The ZOO!

Now I haven't been to a zoo since Dublin 2010, and as for an aquarium the last time I visited one of those since I was 10? Maybe younger? Anyways it's up in Scotland by the Forth road bridge, and I can't wait to find a small child to take so I have an excuse for visiting. Is that weird? Back to the present though the other weekend Helen, Leo and I went to the Beijing zoo. Now I was on the brink of going by myself the other week but I hadn't heard great things about the zoo, on the other hand the aquarium is meant to be pretty good.

It was a nice sunny day courtesy of the super icy winds sweeping across from Mongolia, I suppose those are the choices here sunny and freezing or slightly warmer and lung killing smog. We arrived and went to the Aquarium first, I wasn't majorly impressed by it to be honest. The first tank was the coral reef, it seemed over crowded and without the colour one would associate with a reef.

Turtle! 龟 Guī. In China they represent long life.

Then we saw some Beluga whales, followed by a trip through the rainforest section. The overwhelming feeling that I came away with was of overcrowding. Hordes of fish circling around these tanks side by side. The coral reef tank looks luxurious in comparison. It's pretty depressing. 

Then we saw a dolphin show, another new experience for me, it is impressive what they can train them to do. They were jumping and racing and flipping and hula hooping, but the pool wasn't huge, and the holding tanks were even smaller. I've seen dolphins in the wild, and maybe it's just my Western sensibilities, but it's just quite sad to see them like this. 

After Lunch we headed out to the zoo proper. The first place was the Elephant and Rhino house, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record it was so sad. All the Elephants were inside as it was too cold, and they were all separated these slightly rusted iron bars. Those who had space were pacing, others weaving their heads. Helen even told me she thought it was sad.

That was the theme of the day small, low quality cages with horribly depressed animals. In fact just writing about this day makes me angry/upset all over again.

There were good points though I saw ducks with stripy heads. There were cool!

STRIPY!

I also invested a whole ¥5 (50p) into a giant stick of candy floss. Not as fun at the age of 20 as at the age of 10, far sweeter than I remember. I made a valiant effort though.

On the way to the Panda House these two guys tried to take a picture of me. As context a lot of older Chinese guys have super duper long lens SLRs. Also they were old and didn't have all the teeth, so as they followed me with their long lenses I threw my arms up to cover my face and shouted at them. They thought it was all too hilarious, ah yes stealing a photo of someone as they walk along doing nothing noteworthy or special at all, is so humorous! Gah! 

A couple of minutes later a family of I think Germans? Were walking behind us, and Leo pointed at them and shouted 'Alice, they're like you'. Yes Leo we have the same colour skin, I know it's an oddity to see Caucasians here. In fact sometimes I find myself staring at Ginger people, but Helen and I did try to explain that you don't just shout and point at people because they look different. In the majority of cultures it is considered rather rude...

So we finally reached the Pandas. My phone had died, and my camera refused to work so I borrowed Helen's. She hasn't sent me the photos yet so you can't see the 2 happy Pandas gambolling. The Happy ones had a big play area with climbing frames and lots of bamboo and grass. However there were two dustier and smaller enclosures on either side, with a depressed Panda in each one. They were hanging by there doors, one just staring with its back to everyone. Whilst the other paced relentlessly. :( 

On the way out we saw a bunch of old guys flying kites! Super high up! They were all chatting and pointing at each others lines. It is seriously techincal.

I can't really get why it's ok that the animals are kept the way they are, but it was a definite insight into the way they think about other animals.