Haerbin's Sun Island Snow Sculptures & Siberian Tiger Reserve

The sun was shining again as we went to Sun Island in Haerbin to the Snow Sculpture Park.  These amazing sculptures were all done from snow!  So many ideas and so much talent!

This huge sculpture had an inner tube run built in--too much fun to resist!

Tubing down the Snow Sculpture in Haerbin

(Kirk says:  "Wode tai tai" which means "My wife".  At the end he says, "Xie, xie" which means "thank you".  The man wanted him to get out of my way!)

Some of the sculptures were SO HUGE!

Workers were still adding finishing touches.

Beethoven even!

We were freezing cold, but walked through the park trying to see as many of the sculptures as we could.  They were each one incredible and unique.  Several hadn't been created yet--we were here before the "official" opening.  But it was probably better because we didn't have so many crowds.  It was interesting to see some of the artists at work.

This area had a whole Chinese village!

Some of these were real buildings inside, just covered in sculpted snow!

You can see 2 of the 7 dwarfs on the left--Disney is in China!

Santa Claus is here, too!

Is that Snoopy?

DRAGONS!

The lady with the flute has been carved several years in a row--she's the symbol of the festival.

You got to see it all from the comfort of your warm house!  Actually, you haven't seen it all, but you've gotten a good taste of it.  And weren't we blessed to have such a sunny day?!

We had time to warm up in the bus as we drove to the Siberian Tiger Base.  There are only a few hundred Siberian tigers left in the world, and here they have a breeding program to try to revive the species.  These tigers are much bigger and 'meatier' than their southern Asia cousins--they need it to survive in this weather!  It was like we were in Jurassic Park as we rode in a special bus through the park, gates opening and closing behind us to keep the tigers inside.

I loved the cool white tigers!

Here is the main gate we had to drive through.

This guy is scratching on the tree trunk!

Here they come!

Haerbin's Siberian Tigers 

We drove through several different sections with some older tigers, some young ones, some white and some golden.  At the end of the drive, we got out of the bus and walked through an overpass above some enclosures.  Someone bought a live chicken and threw it into the pen, so we were able to watch the tigers vie for it.  It was interesting to see the one who got it crouch down and hold it in his mouth while growling at all the other tigers to "stay away"!  Finally, he relaxed and began crunching on his dinner.

Yummy--fresh chicken dinner!

You can walk above the tigers and look down at them.

Are you cold yet?  This was just what we did before lunch!  Next post--sliding on the ice at the Songhua River and our New Year's Eve Party!