting at 10pm. Smoking is allowed, vendors are walking by the whole time shouting out food for sale and the lights don't go off. The cars with beds sell out quickly. Crazy as it sounds some people ride the train with no seat at all. I had a student tell me he took a 36 hour ride with no seat. He lay on the floor when he had a chance. It's not a clean floor.


Here we are on the armored bus ready to take some pictures.


That's the A team jeep that throws out the live food that customers bought.


That's what our bus looks like.


Your now entering the park.


Here's the first sighting.


Here's a live video of some chickens being fed to the tigers. I did buy one.


They like to come right up to the bus since they know they're getting food. Our student guide got really nervous for us when we got close to the cage. He really wanted us to stay far from the metal. As long as your head isn't touching the metal it's ok. Though one lady for some reason was resting her had on the cage as she was taking a picture. She got a real scare when the tiger came on her. The claws can still poke through a little.


That's me feeding a tiger some beef. These animals are a lot bigger than I thought.


I didn't know tigers could swim. It just caught a duck that someone bought.


A better view of the A Team jeep. There's a Benz logo on the grill.


This one's definitely hungry.






I thought this was just some Napoleon Dynamite joke but a liger does exist.


Me and co. with a baby tiger.


This is a tower with lots of attractions for little kids. Kind of like Disneyland in a building. You can go to the top and see the city from far a high.


What can't you do here? You can get a fluffy white dog to do a lap for you at the top of the tower.


A view of Harbin from above.


Funny translation. "Slip and fall down carefully"


Apparently this is China's first beer.


This is some famous Harbin sausage.


A cathedral left over from the days when there was larger Russian population.

Food #13 Sichuan Hot Pot

Now this is some excellent hot pot. It's kind of like Shabu Shabu except there are two sides to the pot. One is for a mild tasting soup and the other side is flaming hot. The hot side has small little round balls that give it its spiciness. The spice leaves your tongue more numb than the hot drink 5 cups of cold water type of hot.




The left side is mild and the right side is hot hot hot.


Dipping sauces.


Potatoes








Frozen tofu. Nice.






Flaming hot.


We tried to get mushrooms but we got these from the waiter instead.

Food #12 Meat

If you live in Yanji this is one place you have to eat at. I'll just leave it at that.

Beijing Art Tour

One place I visited in Beijing was the 798 district. This in on the east side of the city. They have a lot of contemporary art here I was not aware of. My friend said this place was almost shut down due to the messages that the artists try to voice but there was enough int'l pressure and economy to keep it alive. It's like visiting a college campus with nothing but small galleries all around. Here's a sample of what I had time to see.










The arches are everywhere now.


They had some NK art here.


I couldn't go inside the Nike gallery. I suspect LeBron was inside promoting a shoe.

Beijing Olympic Tour

This is the day I got to enter the Olympic Park and enjoy the games.


1) This is the mens 50km walk event. It finishes in the Birds Nest


2) This was just a cool shot of one spectator from GB surrounded by workers.


3) Here's me and James hanging in front of the Stadium.


4) Here's our seats on the opposite side where all the important people sit.


5) Checking out the whole arena.


6) Torch by Day.


7) This is the American decathlon winner Bryan Clay.


8) The Birds Nest and Water Cube together.


9) Water surrounding the massive Olympic Park.


10) They have a lot of fish in the waters of Olympic Park.


11) Sunset at the park.


12) It's not just buildings at the park. It feels like your not even in the city here.


13) If you walk further north along the park they have more venues like tennis and field hockey. This was the field hockey stadium.


14) I missed the torch relay in my city but I get to see it in full glory here.


15) The broadcasting tower.


16) Water Cube at night.


17) Birds Nest at night.