Beijing, China - The Beijing Zoo
Hardy and I decided to visit the Beijing Zoo, old Summer Palace and Black Bamboo park today. We caught the local bus (fare is 1 Yuan or about 12-cents) to the zoo. We started with the giant pandas who were goofy, cute, lazy and feeding, as usual. We saw a couple of Indian elephants that seemed to be doing a little dance step of their own accord. I'm not sure, but it may have been part of a mating ritual. Things seemed to come up after the dance and the zoo keeper let them into an area hidden from tourists after that. Speaking of mating, a male giraffe was obviously quite excited about the nearby female that was separated from him by a fence. He was doing all he could to get her attention and show his affection, but alas, they were separated by the fence and visitors were offering food to her. The monkeys were enormously entertaining as was the interaction of Chinese tourists feeding grizzly bears who had learnd to sit and beg for food. They could catch food food very adroitly in their mouths. One fat black bear merely lay on it's back with its feet to he wall to get fed. If they missed his mouth, he would wait until a little pile accumulated and then turn and eat it. Both of the feedings took place at the area that had a big "Do not feed the bears for their health!" sign. We decided not to go to the acquarium, which was an additonal $12, but opted for the penguin exhibit tht only cost a dollar extra.
The zoo is quite large and after tromping around for four hours we decided to call it quits, our feet were sore and it was time to head on. On exiting the zoo we found it was getting quite dark and cold. We spotted the only restaurant nearby, a Pizza Hut and decided to duck in and get some food. This was the first western type place I ahve eaten since entering China. It was very nice and they asked us to take a seat in the waiting area while they checked for a table. I've never seen that in the USA! We split a large vegetarian pizza, which was quite good. We had time for our weary legs and feet to recover. Due to the weather we decided to return to the hostel.
Hardy and I decided to visit the Beijing Zoo, old Summer Palace and Black Bamboo park today. We caught the local bus (fare is 1 Yuan or about 12-cents) to the zoo. We started with the giant pandas who were goofy, cute, lazy and feeding, as usual. We saw a couple of Indian elephants that seemed to be doing a little dance step of their own accord. I'm not sure, but it may have been part of a mating ritual. Things seemed to come up after the dance and the zoo keeper let them into an area hidden from tourists after that. Speaking of mating, a male giraffe was obviously quite excited about the nearby female that was separated from him by a fence. He was doing all he could to get her attention and show his affection, but alas, they were separated by the fence and visitors were offering food to her. The monkeys were enormously entertaining as was the interaction of Chinese tourists feeding grizzly bears who had learnd to sit and beg for food. They could catch food food very adroitly in their mouths. One fat black bear merely lay on it's back with its feet to he wall to get fed. If they missed his mouth, he would wait until a little pile accumulated and then turn and eat it. Both of the feedings took place at the area that had a big "Do not feed the bears for their health!" sign. We decided not to go to the acquarium, which was an additonal $12, but opted for the penguin exhibit tht only cost a dollar extra.
The zoo is quite large and after tromping around for four hours we decided to call it quits, our feet were sore and it was time to head on. On exiting the zoo we found it was getting quite dark and cold. We spotted the only restaurant nearby, a Pizza Hut and decided to duck in and get some food. This was the first western type place I ahve eaten since entering China. It was very nice and they asked us to take a seat in the waiting area while they checked for a table. I've never seen that in the USA! We split a large vegetarian pizza, which was quite good. We had time for our weary legs and feet to recover. Due to the weather we decided to return to the hostel.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
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