Chiang Mai Zoo!!!!!!

This was one of the best days of my life. I'm serious, so much fun.
My newest roommate - Clair - and I went to Chiang Mai on Thursday and came back on Saturday. We stayed at the Amari hotel which was lovelylovelylovely. This is the day we went to the Zoo.
I gave my other roommate Daniel the photos and videos of the pandas and monkeys! But accidentally cut them onto his memory stick instead of pasting. So I've asked him to send them back to me :( I really hope he can. They were the best parts of the Zoo.
Except for one......

This is the tuk tuk ride to the Zoo. When the driver saw us coming he spat out his rice into his hand then put it on the little shelf. Can you see the rice? The next day when we were leaving Chiang Mai, the rice was still there....

When we got to the zoo, we got the tram car up to the African animals. The first animal we saw was the Camel! Can you see the one lying on the ground? No, it's not dead mother.

Me and the Camel.

The amazing thing about this Zoo (I was in awe of this for the first 3 hours) is that there are very few fences and glass enclosures. For example, the Lions enclosure......

The stone behind me is a 6 metre drop into water and the gap between us and the lions is around 3 metres - insane.

Simba.

Shere Khan.

I don't like birds but this one was prettyish.

Before we went into the Panda exhibit we had to...

The baby panda, Lin Ping, can only be seen between 8.30 and 9.30am. Thailand is insanely crazy about this baby panda. Everyone talks about her, I've had so many conversations about her. They even have a Panda channel on the tv, just the baby panda 24/7. Famous baby panda. So you can only watch the baby on the screen. The mother is out in the enclosure.

I have a lot more to tell you about the Pandas, but I really should have photos and videos to back it up. I'll tell you when I get my evidence back!

This is the Ostrich. It has something hanging out its bum..

They were strangely fascinating. We just sat for a long time on a bench staring at the Ostriches. I loved how they kept dipping their heads, their entire bodies would stay still and their neck would lower their head to the ground.

Then we went to the Giraffes. The Ostriches, Zebras, Donkey and Giraffes were all in the same enclosure. There was a small bridge that went into the enclosure and we stood on it and some people fed the Giraffes.

This is one of the Giraffes after it stopped peeing (you can see the puddle - they pee for about 3 minutes non stop). Afterwards, the other Giraffe licked it clean............................!!!!

Ostrich with baby egg.

A man feeding the Giraffe.

Ostrich, Giraffe and Zebra all in the same photo.

Donkey.

Zebra, I really like this photo because you can see its reflection in the water.

Then we saw this Elephant. It was kept in a tiny little box and you could pay to feed him bamboo. But every 10 minutes the tram cars stopped infront of his enclosure and people fed him bamboo, all day every day. Next to the elephant 'enclosure' they were selling ivory jewellery, horrible.

These were horrible animals, I hated them. They're like huge rats. They were swimming in this little pool filled with their own poo! Disgusting.

Then we stopped for a break. Clair and I sat opposite each other and a Pigmy hippo sat behind me. I called my mum so gush about my Panda experience.

Then we went to see the Hippos. A lot of monks walked past and I felt the need to take a photo of them climbing the winding stairs.

So funny! They kept flickering their ears.

Rahhhhhhr!

Louise - Hippos - Clair.

The Tortoise and the Hare.

(in the same enclosure).

Lots and lots of Bambi's.

Eating pumpkin!

Waterfall and I.

Weirdo bird, I don't like birds...or fish.

This would be the monkey part, but Daniel has all my footage! I neeeeeeeed to get it back as I cannot bear to live without my dear monkeys.

After the monkeys had gone, one of the zoo keepers noticed we were sad. He pointed to another enclosure and motioned for us to follow.

Clair walking into the Staff only.

GUESS what enclosure he took us to..................

YES....the leopards.

We walked inside and on our left was a gate to an enclosure. Baby Borneaen Clouded Leopards. Look at how HUGE their tails are. The zoo keeper went in the big enclosure through another gate which was kind of like a holding area. Then he started playing around with them.

Then he took one into the holding area room and told us to come inside!

Clair went in but I stayed outside as I was practically screaming with fear. It got so excited and jumped up on Clair, digging its claws into her. Apparently that didn't hurt...

I didn't want to miss out to I went in, I'll quote myself talking to the leopard "Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me!!!!"

He was so insane when I walked into the cage, the keeper had to hold him back. He was just like an over excited dog, jumping up on you and running around. But these things have much more strength than a normal dog, even though they are babies.

Every time they got too excited, the guy would hit them on the nose!!! Like a dog or cat or something. Who does that to a Leopard!!?

Apparently his paws were soft.

He lay down on the floor and I shhhhh'd him so keep him calm. THEN I TOUCHED HIM!!

Then he started licking the zoo keeper.

Then he started licking me! I thought he was gonna eat my arm.

Then we left that cage. We said Kop kun ma ka! Thank you so much! He didn't speak any English and we cat speak any Thai. Then he walked over to another cage that we hadn't even noticed before! Right beside the babies one.

Two FULL sized Leopards and a Black Jaguar/Panther/Leopard.

The Panther was vicious, look at its face!

It went into the holding part of the enclosure which was slightly behind us and to the left. So when we were looking into the big enclosure, we didn't realise that it was staring at us from behind.

Then Clair went to look at him and I told her I'd take a picture. I made her go down so that she was right beside the Panther (I'm such a good friend).

I would just like you to take in how rusty and worn this gate is, look at how tiny the only lock is. Keep this in mind when you watch the video of this Panther slamming itself into this rusty old gate.

The guy kept poking and stroking and tapping the leopards on the nose when they did something naughty. Insane...

Clair stroking the Leopard.

Louise and Leopard.

Look at his glare. Just imagine if that tiny wee gate wasn't there. Hello breakfast!

Now enjoy the first videos I've ever put on the blog. I felt like you needed to watch these to even understand how insane this all was.

Nighty night. When Daniel sends everything else I'll post another Zoo blog. Monkeys and Pandas!

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