For My Money Nothing Beats A Monkey On A Bicycle!

Today we visited the Guangzhou Zoo, and while it wasn't nearly as animal friendly as most American zoos it was much better than what I expected. Since we didn't get to make the Beijing portion of the trip due to the length of our stay in Guangzhou it was nice to actually get to see a Giant Panda in China. Though the enclosure for the panda was not as good as I thought it would be, it was certainly the most protected. You can tell that it is the national symbol of China. The panda was in a cage, but it appeared to also be able to go outside, and it is protected by a wall, moat, and electric fence. Probably my favorite animal there was the Red or Lesser Panda (That's him in the last photo). He had a large enclosure with no bars and lots of trees to climb and grass to crawl around in--Very beautiful. This zoo reminded me of an American zoo before the 1980's (come to think of it, lots of things in China remind me of the U.S.A. in the 70's and before). Many of the animals were in cages and the way the visitors treat them is shameful, throwing things at them--we saw a poor brown bear sitting in the moat of his reasonably nice pen eating what appeared to be a plastic cup that had been thrown in. Still its hard to be too judgmental of the people here, they just haven't ever learned any different. That being said, everywhere you go there is not just one trash can, but one for recyclables and one for other trash--maybe we could learn a thing or two from them also. In one part of the zoo I spotted a building with a picture of a monkey on a bicycle. Now I don't know about you, but when someone teases me with monkeys on bicycles money is no object! It actually only cost about a dollar to go in for the show, and while certainly entertaining, it was sad to see the trained animals forced to perform. There was a bear who rode a motorcycle and bicycle and walked on a ball, a lion who pulled a chariot, a dog who walked on a ball, and of course monkeys on bikes! This also reminded me of something we would have seen in America in my childhood, and while it is nostalgic on a certain level I can't help but feel bad for the animals. Audrey loved the zoo, so we can't wait to make our first visit to the OKC Zoo.

Every day she seems to become more comfortable with us and assured that we are going to be here when she goes to sleep and when she wakes up. She still doesn't want to be comforted by me, but she is much more accepting of me and also is more tolerant of new people and faces. Hopefully the change in environment when we come home won't change this.

Auntie Andie has already made the first zoo visit request, so start making your appointments now. The line forms behind her.