Changbaishan

17^th August 2007

	Changbaishan is a mountain on the border between China and North Korea, famous for its beautiful scenery and particularly the vast lake at the top of it. Unfortunately the weather there is very unpredictable; when we arrived, it was pouring with rain, and the path to the lake had been declared off limits.
	Plan B: Stuck at the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere, and with no buses back down until late afternoon, we decided to head for a nearby 'tiger park'.
	The black bears and the deer were at least kept in better conditions than the typical Chinese zoo; but the real attraction was the tigers themselves.
	One of them seemed very angry and spent a lot of time snarling and running around his cage.
	Most of them behaved like big kittens.





	Visitors can pay to 'sacrifice' livestock to the tigers - wholesome fun for all the family. Here we see the remains of a cow, chained up Jurrasic Park style.





	The highlight of the visit was supposedly the short ride in a car through the tiger enclosure. One of the handlers parked in another car directly in front of us, and threw out a live chicken. Within a fraction of a second the action was all over, and the lucky tiger that caught it quickly disappeared off into the undergrowth to deal with the feathers.

	The gate to Changbaishan. Even mountains in China have ticket sellers - Changbaishan seemed particularly overpriced, costing as much as entry to the Forbidden City in Beijing. In any case, there was no point in us going in, since the paths were closed and there was nothing to see.