Animal Dreams

I once read somewhere that when kids dream a lot of the time they dream of animals. I’m not sure if that’s what leads to us fathers walking around carrying animal balloons and making monkey faces or not. Or perhaps it is the other way around. In any case, on Dragon Boat festival day yesterday Yang and I took the kids to the Beijing Zoo. It was Aidan’s and Lydia’s second trip and Elisa’s first.

Even though we went fairly early in the morning, the park was packed to the point we could not find parking in the main or auxiliary lot. We ended up parking in the back at the aquarium entrance. Since our kids are under 1.2 meters (pays not to be a tall tribe sometimes) we only had to buy two adult tickets to get in, total cost 40 RMB (about $3 USD each). It was a little bit of a walk at first but then the elephants where upon us. A mama and baby elephant in one pen and another adult in the other. The pens were of 1950s style – reminding me of the old pens at the San Francisco zoo but a bit more used. The elephants were walking around and Elisa got a kick out of the baby and mama washing themselves with dirt. Aidan thought it would be a good idea to climb over the short fence separating the visitors from the pen’s deep, dry moat.

Next stop was the tigers which Aidan hurriedly showed Elisa. The tigers were sleeping. Aidan then wanted his picture in front of “tiger mountain” which I obligatorily took. Aidan then went inside the mountain and came running out saying there was a white tiger in there. And sure enough there was, along with two large lions. Tiger mountain is like the feeding building of the San Francisco zoo with a bit more of a smell to it. Yang decided not to go in because of the smell.

We got some snacks. People customarily amazed that Aidan and Lydia spoke such good Chinese especially when they were out alone with me. A cotton candy for (each) for Aidan and Lydia. Popcorn for me. Ice cream for all. Snacks are cheap and not real tasty but still leave us feeling satisfied.

And then came our search for the pandas. It was a bit of a circle and a bit hidden. The pandas were inside and it was crowded. I had to lift Aidan and Lydia to see them while Yang looked after Elisa. We took the trolley back to the exit on the other side of the park and then walked to our car. Lydia taking off her roller blades as her feet started to hurt. Elisa and Yang beating us to the car by five minutes. As we drove off, I felt content, two mornings this weekend we took the kids out, without an ayi in sight.

Later in the day Elisa was pointing at my shirt and happily saying “babi look, babi look”. Without thinking about it, I had put on a shirt with a bunch of miniature pandas all doing various kung foo moves. We all had good dreams last night.