Vacation comes to an end...

Friday and Saturday were the last two days of my parent’s Chinese vacation. If we could just get Chevy Chase to play my Dad, National Lampoon would have another blockbuster!

For their last two days, I had the days off, so we planned a trip to the Harbin Northern Forest Zoo and a final day down by the Songhua River with a gondola ride over the river. I have found a better place for my pictures online also. I have posted quite a few from the blog here, plus many more on my .mac account

You can find pictures from both the gondola and zoo adventure there, as well as some great photos from my entire journey!

The Zoo turned out to be a 1 hour drive Northeast out of Harbin, about half way to the ski area that we went to in January. Pei Ying’s cousin got a car from work and drove us out to the zoo for a small $50 fee. The zoo was enormous and you had to drive from exhibit to exhibit. We saw birds, cheetahs, panthers, dogs, wolves, elephants, bears, rhinos, monkeys and of course what the zoo is known for, the Tigers and Lions. They had 3 lion couples, two big tigers and three Siberian snow tigers (all white, the male had some black stripes). As is typical with the Chinese, the safety features were very minimal and we were able to get VERY close to the tigers, just behind one fence as close as a foot away from us at times. They were tough to get pictures of as they were pacing in their cages as we went entered. We were obviously close enough that they noticed and were acutely aware of our presence. The nice zoo keeper even fed one some raw meat while we were there. I was told that for a price we could purchase a live goat to watch them chase, kill and eat it if we wanted, ONLY IN CHINA! It was a great trip and we returned with all of our limbs and appendages, so we have that going for us. After the zoo, Pei Ying helped us to find a dumpling restaurant for my parents. After leaving one that only made dumplings with seafood in them, we found a nice restaurant near my parents hotel and had a nice meal.

More Zoo Photos

The following day, we headed back down to center street. We decided on a nice meal at Pizza Hut. It was the first time we had been to a Pizza Hut with a 15 minute wait for a table. But we got a nice seat looking out on center street and enjoyed a good meal. After lunch, we headed down the river walk to the Gondola. For a mere 50 Yuan ($6.25) we purchased round trip tickets across the Sonhua river. It was another great view of Harbin. We also saw a road of walking and biking people across the frozen river. After the ride, it was on to Walmart as we had yet to take my parents INSIDE the Chinese Walmart, a three-story mega store. After that, it was getting pretty late and my parents headed home to pack and get ready for their flight the next morning.

More Gondola Photos

They have since made it home safe and sound! We have been a bit delayed in our departure to Jia Mu Si, but tomorrow Tim and I will head up with Mr. Zhou or the “Short Man” as we call him. He is a much slower and safer driver than the “Tall Man,” so it should be a nice ride. We will arrive in time for the first game in the Heilongjiang Games.

Good night from Harbin!