Guangzhou Zoo

Our guide is awesome. I'm not sure if it's because he's single or what, but he has made himself available to us all day each day we are here as little or as much as we would like for him to be! He's very knowledgable of the area and speaks wonderful English with a sense of humor too! We decided to check out the Guangzhou zoo this morning since the temperature is warm today.






These 4 chimpanzees were gifts from the Beijing government a few years ago. They put on quite a show for us while we were there, swinging and chasing each other around and even "bouncing" off the glass where we watched. John said the weather was too warm for them to go outside and they typically stay indoors where it is cooler.






This poor girl was in a cage isolated from the other four. She was actually quite pitiful and John joked that she was depressed and alone. Many of the animals are not in areas that depict their natural habitats but rather in metal cages.



Brody really liked the brown bear. He followed us around to see if we would give him anything to eat.



The lion cages








Here's our Brody boy with the elephant.


The giraffes up close and personal. For about $3, you can feed them.



Brody said he wasn't a baby so he asked Maeli to get in the "pouch" :)



Brody kept asking to see the panda bears. They aren't native to this area of China so the zoo only had two. They stayed indoors so they were a little hard to see. John says the zoo has to import the bamboo because they only eat the bamboo native to their area.






The zoo also has an amusement park area. The kids liked the bumper cars.









He loved riding the rides here. I hope that means he's a roller coaster fan!



Maeli, year of the dragon.



Chase, year of the snake.



Brody, year of the dog.






After the zoo, John took us to a Cantonese restuarant. We actually went to a traditional Cantonese restaurant last year and left pretty hungry since they served an entire duck and fish. Not very appealing to the taste buds. John promised that although they do serve those dishes, that there were others things we'd really like. He was right! He ordered barbecue pork, sweet and sour pork and pickled beef. It was really good. My view of Cantonese food has changed. :)

Brody asked to go back to the pool to swim this afternoon. Since the weather was great, we spent about an hour at the pool. We played cards again tonight (which he loves) and went to the noodle shop again that is close to the hotel. I think before we leave we will have tried every item on the menu, lol. As we left tonight, they said "see you tomorrow!" :)

We don't have any appointments scheduled for tomorrow so we are going out to do some shopping for Chinese books for Maeli and visit a traditional Buddhist temple.

We are pleased with Brody's progress and hope the next few days will give us even more time to bond with him before we head home to school and work schedules and the "fast" pace of life.