San Diego Zoo

The last and final post on my 3 day trip to San Diego during the 4th of July hols.

Visited the world famous San Diego Zoo...

...and found it somewhat disappointing and overrated. Could be because I've been to so many zoos around the world that nothing is new anymore unless its a dinosaur.

There are two parts to the Zoo. The normal behind cages zoo and the wild experience up close and personal safari park. Went to the former coz its cheaper *shrugs* If you're a Californian, you can always buy the annual pass as each pass gives you a guest pass and a bunch of coupons you can use on the spot so you save money if you have a family.

Layout of the place. Click here for the larger version.

First animal you're greeted with upon entering. Tons and tons of pink flamingos everywhere.

Something to educate yourself with.

I honestly never knew that baby flamingos were ugly gray little things when young either. I always thought that was specially reserved for swans.

Went down the monkey path coz it leads into the hippo exhibit and ok I think I'd never seen a hippo before so that's new.

Monkeys. I forgot the species name.

The I-got-wite-out-on-my-nose monkey. I am so bad with this post because really, there isn't much to say.

Like 'oh, pretty waterfall!' bah. tbh, this was the least memorable trip out of the entire 3 days. Prolly coz I was tired after having spent the morning wandering around Balboa Park and wanted nothing better to do but to rest :\

Ok so got story to this pic! Well, not us but the slope we are standing on! While my mom was taking this pic, we suddenly heard a baby's loud cry and saw that a baby has slipped right out of the stroller onto the rough pavement of the slope. Apparently, the mom didn't have the sense to buckle the baby in -__- Nor did she see the many signs with huge red crosses around pictures of strollers and wheelchairs and the likes warning them not to take the slope =___= Poor baby.

Anywhooo, finally arrived at the hippo exhibit!

Crazy huge creatures they are. haha this pic so reminds me of the honking mantee vid XD

With effing scary teeth dentists' nightmares are made of ok, no wonder people say that hippos are one of the most vicious animals ever. And really, they are. Your chances of survival are prolly lower than that of a croc attack maybe.

So what do hippos eat? Fibrous stuff like alfalfa something if my memory serves me right. Which explains why the water is filled with grass like debris as their waste are like clumps of hay stuck together with mud which slowly disintegrates as it floats. I would know coz I saw it happen right in front of me ah.

Dang it all I want an Okapi. Is that the coolest thing ever or what! It's like a zebra, deer and horse all rolled into one.

With an anteater's tongue again! Wiki says that although it bears close resemblance to a zebra, it is more closely related to the giraffe instead. Huh. I don't see how. Cept the ears maybe.

Random bird pic so you know that there is a huge aviary there. Only I have zero interest in birds and cages does not make for nice pictures.

Sun-wu Kong! Was waiting in line to see the Giant Panda, which was a crazy loooong line btw, when he wandered by and I made my sis got out of line to take a pic. I never liked Journey to the West much until Saiyuki the anime. Man, that anime was awesome. Sanzo ♥

Anyways,

GYUUUUH I WANT A PANDA!!!!!!111 So cute! So unbearably, adorably cuuuute! It's like this huge fluffy fluffy thing that does nothing but eats bamboo. Cutely. WANT WANT WANT! My pet!

We were like the only asian family waiting in line to see it and I bet people were giving us weird stares like 'don't you guys have panda bears in china wteff' but I'm not from China! And neither do I remember seeing pandas during my visit there.

SO CUTE!

btw, there is only ONE panda so like the whole process took only 1 min. As opposed to the 15-20 mins wait. I was very tempted to go down the line of people waiting outside shouting 'it's only ONE bear so don't get your hopes up! Give up while you can' lols.

$20 a pic. I don't really like pictures like these because the flash is bright which doesn't sit well with our sunscreen and spf makeup. But whatever. It goes towards that cute panda ♥

HAHA the purses beside him makes his pose looks more feminine than it is XD

My pennies, now a souvenir. So America has lots of this penny transformation thingy machine where you insert a penny AND 50 cents (totally losing money here) into the machine and after selecting the design you want, you get that. I personally thought it was cute but 4th sis was all 'so are those two now useless pennies worth your $1?'

Hmph.

Guess which exhibit we visited next!

So after hours of wandering around in the scorching sun, the Polar Rim sounded like heaven to my ears. Because just the name alone brings about visions of snow, ice, AC turned up to the max and everything cold. A welcomed reprieve to the unforgiving summer heat.

See, even the displays/monuments/playthings near the exhibit gives off an enticing vibe of the lovely anticipated cold you'd soon embrace.

So imagine my utter disappointment when I was met with this. *cue shattered vision* Snow. Where is it?! Polar rim, y u no cool arctic air too?! Sorry but I was very very miffed at this point. Also, just where is my polar bear?!

Oh look, there he is. Half dead from the heat. Poor thing. Which brings me to my next point on why this zoo wasn't so enjoyable. I'll tell you why. It's cause almost half the zoo's animals were hiding away from the heat in their caves and stuff aldjadjadas grrr I want half my money back.

An example of a normal human meal...

...as compared to that of a polar bear.

Taken for the sole reason it's my birth year and nothing else. I am wu liao just like that.

But enough of the deceiving Polar Rim already *bitter* So disappointed we were that we spent the next hour just sitting on the bench outside the exhibit staring into nothing while sipping water. True story.

Here, have a slew of African animals piccies:

Ok idk if they are from Africa or not but they look like something you'll see there so lets pretend they all are.

Marty!

Now you know

In order to cheer dispirited selves up, we decided to go for the sky safari which is free unless you're a guest to which its $4 for you. You can either watch the video here:

Or just view the some of the pics here:

My mom: "where are the animals?" Indeed. Beats me.

So was it worth $4? No. The ones in Thailand and SG were much more fun. So unless its included as free in your tickets, don't bother.

Operation cheer self up: Fail.

A few pics of the place coz I realized halfway that I forgot to take any, being way too focused on it being a zoo alone.

The only time we ever ate at theme parks was Disneyland. So no, I can't tell you if the food was good.

Besides the exhibits, the zoo also had various programs and shows running the entire day. But we didn't have time for those :C

So anyways, after the fail sky safari idea, a staff member encouraged us to take the Guided Tour since it was our first time and all. It's free for 1 day pass holders but $8 for everyone else including annual pass holders. A scam imo.

It's a double-decker bus (got the top! and each selfishly took a window seat cept the parents so other families had to split up too hurhur) that takes you around the entire zoo while the driver gives commentaries on the place.

As usual, you can either watch the video, which has more animals, here:

Or just settle for pics of a selected few here:

Being an elephant must be fun. You get this huuuuuuge area all to yourself. Plus you get your very own hospital much like Kaiser.

My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps.

What I'm called after by some back in high school. Which makes no sense really coz its long legs I have, not neck.

Ok so this was obviously taken after the tour. They really are freakishly tall. Something you can't gauge when you're in the bus.

Looking and feeling utterly exhausted after more than 7 hours of walking.

Koalas chill with the Aussies, but I know you wanna be Canadian~♪

Obviously those Canadians have not met a Koala because ALDJALDJALDA I CAN HAZ KOALA AS PET TOO YES? *__* It's totally my 2nd most wanted pet. No one can beat the cuteness that is Panda, although the Koala comes reaaally close :3 I'm wondering how difficult would it be for me to steal one when I go to Australia.

Say hello to Timon! Or his cousin. Can't remember his exact species.

Ok swear I never knew rhinos has like plated armors as skin. It looks removable really! Somehow I always thought their skin were one piece like hippos. Shows just how unobservant I am.

Stayed to watch some shows after the tour. Those performers are the Steam Powered Giraffe. I only figured that out at the end after they introduced themselves once again for all the while I kept thinking that 'steam powered giraffe' referred to a giant tin robot giraffe powered by steam and kept waiting eagerly for its appearance. My mind, it's works in weird ways :|

The zoo closed with a procession of all the performers of the day down main street before having each perform simultaneously at different locations. We chose to see the Lion Dance which was totally unimpressive imo. And they were Chinese again. Heck, even the malays in Malaysia does it 100 times better. Pffft.

Anywho, shall end this post with a video version of this post, minus the other two videos up there, where you can see the animals in action and the closing ceremony:

Took me forever to edit and only did so coz I bu she de wanna throw it away but didn't want to see 938131 files sitting in my folder. Will never take videos ever again.