Siberian Tigers!

The other day, the cast took a field trip to the Harbin Siberian Tiger Preserve. It was an amazingly upclose view of some beautiful wild animals. The experience was certainly something that you couldn't have in America! We boarded buses that drove us into what felt like Jurassic Park-like cages - very large. The bus drove through the cages and we were surrounded by tigers that were roaming free. It was absolutely amazing to get so close to them. At times they would walk directly around the bus. We were able to get some amazing pictures. Go to the photo site to see all of them. At the end of the tour, you had the option to buy LIVE animals to feed to the tigers! A couple of cast members bought a duck and a rooster. We were all a bit concerned that it would be brutal and nasty, but it was actually very National Geographic-like. There is a video of the duck's demise on the photo site. Needless to say, PETA would have a fit over this, but in China, it's just fine! At the end of the tour, Zachary got to hold a baby tiger which he absolutely loved!

After the tiger park, we went to a huge park called Sun Island Park. This park is the home of the annual Harbin Ice Festival. We went to a museum that was well below freezing and saw amazing ice sculptures. All in all, it was one of the most interesting and fun days of touring I've ever had. Definitely not something we would see at home!

Our next stop on the tour is 2,000 miles away in Nanning, China. We fly on Tuesday. Nanning is very close to the North Vietnam border and is known for its signature dish, dog hot pot! Should be interesting! Supposedly Nanning is a mix of about 100 different cultures and nationalities, so it will be very different from Harbin, which is almost all Han Chinese (or at least that's what I was told).