No English, please!

Camel at the zoo. I thought that I was getting a camel ride, but this camel is for pictures only.

A long day deserves a long post. I visited a nearby zoo, which was great for the people and bad for the animals (see previous post for video of hungry bear). OK, so everywhere, there are trees, and even hiking trails. In fact, the zoo is called the Hongshan Forest zoo. So I expected to see animals up in trees, animals under trees and animals inside tree hollows. Somehow, someone had a bright idea to cut down tress and replace them with concrete animal habitats. And where are the people? Why, they're standing in the shade of trees outside the habitat, of course, while the poor red panda is panting in the sun. And I suppose it would be too much to ask to give the animals fresh water. Noooo..... now about a shallow concrete pool of what looks like rainwater+bird droppings+leaves+garbage. Actually, the zoo was the first place in China that I've seen litter. There is no litter on the streets. Something is very wrong with that.
Poor little red panda!

Inside the rad panda "habitat". At least there's shade.... but why not a real tree...

The black-and-white panda didn't fare any better. I don't blame him for being antisocial.


Does this look right?

A tree or two would really come in handy here....

Anywho....

Take a look at this:


It's a pot of "soyed eggs", seen everywhere. It looks really gross, but they're really yummy. I wouldn't buy them from this vendor, but the hotel restaurant serves them for breakfast.

Then, I skipped on over to Confucius Temple, where, naturally, I focused on the shopping. You have to speak Mandarin, or forget it. I found out that my Mandarin's not so bad, after all! (pats self on back). The same went for the zoo. No English, please!


The boats at Confucius Temple. I'm going to go back.



Hmmmm.... One of these things just doesn't belong.......

Mmmmm..... Beggar's Chicken. It comes wrapped in the leaves and plastic wrap that you can see, and then encased in a mud (yes, mud) shell. So you have to smash it on the floor to break the mud. Stays fresh for days, too. I ate a two-day old one the night before. It's clearly a very small or very young bird, full head and beak attached.
It smells like tea, and is stuffed with spices. And no, it's not salty.