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Published: March 19th 2012
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Luoyang Zoo
Front of the zoo entrance. The Chinese Grandfather works at the zoo. Today we are in for a treat because he is taking us for a VIP tour. Before we leave, I successfully heat up some dumplings from a previous meal he cooked for us and made the dumpling sauce myself (it was /ok/ ). After a short cab ride, we arrive to meet the Chinese Grandfather and his girlfriend. Neither of them speak English so it’s going to be a day of pointing, hand signs and smiles.
The zoo is actually also an amusement park but more importantly, it is the epicenter of the wildly popular Peony Festival held annually. The whole city is busy preparing for the onslaught of tourists. The zoo has already created some large sculptures of dragons and peonies that are several stories high. There are rows and rows and rows of peony stalks with little leaf buds.
Before we see any animals, we climb up a huge metal structure and I have no idea why or what we are doing. None of the other park visitors are climbing this structure so it must be the first of many VIP activities. It turns out we are about to zip
Breakfast
Leftover dumplings but I made the sauce myself! line across the park. Oh boy, here's another first for me. Although it’s not documented with a picture, I swear I did it.
We then traverse through some regular zoo paths with the other patrons. It’s not long before we are whisked back behind the walls for another interesting activity. Ostriches peek over the fence while we watch a zookeeper preparing raw meats for the animals. Suddenly a man dressed in army fatigues and a perpetual cigarette comes out with a large baby tiger. This furry guy is not interested in any tourists and has to be wrangled several times to stay in place for us to 'hold' him and get a picture. He wasn't clean either and so the Chinese Grandfather quickly shuttled us to wash our hands after touching the tiger. The man in the army fatigues and perpetual cigarette is spotted several times around the park after that encounter but is also on the Luoyang Zoo web site where they announced last year of the three baby tigers' arrival.
Next is a covered garden with some live, blooming peonies, trickling waters and caged birds. Entering a tent structure we see many wooden roots on display.
Luoyang Zoo
Front of the zoo entrance. They are in the shape of anything recognizable. Not sure if the roots were found looking like these shapes or if they had some help. The next tent has fascinating stones with interesting shapes and surface patterns.
After that more mild part of our tour, we return back to the VIP treatment. This time it's a chimp that is very friendly. Julie holds him first. He is affectionate and gives her a big hug. Once she puts him down, he starts to groom her clothes taking off bits of lint, etc. I hold him next and he gives me just as an affectionate hug. Then instead of grooming my clothes, he takes a look at my nails and starts tugging and pinching my fingers. Is it my cuticles? I don't know but I jerked my hand away quickly before it got worse.
Hand feeding elephants is next. This activity doesn't seem as VIP since some other folks have paid for a bowl of carrots to get close up too. The elephants are gentle and politely take the carrots one at a time from your hand. Giraffes are just in the next area and we feed them carrots too
Luoyang Zoo
Getting ready for the peony festival. in the same manner. The giraffes are just as gentle. I think feeding elephants is something I did as a child at the Pittsburgh Zoo but I have never fed a giraffe.
Chinese Grandfather finally takes us over to the amusement park area. Julie and I have a unanimous answer of 'no' when he points to the rides but somehow he gets us on the swinging pirate ship anyway. Where's my motion sickness medicine when I need it?!?
After a fun visit to the zoo, we duck into a cab in search for food. Chinese Grandfather is choosy about the restaurant he picks. We get out of the cab and almost go into one, but he goes first to check it out. This one is no good and we hail another cab to move along on the search. The next place he finds is found to be is acceptable. He orders food for the table and gets us our American sodas. This is the first food that we recognize from the states. A dish of sweet and sour chicken (although it's been argued that it was pork) was easy to recognize. The taste was much less sweet than
Luoyang Zoo
Main promenade. we get in states. The next dish was Kung Pao pork that was also much better than the states. We couldn't put a finger on exactly what was different. Then some amazing meat-filled, steamed dumpling arrived that had soup inside. We each get a tray. Last was a pork and green pepper dish that is probably on a menu somewhere in the USA but we weren't quite sure what the equivalent would be.
Our daily injection of baby visit was next in order where we spent several hours oohing and aahing. Chinese Grandfather cooked us dinner that is always fantastic. It seems he used to own a restaurant and it shows. And for everyone who has been saying they want to see Chinese Grandfather, I finally get a great picture of him holding the baby. Yes he looks happy like this most of the time.
Tomorrow we go to White Horse Temple.
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Maya
non-member comment
OMG that is so cool! Love it!