Beijing Wildlife Park: Zoo, Circus AND Safari! (Most memorable birthday EVER:)

Been a long time. Sorry.

So, this year my birthday conveniently fell on the Chinese Holiday, Tomb Sweeping Day (yes, they go and clean off the tombs of dead relatives). Which means that Lars, and the rest of China, didn't have to go in to work. Yay!

Lars has some AMAZING Chinese friends who invited us to go with them to the Beijing Wildlife Park in one of the southern suburbs of Beijing. Thank you Nora, Widen and Tori!

"Jurassic Park" like entrance

We really had no idea what to expect so we prepared to be underwhelmed. (We'd heard some disturbing things about the Beijing Zoo and were not looking forward to that likelihood.)

Um, okay. Pretty scenery...

So, we first come upon a pigeon feeding area. You go in, feed the pigeons, stomp on the pigeons, scare the pigeons to death. The usual.

...Or are they doves...?

Very underwhelming to say the least so onto the next adventure. Which is the Monkey cages.

Thanks for the reminder:)

This was pretty neat. There's a glass tunnel through the monkey cage and let me tell you these monkeys are way more energetic than I remember them being in American zoos. Swinging, frolicking, jumping all over! I was quite captured by all the baby monkeys. So cute hanging on to their mothers:) So I start to take a video...

VIDEO

...I had forgotten what the other thing monkeys are known for, and it wasn't flinging poo. (How embarrassing.)

This guy's just chillin'

This guy was my favorite! 

This chimp had so much spunk and character! When we first came upon him he was beating the crap out of the yellow playground equipment. I'm surprised it's still in one piece. But it's a love/hate relationship because he seemed to enjoy swinging around and around and around...

 VIDEO

But the best part was when he noticed some girl leaning on his enclosure. He ran full speed at her and jumped off the wall right where she had been leaning! And since she had gotten away safely out of distance he then picked up some dirt and threw it at her:) She wasn't laughing now with dirt in her eyes and mouth! I like him:)

More BABIES!

Lars REALLY liked what happened with this little hungry fellow:) So, we've been ignoring the signs that say, "Don't Feed Animals". Actually it was right after I had given an emu some rice puffs when I saw the first sign. Oops! But you must know that nobody in China obeys signs...any kind of sign...seriously. 

So, when our friend, Widen, saw this cutie eyeing his rice puff he thought, "Why not?" But as Widen was reaching up to place the rice puff into this guy's tiny out-stretched fingers we hear, "Bu wei dong wu!/Don't feed the animals!" from the security guard which has been watching the whole time. So here is Widen on his tippy toes, reaching as high as he can with the rice puff in his hand and the monkey's fingers just inches away from it. But in one swift motion Widen swoops the rice puff down and into his son's mouth all while saying, "Of course we would never feed the animals. This is for my son." Smooth.

We next decided to go to the "Animal Performance" exhibit. Which we come to find out means Circus. Unfortunately, I didn't happen to take any pictures because I was too busy taking videos, which won't load on here:( so I'll just have to tell you all the 'interesting' things we saw. 

Well, before the actual show began they had four or five emus running around in the inclosure. One of them had a stuffed monkey on it's back. We had no idea why. But we were very grossed out when one of the emus defecated and the other emus rushed in like they hadn't eaten all week...yuck! Anyway enough of that. Once the show actually begins  we were quite delighted. We saw bears walking on their hind legs. They'd jump hurdles, swing on swings and balance on balls. Thank goodness for those little snacks the workers used as incentive. 

Next were the monkeys. They came out riding on bicycles, donkeys and emus (hence the stuffed monkey on the emu's back from earlier). SO CUTE! The best though was when three monkeys came out riding a triple tandem bicycle. Unfortunately, there was only one monkey pedaling while the other two just jumped around the handle bars. So they came out all cool but ran into the wall! 

They then brought out a couple of lions and had them jump through hoola hoops.

The next and by far the best part had to be the safari. Take a look at this:

...I think we need a closer look.

Okay, so people get inside the mobile enclosure but what is that pink thing with it's own cage on the outside...? Yep, you guessed it. MEAT! So the idea is that we travel through live lions, tigers and bears (OH MY!) with the meat as a temptation for them to attack the cage that we are inside...!

Luckily we didn't have any ravenous carnivores hanging on the outside of our transport or I might have had an accident of my own. 

This guy snapped at us but quickly became fascinated with the DEAD meat:) 

Oh yeah, we also could buy vegetables to feed to the herbivores like these thankfully harmless zebras. 

The wallabies and kangaroos were Lars' favorite. He says if he could turn into any animal it would have to be one of those. He thinks they are just too funny.

Oh yeah. I guess you could call this the carnival section. I don't know about you but nothing says "Carnival" like riding a Yak...

Just a shout out to my buddy Kelly:P They're gonna getcha!

We saw so many raccoons in the nocturnal area...SO MANY! I guess they're rare in China...? Lars had to take a picture:)

Poor guy's hump deflated.

So, it started out like any normal zoo. (Although it has been quite some time since I have been to a normal zoo...and I mean "normal" in the sense of closely regulated safety precautions) but this place was awesome! I highly recommend it, if you ever come to Beijing, China of course:) Happy Birthday to me!

-Spring