Mood:  surprised

I suppose at this time, I should introduce another person, who has been pretty prominent in our adventures; he is Hang Hang, Kathy and Mun’s son.  Hang Hang is a 2½ year old little boy, who quickly made friends with Izz and Chubba, even though they have no idea what the other person is saying.  This morning, Auntie, her son-in-law (Wah), Jessie, her son (Ga Ga) and Hang Hang came to pick us up at the hotel for our trip to Xiangjian Safari Park. 

Wah took us to a noodle shop for breakfast.  We were told that the noodles and wontons at this place were really good.  Really good is an understatement.  In addition to shrimp and pork, these wontons had a little bit of roe in it.  The noodles were the best consistency and the soup was really good.  Izz and Chubba shared one bowl of plain noodles and I had my own.  My mom had noodles with shrimp roe, which I found a little strange.  After breakfast we were on the road to the zoo again.

At this time, I noticed that there was a strange smell in my nose.  After smelling the air in China for a couple of days, this weird stench is now stuck in my nose. 

Kathy ordered tickets for us on-line.  She found a place that sells group tickets to people who don’t have enough people to form their own group and charge less than the regular admissions price, but more than the group price.  A representative meets you at the front gate and you wait for the entire “group” to be present before you enter the park.  We were to meet the rep between 10 and 10:30.  We got to the parking lot around 10:15 and did not see the rep.  After some phone calls, we found that we were at the wrong entrance.  We drove over to the other entrance and found that we were still missing two people.  The other two people showed up a little while later and we entered the zoo.  Admissions into most places in China are based on height and not age, at the zoo if one is less than 1.2 meters tall (47 inches) admission is free, as long as there was one paying adult.

As soon as the rep got us into the park, she left.  We had to walk to the other entrance of the zoo to get to the safari (similar to the one at Six Flags Great Adventure).  We started walking around the zoo and it seemed like any normal zoo in the U.S.  We saw monkeys and flamingos and cows, then we walked a little further and there was an area where one could take pictures with parrots, vultures, eagles and toucans (pictures with vultures, eagles and toucans?  This zoo is starting to get a little interesting).  We didn’t stop for the pictures, as one of us (thanks to Alfred Hitchcock) is scared of birds. 

We continued to walk and came to this area where people were getting their photos taken with a baby Bengal tiger and lion.  (OK, now this zoo has become very cool).  Apparently zoos are much more interesting and cool when you can take pictures, ride and feed animals.  As we continued through the zoo, we found an area where we could buy peanuts to feed monkeys.  Auntie brought a bunch of bananas with her and we tossed a couple over to these monkeys (I have no idea what kind they are) and apparently only the alpha male was allowed to eat these special treats.  The kids then got their photos taken with a baby chimpanzee!!  Then it was onto the lions and tigers (big ones in cages this time) and giraffes.  Even giraffes turn more interesting when you can feed them.  There was a little stand next to the giraffes selling leaves for the giraffes.  Izz went around and picked up a bunch that other people had dropped on the floor and started feeding one of the giraffes.  Next, we went to see Koalas.  I don’t remember ever seeing a koala before.  Unfortunately, koalas are nocturnal, so we saw a bunch of them sleeping. 

We then stopped for some ice cream as it was close to 100 degrees that day and it was humid (Is it possible that there is some place worse than Orlando?).  After this quick break, Wah and I took Hang Hang, Izz and Chubba to see the elephants, while the others continued to sit and rest.  Oddly enough, they were selling bananas to feed the elephants.  Peanuts for monkeys and bananas for elephants?  Weird.  We fed the rest of the bananas that Auntie brought along to the elephants and a bit further down, there were people riding on an elephant!   Across from the elephant ride was a small amusement park for kids.  However, as attendance was extremely low that day, the amusement park was closed.  We then went to see the pandas.  This was a first for the kids, however with the excitement of taking pictures with and feeding the animals, the pandas could not hold their own.

We then went to the safari area of the zoo.  We caught the “train” about 2 minutes before it started.  This part of the zoo was rather disappointing, as it is very similar to the safari at Great Adventure.  However, for everyone else, this seemed to be the highlight of the zoo.

We went back to the same noodle restaurant for late lunch after the zoo.  Izz said these were the best noodles ever and she could eat them every day.

After eating noodles again, we left to head back to City Central.  Congestion in Guangzhou has gotten to the point where it takes forever to get anywhere.  We drove around the city for a while, picking up various members of Auntie’s family to head for dinner.  By the time we got everyone there, it was close to 7:30.  Dinner tonight included the usual chicken, goose, veggies, beef short ribs (beef tends to be rare (as in hard to find) since cows are usually used for farming and tend to be tough by the time they are slaughtered for food, as well as what will become a norm at every meal shrimp.

I will try to add pictures to this post soon.

ABC