Zoo & Aquarium

After our regular chores of school work we headed off to the Blue Zoo and Aquarium. The subway ride was old hat by this time. Not even the slightest bit of panic. We got off and headed for the zoo, picked up a lift from a bicylce rickshaw. It was another hot day, but th zoo had a fair bit of shade so it was okay.

The zoo itself was a bit dated and I felt sorry for some of the animals that seemed overcrowded or in cages that seemed a far cry from their natural habitat.

We didn't make it all the way through the zoo because we wanted to get to the aquarium which had such great reviews. It was a lot of fun. There was a huge shark tank with a few concave bubbles that you could stick your head in and then you felt like you were in the tank too. Very cool. Yasmin and Roya made some pretty funny fish lips for some of the displays, and they really enjoyed the dolphin show at the end.

Fun was had by all and I was a bit worried about getting back before subway rush hour started. We got to the subway by about 4:00, but the first train we got was almost empty! It soon filled up, but at least we got seats. We took it to a stop near where Arthur owns a Vietnamese restaurant and he picked us up there. We had to borrow a phone from some young men, because the public phones wouldn't take our calling cards. The guys were really friendly about it, so all worked out well. We gave them some Canadian flag stickers to say thank you! They were pretty happy about them.

Tonight's meal was wonderful. We had spring rolls, sugar cane wrapped with shrimp, other rolls, rice with chicken, Vietnamese soups and special fruit drinks. All was delicious. We ate too much yet again.

Afterwards we went to this cool square where high above our heads there was a huge horizontal screen that looked like an ocean with fish, dolphins, sting rays and other ocean life swimming in it above our heads. Kind of freaky but a lot of fun. We also took a drive through Beijing at night and saw the Forbidden City all lit up, with coloured lights behind the fountains. The sky scrapers have really interesting architecture. Nadim was admiring the engineering of them. This city is enormous. I read that it sprawls to the size of Belgium! You can drive for half an hour and the sky scrapers are just as big as where you started.

Well, I'm feeling the time change again, time to go find my PJs.

CM