Scenes from the Shanghai Zoo

Today is a holiday for most people in China, and here are some things observed among the swarms of visitors at the Shanghai Zoo that you might find different than your local zoo:

Chinese people take more pictures of the white foreigners than they do the animals, yet foreigners receive no zoo entry discount.

I admit I was the one giving this monkey a Pringle, but in my defense, he really loved that Pringle.

The Chinese are great recyclers and very little gets wasted here.  There are always a few entrepreneurs roaming the zoo collecting plastic bottles, and if you doze off while lying on the grass, you’ll wake to find your half full Coke bottle missing.

There are no signs telling patrons not to feed the animals, and there are certainly no signs telling patrons not to feed the animals ice cream, chips, and suckers–all of which I’ve observed.

The wildlife isn’t limited to that found in cages.  If you’re patient and watch carefully, you might just observe my ten-year-old son and his girl friend fall out of a tree onto an old Chinese lady.

If you want a unique wedding, why not get married at the Shanghai Zoo in front of all the animals serving as witnesses as well as hundreds of gawking spectators you don’t know?

Tents aren’t just for camping.  They’re also for setting up at the zoo and sleeping inside of all day long.  Not sure why anyone would pay an entry fee to sleep inside a tent all day instead of sleeping at home, but this seems to be a popular recreation.

Chinese people dress up to go to the zoo.  Many women wore high heels and men wore slacks and button up shirts.  The animals didn’t seem especially impressed and wore their typical casual attire.

The Chinese aren’t very familiar with the game of baseball, which might excuse why observers constantly carried the bases away as the kids were playing and stood in the middle of the playing field.