The Mom Chronicles: Haerbin

Haerbin (哈尔賓) is north of Jilin, close to Russia and the its the coldest I have ever been in my life, honestly. Why did we come here you ask? Its because of the annual Snow and Ice Festival which was amazing. It was well worth the almost frostbitten toes to see the magnificent sculptures. We ran into a group of deaf Haerbiners, so we hung out with them for a few hours while we waited for Matt, Kevin and Jim to arrive. They led us to the snow world and we got in for free!

These are 3/5 Olympic Mascots. They are super cute! Their names put together mean "Beijing welcomes you"

We also went to a Siberian Tiger reserve, where they are trying to revive their population. I'm not sure if its for the tigers' benefit or the people running the park. Our entrance ticket included a ride in a van through the tigers' habitat and for an extra $5, we could watch them throw a live chicken, literally, into to the lions' (or in this case, tigers') den. If we had tons of cash, we could have paid $250 to watch a cow be mauled by the Tigers. Later in the tour, we chipped in for another chicken, which my mom helped feed.

Mom getting ready to dangle the poor chicken over the tigers.

Haerbin was grand fun, but coming back to Jilin for a few days was a nice respite. Tonight, Jenny, Kevin, my mom and I will travel back to Beijing. My mom is leaving on Friday, tear. But on the bright side, my friend Letizia is flying in the same day. The four of us, Jenny, Kevin, Letizia and I are traveling together for about 2 weeks or so, making our way southward to Hong Kong! These are more Snow/Ice Festival and Tiger Pictures...