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Published: February 17th 2012
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I came to a realization earlier this week that I had less than 2 weeks left in Shanghai. I'm excited about the next part of my trip, but it shocked me to think that I've been here for almost 2 months. I also realized that there was still a lot left that I had been planning to do, but hadn't got around to. Unfortunately, this realization occurred at the same time the b-school I'm on exchange at (CEIBS) kicked into high gear, so I have been trying to cram writing papers in with doing as much as I can in the city.
I finally got to the Shanghai Zoo on Thursday - Nori and I both desperately wanted to see some pandas (cliche, I know, but there's a reason its a cliche), but neither of us could get to Chengdu and do it properly (bad planning, I know, but the Philippines were calling!). So we woke up bright and early on Thursday morning and got to the zoo at 9 a.m. It turned out to be the perfect time to get there - it was not only feeding time, but also aerobics time.
Shanghai Zoo
is also a beautiful park space, and there were many older Shanghainese taking advantage of the space it provided. Not only did we see many a tai chi groups and badminton players, but also about 25 women dressed in red jackets doing an aerobics team. If only it had been playing "Single Ladies", my life would have been complete. Once we stopped taking pictures of the humans, we booked it to the panda section and cooed over the pandas as they had their breakfast for about 30 minutes. We probably could have sat there all day - it's almost creepy how human some of their mannerisms are. I am officially obsessed and probably will be for the rest of my life.
Now, after our panda lovefest, we strolled through the rest of the park. I have to admit I always regret going to zoos (but still always go to them). The more animals I see, the more incensed I get about their living conditions, and it becomes a downward cycle. Shanghai Zoo was no exception. I'm glad we successfully avoided the Family Pet Section (whenever we saw a sign pointing us in its direction, we went the
other way), but we didn't avoid the lions or the gorillas. The zoo had two silver back gorillas, which means that one had to be isolated from the rest of the troop. I got a stunning picture of him and you can see the pain and loneliness in his eyes - it broke my heart. It always baffles (translation from polite Canadian:
disgusts) me how the zoologists at a zoo can allow animals to be treated the way they are at some zoos. They (should) know better. Its cruel enough that their in the zoo, at least respect their needs for socialisation and stimulation.
OK, rant done. There will probably be more (I am spending two months in Borneo at an orang-utan conservatory, I get a little bit incensed sometimes when it comes to animals and their treatment).
So other highlights of the week include a second evening at the Century Room restaurant on a night with no clouds so the view was
amazing (this is a must do in Shanghai, better view than the Pearl Tower and the drinks cost the same as at most bars in the city), pictures on The Bund,
and exploring Yunnan Lu's many restaurants and street vendors (so yummy, although the jury is still out on if I'll regret it in the morning).
I've still got a million things I want to do in the city, and I refuse to accept I won't get the mall done. Next week I'm going to be going to a lot of markets I've been putting off, Donglin Temple, and taking a day to go to Zhujiajiao. Any other suggestions are more than welcome.
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Linda Frampton
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How come Charlie is in the zoo?
Gee, Charlie's relatives are all in the zoo. That panda eating vegetation looks remarkably like Charlie when he is munching on one of my plants. Great photos!