Thailand, Day 1 Part 2

Well we are back to the zoo. We saw lots of cool animals. This kitty was especially pretty. It looks all black, but when the sun shines on the coat, you can see that it has spots like a leopard. Or some other spotted cat. I'm no zoologist and like I mentioned most of the signs were in Thai, but we thought this was one cool cat!

I think it is a Panther.

In a foreign land as a tourist you are often on a quest for one of these:

They were Thai style toilets. I didn't take a picture. I recommend that you buy those little rolls of Charmin to go and bring them with you if you have any plans to come here and visit places besides a resort or mall. Actually we recommend them for travel to any place with unusual toilet arrangements. Let's just say that they have come in very handy. VERY. If you are curious what Thai style toilet is, it's apparently alot like Myanmar style except it is raised 10 inches off the floor.

This Zoo had a Saltwater Crocodile!  Which I don't ever remember seeing before. And boy, I'm glad that I haven't met one in the wild! They have them in Myanmar though. Including the part we live in.  I doubt there are any in the city though.:D   In Australia they call them "Salties". This guy was HUGE!

You might not be able to tell in the picture but his head is like a foot wide! And he was probably 12 feet long. The plexiglass wall that was keeping us from his bone-crushing jaws was only about 4-5 feet tall. Matt was convinced that if we had some sort of food for him that he would jump over it. Thank goodness I wasn't carrying raw meat!  This one was a small one too, they can be over 20 feet long!

They had some super cute Asian bears. (Not the official name I don't think. Just bears found in Asia. Can't remember the name.)(Matt says he thinks they are Sun Bears. Those ZooBooks come in handy!)

I got to feed the camels!

During WWII there was an air raid shelter built which they kept and you can walk through it. I've never seen one before so we took a little tour.

Very low entrance and exit.  Not a problem for me. The actual shelter was normal height.

By little tour I mean 30 seconds walk through including pictures.

There is a lake on the grounds and people can do various activities. We saw a group of children taking art class:

So adorable! You can rent a paddle boat. We didn't. We were already getting all the exercise we could handle walking around. People, it was so hot, I can't even express it. Hot and humid. Felt like somewhere in the 90's which I know you have all been experiencing back home. But the humidity takes it to the next level. For some people the humidity makes their hair go flat. Not me. My hair just got bigger and bigger as the day would go on. I'd look in the mirror and go WHOA!!  (Have you seen the Lion King?)  Anyways, back to the zoo.

These giraffes were in a good mood:

These tigers were not:

For the first time in my life I got a good look at a white tiger:

So beautiful! (Thought my cousin Nathan would like the tiger pictures:) We actually saw a great big one in the Dominican Republic at a park but it was in the back in the cage so we couldn't really see it well.  I have always wanted to have one as a pet.  Someday I will.

The bird area you could go in and hang out with some of the birds with no cages to get in your way.

Outside some local birds were searching for food. We have this kind of bird in Myanmar everywhere too:

Dad, do you know what these are?

This next picture was taken SPECIFICALLY for one particular friend in Worland. You know who you are, and friends in Worland, you know who it is, so make sure he sees it!
Inside joke guys, sorry. :D

I loved looking at the Hippos. They are so big. Check out the size of the tusks!
And it eats HAY! Such a funny looking critter.  Did you know Hippo means "horse"?

Well by the end of the afternoon our feet hurt and we were ready for some food. We went to Siam Paragon, a massive mall here that has a gourmet food court. As you can see, Matt is making excellent progress with chopsticks. (Especially compared to one of my earlier posts!)

Yummy food. By the way, in Thailand they bring you the chopsticks if the meal calls for them, and if you don't need them then the spoon and fork will do. If you ask for chopsticks when they don't bring them you will look really idiotic. We had read all about it in the Lonely Planet Guide book though and avoided looking idiotic that time. (Exception is if they forget to bring utensils altogether. That could be stressful if you don't know what to ask for.  I don't know if that would ever happen in Asia though.  The service here is excellent.)

After a dessert that looked as good as it tasted:

We went back to our lovely hotel and rested up before Day 2!