Taiping Zoo..

We thought we'd bring a little fun to learning about the animal world... hence the main destination for this trip was the zoo. Flemington Hotel is ideal cos it's really near. You can walk to the zoo! The view is great cos you see the whole lake garden when you wake up in the morning... 8)

At RM128 with two buffet breakfasts thrown in, it is reasonable. And this hotel food actually tastes quite 'hawkerish'. Simple food but tasty. For our gal, we had to pay an extra RM6.90. Compare this to Ritz Garden in Ipoh which we stayed in 2 weeks ago on our way to Cameron Highlands at RM125, also with 2 breakfasts thrown in, Flemington's a better deal.

Then it was off to the Zoo. We were the first at the entrance I think. And this greeted us soon after we started our walk... bathed in the rays of the sun.

This fler's family member was a recent star in the recent attempts to stir up emotions... poor animals...cow and wild boar. Man tussle for influence and they get caught in between. As though being slaughtered for food is not enough...

We were trying to encourage our gal learn and remember the names of the animals and their parts. Good thing there are books and electronic dictionaries which read for you. 8) Other Half even downloaded the animals and their sounds to his Ipod, which our gal had fun listening to the night before. I think my own Mandarin vocab has probably gone up a tiny bit. LOL! Talk about educational tour.

Because we were early, we are able to catch the feeding time. These 'hei xing-xing' (black chimpanzees) get imported fruits as food twice a day! Grapes, oranges, pineapples, bananas, watermelon, carrots... the poor humans don't even eat so well! There was this old chimpanzee which would ask fruits to be thrown to him. Others would just pick it up from the ground. But we noticed that grapes were a favourite. LOL! Even chimpanzees know how to tell the good stuff!

And as we we were about to exit, we notice a big group of foreign workers (could be Vietnamese or Nepalese) and they were so animated and excited just to be in the zoo. Could be their day off and they decided to have a trip to the zoo. Anyway, Daughter wanted to go on the 'train'. She finds it fun... 8) Kids, they're easily excitable.

And got another round of tour.... and discovered that we had covered all the grounds on foot. But the zoo guide was rather boring... he kept saying "Di sebelah kanan ialah ...., di sebelah kiri ialah...." the whole trip. There were no explanations. Would have been nice... At the Night Safari in Singapore, the zoo guide gave a very good description of the animals....

Generally worth a visit... not just to bring the kids. It's also nice for us the adults to be awed and reminded of God's other creations which He has given us dominion over. And the beauty (be it raw or refined) that each of these creatures (and plants too) possess... A keeper also told us the slow loris which he was cajoling to eat a banana used to be someone's pet. But because the owner had no license, it was sent to the zoo. The loris was really cute. His 'owner' still visits him once a month at the zoo!

And this... This is still the time... and it'll run out soon, when our gal will turn to us and ask us over the littlest thing that catches her attention and accept in totality what we tell her, share all her world with us... no holds barred. This is still the time when her papa and mummy know everything.... This is reason enough for our spate of cuti-cuti, jalan-jalan.

It was nice to be able to walk around. But be careful at the children's playground as the mats are slippery.... the authorities should look into replacing them. My lil one slipped and fell; burst into tears. Overall, kudos to the Zoo Director and his team...