Zhalong Nature Reserve

On Monday all the foreign teachers from Aoqi, and Jennifer and Michael from Harbin, took a trip to 扎龙自然保护区, or Zhalong Nature Reserve, for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The foreign teachers and Bill in our little van:

The Nature Reserve was founded in 2011 and is basically 2100 square kilometers of wetlands. It is apparently the home of 260 bird species (though we only saw about four).The most famous of the birds are the rare cranes, including four on the endangered list: the red-crowned crane, the white-naped crane, the Siberian crane, and the hooded crane (thank you Lonely Planet).

Bill by the welcome sign (his family owns the hotel by the park):

The park is about 30 minutes away from where we are so the school had rented a bus to take us. Unfortunately we were a little late and missed the flying of the birds at 11am. Basically they let the cranes fly out of their cage at 11am so everyone can take pictures. We were still able to see the cranes hanging out in the water. It was really nice just to be outside and be in the country. It made you realize how dirty the city we're living in is.

The famous red-crowned cranes:

I did have to laugh because the park was founded in 2011 but it was already falling apart. The pavement was cracked everywhere. That's Chinese construction for you. We have a theory that everything is built badly so the people have more jobs since they need to rebuild everything all the time.

So many people there:

We walked around for about an hour and observed lots of Chinese throwing trash into the water (at a wetland preservation) or poking their water bottles into the birds cages so the birds would peck at them and they could get better pictures. It was really sad seeing that. The amount of respect animals receive here is horrendous. I haven't even dared to walk around the zoo in Longsha Park.

Some great Chinglish:

Cutest little girl ever. She also had a  twin sister dressed identically:

In front of the cranes:

We soon headed off back to Qiqihar for a delicious meal at this BBQ place. It was all you could eat for up to two hours and you cook the food in front of you. They had some delicious peking duck, Taiwan pancakes, and these sticky rice ice cream things that reminded me of Mochi Balls.

The American table and Bill:

Overall it was a very fun day since we were able to go and do something different than we normally do. The park was a little disappointing but I enjoyed getting out of the city and enjoying some fresh air. And yes, the air actually is pretty fresh up here in the North.