When: May 2, 2007.Tour Speed: Ultra-insane-super-fast-forward
Thoughts for the day: 1) I'm not a fan of zoos or pet stores in Asia, 2) Why do we have to push?
The Beijing Zoo
I was scared of the Beijing Zoo. First LP writes, 'All zoos are animal prisons, but Beijing Zoo seems like death row.' [Yeah, like I wanted to go now...] Then, when we arrived at the zoo, we had to run across the highway of death (the van could only stop for a second in traffic), avoid the vomit and other substances on the ground and try to get away from the terrifying woman who randomly tried to join our tour in order to get into the zoo.
Luckily, we only went to see the pandas. They supposedly have the plush, greenery-filled compounds because they are the most popular. The other animals are kept in small concrete cages. It was still depressing because they were housed separately and all appeared to be sitting in their own filth near the barred doors.
I can't describe how busy it was. People were crushing each other trying to get closer. At one point I thought my ribs were going to be broken against a metal railing. I took a few pictures and then elbowed my way out. I had had enough.
When I saw this little guy (above) sitting and looking so sad (I know, can pandas look sad? This one definitely did) I felt like crying. What was I doing here?
A very sad place. If you're in Beijing, don't go.
The Summer Palace
Miyuki, Eri and Shinobu at the entrance to the Summer Palace. You can see the 5-1 (May 1) in the background. The May labour holidays meant the place was packed with tourists.
The summer palace was the summer retreat of all the royalty who usually resided in the Forbidden City. It is huge and consists of palace temples, gardens, pavilions and corridors.
The rich know how to live.
There were so many people here. The worst was when we had to go through a gate. Instead of splitting it in half and having one side going in and the other going out, everyone (from both sides) just walked at the door and tried to squish their way through.
Oh no! Where's our guide??
The Long Corridor - Inside it was covered with paintings and surprisingly cool. If I had been a royal, I would have hung out here.
After the Summer Palace, we hopped back into the van for the final time and headed to the airport. There, our guide dropped us off and then promptly disappeared. We went through security, where almost all of us were stopped for carrying some kind of liquids. My tiny inkan stamp pad set the alarm off. Eri's lipstick was considered a liquid. Crazy strict.
The plane was delayed. boo.
Goodbye China!
Hello Japan! I'm back!
I was eager to get home because I had two special people arriving at Kanayama station that night! But that's a story for the next post...
1 comment:
Note to self: never go to any zoos other than the one in Toronto. And possibly the one in London, because there's always the possibility we might run across a talking snake there! Tony is always jabbering on about the Nashville zoo, but I know it won't be anywhere near as good as the one in Toronto. I'm sorry your trip involved you having to see sad pandas. They can be tired yes (see: tare panda), but never sad!
I get the sense that you were a bit relieved to be getting back to Japan. It probably feels a lot like home now, doesn't it? It's crazy how quickly that can happen... although you have been there a year! I can't wait to read about your next set of adventures (and I'm really excited to read more about Taipei).
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