One of the first things we did was go to the zoo together, you may be sick of hearing about our zoo adventures but remember that a Chinese zoo is really not like a North American zoo. It's truly a cultural experience, so we had to take our guests there. Plus Eli is not sick of the zoo yet.
Naturally we rented the little car that Eli could drive and we all took turns driving with him. Alan got to be the first. Here we are on the way to see the birds.
The bird "sanctuary" is an area about the size of a soccer field with a little man-made creek running through with a pond and quite a few types of birds that would ordinarily definitely not be seen together. There are ducks, swans, storks and even a vulture to be seen there. There are a lot of cages as well as a huge net over top to prevent the birds from flying away.
Then we went to see the bears. The panda bear is considered a special treasure in China, though it is endangered. Here he is feeding in the background of this picture, looking more energetic than in previous visits.
After that we decided to go feed the crocodiles. You can pay about 50 cents to rent this stick with a chunk of meat (chicken they said it was) tied on to it, then off you go to taunt and tease the crocs from various platforms that are above their swimming area. Again, not your regular zoo experience. Here are the fearless crocodile "hunters":
They seem so sluggish, and even sleep with their mouths wide open, but don't be fooled, they are FAST! They can sure startle you when they suddenly snap for the meat they pretended to not be very interested in! And the snap of their jaws echoes in the whole building!
