I wish I would just stay home one day and not have any great stories to share, then I wouldn't have to blog. But, alas, today we went to the zoo. First of all it's called a zoological park here, not just a zoo. That was made known to me. Secondly, you can drive a car through it, so I should have known that it was going to be more of a walk than Zoo Boise. Oh, my goodness, was it a walk! An hour into our zoo experience, we found a "you are here" map of the whole facility. The kids were freaking out because we missed the zebras and the jaguar and, and, and...but then we realized we hadn't even gotten to those areas yet. As a matter of fact, we weren't even half way around the zoological park!
Let me start at the beginning, though. Evidently we came in the back entrance, which made it look like there was nothing to be seen. We head for the crocodiles...yep, there were crocodiles, lizards, turtles, snakes. None of which are in aquariums, they are all in open areas, fenced off. Then we got to the king cobras. There was a zoo worker there telling me to get my camera out to take pictures. Ok, so I take my camera out and take pictures of these snakes that are actually enclosed in a caged off area...this is what I got:
Yeah, so I thought..."thanks for the cool picture of snakes". But then the worker proceeds to climb through the gated area, pulls a long metal stick from a tree and goes and opens the cage to tick off the cobras so I can get a really cool picture of them. Then, this is what I got!
I think we counted a total of 14 cobras in the cage and they were not happy. After he shut the cage door the one you see above struck at the door...ok, boys, time to move on!
This zoo was pretty cool, there were lots of fun animals to see, such as:
There is no question that we saw some fun animals...but about half way around the zoo the kids were getting hot and tired. We left our water bottle in the car because the sign at the entrance said no plastic bottles, so I obeyed. We're walking and walking and we spot this little shack selling drinks. Of course we stop to get a drink, so I ask for a bottle of water. (Here the bottled waters are typically sold in 1 liter bottles for about 20-30 rupees.) I ask the guy how much and he tells me 70 rupees. My first thought is, that's how much it cost you to get into the zoo AND pay for parking. My second thought is, if I tell him no, he'll say something like, ok 50 rupees. So I said no and walked away. There was no bargaining. The kids were so irritated they didn't get a drink, I was irritated they were going to charge me 70 rupees, and besides, we were right by the exit and we had water in the car. Once again comes the "mother of the year award" as we keep walking and walking towards the entrance, Brayden says to me, "Mom, that's not the entrance we came in." Oh, so evidently there are 2 entrances and we're only half way around the zoo. But I was still ticked off they were going to charge me the same price as the entrance fee. But then it dawned on me that 70 rupees is equal to about $1.25. By this time we were too far away to go back and so, once again I failed my children.
One of the highlights of the zoo animals was the elephant. Conor has wanted to ride an elephant so bad over here and I think that might be possible when we get to Bangalore on our way out of the country, but for now, the zoo will have to do. By now everyone is aware that we are quite the tourist attraction ourselves with our fair skin and light hair. But today marked a new high. So we're on our way to the elephant exhibit when this man pushes his daughter in front of the kids that were all standing together and tells ME to take a picture. Ok, I guess. So I did...
Kinda weird, he never took his own picture, but was pretty insistent that I took one. Maybe somewhere out there someone will happen across this blog and she'll become an overnight Indian sensation! Good luck with that!
We keep walking and walking and walking and see a sign that points to the exit, so we know we're close. Remember at the beginning of the blog I mentioned you could drive your car, well they also had rickshaws that you could pay to have them take you around or you could ride in something that would be equivalent to a golf cart, but with 4 rows of seats. Anyway, they zip along through these little zoo roads because there is nobody else on them. We're walking and walking and hear this cart come up behind us because it's coming pretty fast when all of a sudden it slows down, down, down to a crawl and is barely moving along. We look up and see the entire cart full, everyone with their cameras out snapping pictures left and right. Brayden and I looked at each other and laughed. I guess the white people are just as much as an attraction as the animals.
Here are a couple other noteworthy pictures...A special shout out to Scheri Marrow who asked me last night if there were any super big bugs here...didn't see any until today. Thanks, again!
Also, this chameleon was just wandering on the side of a pathway...Heather Rodin, I picked him up for you!
I can't get the rest of my photos from the beach uploaded, so I'll finish the rest tomorrow. But I will leave posing a question for you...what animals do you think you can find at the beach in India? (My kids are not the answer), I am curious what animals YOU think we have already seen...leave a comment or facebook me your answers! Good night (or morning!)
Let me start at the beginning, though. Evidently we came in the back entrance, which made it look like there was nothing to be seen. We head for the crocodiles...yep, there were crocodiles, lizards, turtles, snakes. None of which are in aquariums, they are all in open areas, fenced off. Then we got to the king cobras. There was a zoo worker there telling me to get my camera out to take pictures. Ok, so I take my camera out and take pictures of these snakes that are actually enclosed in a caged off area...this is what I got:
Yeah, so I thought..."thanks for the cool picture of snakes". But then the worker proceeds to climb through the gated area, pulls a long metal stick from a tree and goes and opens the cage to tick off the cobras so I can get a really cool picture of them. Then, this is what I got!
I think we counted a total of 14 cobras in the cage and they were not happy. After he shut the cage door the one you see above struck at the door...ok, boys, time to move on!
This zoo was pretty cool, there were lots of fun animals to see, such as:
 |
| Lions |
 |
| White Tiger |
 | |||
| Bears |
Oh, my!
Ok, but really, we saw hippos, monkeys that actually moved (unlike the Zoo Boise monkeys that rarely move around) all kinds of cool birds, wild dogs. Speaking of wild dogs, I thought we saw those all over the streets, but evidently there is a difference between wild dogs and stray dogs. The wild dog resembles a fox.
 |
| hippo |
 | ||
| Mommy monkey with her baby under her belly |
There is no question that we saw some fun animals...but about half way around the zoo the kids were getting hot and tired. We left our water bottle in the car because the sign at the entrance said no plastic bottles, so I obeyed. We're walking and walking and we spot this little shack selling drinks. Of course we stop to get a drink, so I ask for a bottle of water. (Here the bottled waters are typically sold in 1 liter bottles for about 20-30 rupees.) I ask the guy how much and he tells me 70 rupees. My first thought is, that's how much it cost you to get into the zoo AND pay for parking. My second thought is, if I tell him no, he'll say something like, ok 50 rupees. So I said no and walked away. There was no bargaining. The kids were so irritated they didn't get a drink, I was irritated they were going to charge me 70 rupees, and besides, we were right by the exit and we had water in the car. Once again comes the "mother of the year award" as we keep walking and walking towards the entrance, Brayden says to me, "Mom, that's not the entrance we came in." Oh, so evidently there are 2 entrances and we're only half way around the zoo. But I was still ticked off they were going to charge me the same price as the entrance fee. But then it dawned on me that 70 rupees is equal to about $1.25. By this time we were too far away to go back and so, once again I failed my children.
One of the highlights of the zoo animals was the elephant. Conor has wanted to ride an elephant so bad over here and I think that might be possible when we get to Bangalore on our way out of the country, but for now, the zoo will have to do. By now everyone is aware that we are quite the tourist attraction ourselves with our fair skin and light hair. But today marked a new high. So we're on our way to the elephant exhibit when this man pushes his daughter in front of the kids that were all standing together and tells ME to take a picture. Ok, I guess. So I did...
We keep walking and walking and walking and see a sign that points to the exit, so we know we're close. Remember at the beginning of the blog I mentioned you could drive your car, well they also had rickshaws that you could pay to have them take you around or you could ride in something that would be equivalent to a golf cart, but with 4 rows of seats. Anyway, they zip along through these little zoo roads because there is nobody else on them. We're walking and walking and hear this cart come up behind us because it's coming pretty fast when all of a sudden it slows down, down, down to a crawl and is barely moving along. We look up and see the entire cart full, everyone with their cameras out snapping pictures left and right. Brayden and I looked at each other and laughed. I guess the white people are just as much as an attraction as the animals.
Here are a couple other noteworthy pictures...A special shout out to Scheri Marrow who asked me last night if there were any super big bugs here...didn't see any until today. Thanks, again!
Also, this chameleon was just wandering on the side of a pathway...Heather Rodin, I picked him up for you!
I can't get the rest of my photos from the beach uploaded, so I'll finish the rest tomorrow. But I will leave posing a question for you...what animals do you think you can find at the beach in India? (My kids are not the answer), I am curious what animals YOU think we have already seen...leave a comment or facebook me your answers! Good night (or morning!)
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