We had a free day in Chiang Mai, before having to catch the night train back to Bangkok. My roommate decided she wanted to go and feed the giant pandas at the zoo, as suggested in her guide book, and I wanted to visit a ceramics factory just outside of town. We did both.
(Click any image to enlarge)
I’m always slightly dubious about going to a zoo in a foreign country – they aren’t always nice places. I avoided the zoo in Dubai and have yet to visit the zoo in Cairo, both depressing places from what I’ve heard. I am happy to say that the Chiang Mai zoo was a pleasant surprise.
The animals were much perkier than at some zoos I’ve visited. It was a lovely day which helped. It probably also helped that in some cases you were able to buy an animal appropriate “snack pack” and feed them.
The way to a hippo’s heart…
Really???
Who knew the zoo would be such an excellent monk stalking spotting place?
I’m no expert and don’t quote me on this, but I’ve been asked why it is some of the monks are so young. So far as I understand it, many Buddhist families will send one of their sons to be a monk for a period of time – a way for him to be educated and also be of service to their faith. Sort of a cross between Catholic boarding school and the army. Our tour guide told us that he was a monk for a while when he was younger, and left the monastery when he was 18. Obviously, based on the age range of monks I’ve seen, some also decide to stay.
As it turned out, we were not allowed to feed the pandas, but it was still nice to see one in person since not every zoo has one. I could however have had my picture photoshopped into a scene with a panda had I wished!
All the walking made us hungry, and who could resist this? (the description on the label reads: “This sandwich is delicious. We want you to try this sandwich”)
The sandwich was tuna salad and in fact was merely adequate, but I guess the label worked because we bought and ate it!
We made a quick visit to the showroom of the ceramics factory where we bought some lovely items and then had to rush back to the hotel to catch our train back to Bangkok.
Isn’t it great to be an unsupervised child?
Even monks need reading material for the train!
Tomorrow: my last day in Bangkok and Chinatown.
