Harbin... land of ligers, the wheel of death and quality time

Last weekend our team of teachers took a trip to Harbin. It was a time of R&R and time to reflect and just spend another outing together. All in all it was a wonderful trip.

A few notable experiences include but are not limited to:

1. The Manchurian Tiger Park.

With a caged car and two sets of gates the open and close as you enter the different parts of the park you can't but help thinking of the first Jurassic Park. While many groups probably don't approve of buying live animals being sold merely to be eaten in front of a live audience the chance to be close to these incredible creatures is remarkable.

2. Caught in the rain.

Harbin has a great walking street that has a mix of new shopping malls that feature brands such as Gucci, Nike and bubble tea to older restaurants that feature Russian cuisine. It is a cool area to just shop and people walk. It also has 2 or 3 McDonald's to fill my American junk food needs. After an nice afternoon stroll that included many russian junk stops... i mean souvenir shops, we decided it was time to catch a taxi back to the hotel. So of course, the wind and rain started. And it just poured! Of course many of us were not prepared for the weather and of course... there was no taxis to be found. It is also common phenomenon that whenever rain starts, taxis are not available. So 12 people of the group were huddled under an awning while the other 2 tried to hail taxis. After a few large branches of nearby trees fell down near us, the group decided it was maybe this would be a good time for a meeting at the corner Mcdonalds.

3. Wheel of death.

If you have ever been in China you are familiar with the out door playgrounds for adults. While at first glance they may seem like a playground we have in the states you'll notice that most of the playgrounds in China cliental consist of the elderly. And the equipment ranges from your standard monkey bars to some strange back stretching device. My favorite grown-ups playground so far is located at the Northeast Forestry Institute in Harbin. This one is like the x-games of playgrounds. You can climb up 2 story ladders and poles, dangle on olympic sized rings, climb up military-esque nets, and ... the wheel of death. On this device you hold on to one of the ends a steel ladder that has a fulcrum in the middle so you can swing yourself upside down! It is actually kind of difficult and a bit scary. After a good minute and a half I managed to swing myself completely around. I felt sick for a little white after, but hope I get a chance to return one day.

Those are the top three events of this past Harbin trip. It was a great end of year trip to reminisce on all that we have experienced in the past year.