Last summer I was visiting Guilin, China. Since my flight was early in the morning I had some spare time and decided to visit Bear and Tiger Mountain Village (Guilin Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Villa). It is located on the way from the airport to the city. It is not difficult to find it because of its megalomaniac entrance. I was told that this is some kind of a conservation project where they rehabilitate tigers and Asiatic bears. The place is supposed to have more than 80 tigers, 200 bears, lions, snakes and other interesting animals as well. As a nature lover I was quite enthused to visit this place.

The first animals I came across were juvenile Asiatic bears. There were at least thirty of them in just one enclosure. They were really entertaining to watch as they were chasing each other, playing and quarreling, jumping into the pool and climbing wood trunks.

The other enclosure was occupied with adult ones, who were a bit more lazy.

There is really amazing number of tigers. They even have white tigers. Some of them have nice and spacious enclosures that look like natural habitat. Unfortunately most of the tigers are locked in a small cages with concrete ground that are often overcrowded.

Geese.

Two adult bears in a wrathful fight.

Most of the bears were just lying and did not move at all.

I certainly enjoyed watching these beautiful animals and there were also several photo opportunities. But there is also the other part of the medal, Some animals were really in a bad health. The living conditions for some animals are inappropriate (if I use a polite term) and the shows that are performed daily are disgusting – it is a torture to animals and not entertaining at all. I hope that their rehabilitation programs are successful and not only a disguise for an illegal trade with animal parts.

Here are some links you should read if you would like to visit the place;
Official Guilin travel guide
A post about the darker side of the village
Organisation Moonbears – against an illegal bear trade
Wikipedia about Asiatic bears

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Koi is Japanese word for Carp, a kind of freshwater fish. Koi fish are found in virtually every Chinese and Japanese garden where there is a pond. The gardens themselves are usually quite lifeless; paths, ponds, stones, stones, bridges, pavilions, stones… There are also some plants of course, but not as many as in Western gardens. You will find Bamboos, Magnolias, Gingkos, Lotuses, Pine trees,… To understand the philosophy of the gardens you must know the symbolism in almost every object placed within the garden. My personal opinion – very different, quite interesting, a bit dull. Fortunately there are throngs of Koi fish swimming around and they offer some great photo opportunities. Some of them grow very big, they look like lazy orange submarines.

Young Chinese teens are feeding the fish.

Both Photos were taken at Yi Yuan garden, Shanghai. The garden is very beautiful, but also very crowded. I would recommend you to take a day trip to Suzhou and visit a few gardens there. They are much more exquisite and if you visit some of the less known ones you will have them just for yourself.

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This is the same photo, but edited in PS. I wanted more dramatic atmosphere.

I still cannot decide which one looks better to me. What do you think?

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