Day 36: Foot Cramps 4.0

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Guess what? We went to the zoo again. Yaaaaaaaaaay.



Now this was a bit different because it wasn’t simply to please Meg (that was just a bonus.) We came to see pandas. I’d never seen a panda before other than with David Attenborough narrating ones eating habits through the TV, so this was special. We walked form our hotel, which was a 6k walk there. When we got there we realised that the zoo was substantially bigger than we thought. Whereas Delhi and Dusit Zoos had operated on an almost one way basis on flat land, this was on the side of a large steep hill, and had multiple roads going in multiple directions. There was a monorail (monorail… monorail…) but we simply are not those sort of people. The pricing situation was unusual. It was 150 baht to simply enter the zoo, and see all the animals. To go to the aquarium it was a further 270 baht, and to see the pandas a further 100 on top. We decided to see the pandas over the fish (sorry fish).



Upon entry you are immediately greeted by a more interactive experience. You can donate coins in exchange for food to feed certain animals, a particular highlight being to feed the giraffes. The climate again lead to the animals seeming more active and happy inside their enclosures, except for the Tiger who looked particularly pacey. The panda section is halfway up the hill, almost as a reward for your endeavours thus far. After walking through a storyboard detailing the pandas arrival you enter a small pavilion, separated from the bears by a small platform. They were doing what pandas do best. Sat in a ‘Winnie The Pooh with a honey pot’ (Or Joe McMahon with a takeaway) style look, munching their way through bamboo. Standard.



Other highlights included turtle world (30 species of turtle, heaven knows why) and an eerie walk down an unused, derelict part of the zoo, where the monorail had been abandoned. It was almost reminiscent of the scene in Jurassic world where the kids find the old lobby. You know the one.



This took up the majority of our day, especially with the walk back. By the time we got back (after stopping in a dog café, which cost 5 pound to enter and have a drink, but meg got to stroke dogs for half an hour so money was not an object here) it was half 5 and after a brief relax we again headed out to go to Chiang Mai Market.



About half a kilometre outside of the Old Town Walls we found the beginning of the market, holding a large food court with various round the world treats. We had burritos (still not ready for noodles yet) and began to traverse the winding streets. I came here once on a school trip when I was 14 and I can fully understand why teachers that take you to these places are very much on the ball. If we weren’t walking directly down the main road, we were very much lost in the labyrinth of stalls. Insane prices, even for tat. After a couple of hours of wandering aimlessly, too cowardly to attempt to haggle prices, we decided to call it a night and headed home. On our way home we realised that we were very close, incredibly close, to breaking our previous record, set in Ella all the way back in our second week. Sadly though, we just missed out by the time we got back home.



Just kidding.



We were 100 steps short so walked to the end of the street and back, just to be safe. Hooraaaaaaay!



Steps: 36,811 (NEW RECORD)



Tip: if you’re elderly or unfit avoid Chiang Mai Zoo

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