This morning I had the chance to visit the Chiang Mai Zoo with BoBoZaw (a young Church of God member from Burma) and Kathree (one of our Legacy Students, who happens to be a Karen from the refugee camps of Mae Hong Son province). It was fun for me because I had never been to that zoo before and because I am very fond of seeing animals. I even got the chance to take a few photos (hopefully some of them load on this entry as well). When we first got there the camera wouldn’t work, so I only got photos of the last half of the animal exhibits we saw.

Upon arrival we walked past the pretty fountain at the entrance and saw a lot of birds, including noisy parrots and macaws and white flamingoes that were fighting for food (which was amusing to see). We also saw a very lonely kangaroo that crawled around on four legs (something I had never seen before) and did not even hop around. I felt bad for the little guy. The emus were much more spirited, as we saw both dirty white baby emus and their gray adults, as well as some pretty cassowaries also. The cockatoos were nowhere to be found until the afternoon, and the lemurs were similarly elusive.

Since it was such a hot day, many of the animals were lazing about in the shade or taking a swim in the water, which was a smart move. It was only the humans like ourselves who were foolish enough to go hiking around the zoo (which is really sprawling and spread out and on very hilly terrain) by foot. Most of the primates in the “primate” area were macaques and rhesus monkeys, but they were pretty sweet, some of them taking care of their family members. After seeing these animals we went to an animal show, where some cute tapir and a recycling otter and some very clever macaws and cockateels (along with a few opportunistic pigeons looking for a handout) entertained the crowd.

The Chiang Mai zoo had elephants in at least three or four places that I saw. The first place was near the ancient ruins (which appeared to be some sort of wall, along with some votive statues—there appeared to be some sort of ancient heathen shrine in the area where the Chiang Mai zoo was built, probably because there is a high mountain, now called Doi Suthep, nearby. Heathen peoples tend to offer their pagan sacrifices to demons on every mountain and hilltop, and that would qualify as one.

After walking through these areas we went searching for penguins. We passed some barbary sheep and spent a little time next to some very cute asiatic black bears and some sun bears that looked like they wanted to escape confinement. Then we had a climb up the side of the mountain only to find out that the penguin exhibit was closed. Overall, I can’t say I was impressed with the quality of English among the staff at the zoo (I would have expected them to speak English a little better, but I imagine they weren’t too impressed with my knowledge of Thai—between the three of us there none of us knew Thai well at all, ironically enough).

After leaving the closed penguin exhibit and some elephant riding we passed by a pretty sweet-looking rhino, some friendly barking deer, some tree-climbing gibbons, some lazy but mostly alarmingly large crocodiles and caiman, some pretty sweet looking eagles, and a lot of small peafowl and peacocks (not the large kind one would expect), along with some bovine-looking animals that were not labeled (they were definitely cows of some kind and definitely not deer). I was intrigued by some of the deer that were omnivorous, as I had assumed that almost all deer were pretty strict herbivores. I wonder if those deer that were omnivorous would therefore be unclean based on their eating habits. It is something for the hunters among us to ponder.

I have been told that the Orangutan is a bit of a comedian, but today the weather was hot and dry and he was lazy, so there was no fake cigar chomping this time. After that came a long hike up and down and around the forest until we walked through the children’s zoo (it was air-conditioned!) and then went to see the Koalas. Sadly, the koala exhibit was not very large, but at least it had some information for those of us like myself that are fond of surly marsupials.

At this point we were all hungry for lunch, we walked down to the aquarium, but not inside (since, at 450 baht, or $15, it was a very overpriced aquarium by American standards, much less Thai ones). I was a bit disappointed with lunch as well. The service was extremely slow, and the krapow gai cost nearly twice as much and was not as good as the one I can get in my home village. That said, at least BoBoZaw, who has a good touch with technology, was able to get the camera to work so that I could take some photos of the second part of our trip at least.

After eating lunch we headed down past the clubhouse and snow dome and panda house (though we did not go inside) and then saw the big cats and some lazy camels. Kathree did not seem as interested in the big cats—tigers, lions, a leopard, and a really prowling jaguar—as BoBoZaw and I did. Perhaps it’s a guy thing. After we saw the big cats we walked past a 7-11 (Inside the zoo! They are everywhere in Thailand), some pony riding, and then past some elephants. Kathree seemed a bit shy, but BoBoZaw and I had no problem petting the cute little baby elephant after we had passed by a cute pygmy hippo, some bathing behemoths (i.e. hippos) and some blazing fast foxes who were impossible for me to photograph. After that we left.

If I go back to the Chiang Mai zoo I would like to visit a few of the things that I missed—like the Snow Dome (perhaps), the Adventure Park (definitely), the penguin exhibit, the seal show, and the tapir, serow, boar, and spotted hyene that were along the southern end of the zoo. I also would want to try a different restaurant, namely the clubhouse, in the hope of better food and faster service. Other than that, though, it was a pretty fun trip for all of us, even for Kathree, it seemed, who was thankful for the experience even if she seemed a bit shy of the animals.