PANDAmonium!

Excuse the pun I used for this blog post, but how often can one use the name panda and integrate it with a word in the English language? Besides, I love pandas. Case closed. =)

A feature I plan to add for my dear readers in the near future is a column highlighting the movies, music, and books that I've watched, listened, and read recently. I'm not going to bother with a review on them, as I have a hard enough time updating my blog entries alone, but rather, show you a snapshot of my'interests-of-the-moment' by way of movie posters, album covers, and book covers. It's just a thought.

Back to pandas, I found them to be cute and cuddly, just as I had imagined them to be! To be honest, I didn't actually test that cuddly theory of mine, but with their soft furry coat of ivory and ebony, how could they not be?! As for the cuteness, oh gawd, just watch them sleep or sit there munching on bamboo. Just makes you wanna hop the chain-linked fence and run out to them with open arms!

The numerous gift shops Kim and I had passed along the way were filled with panda plush toys of various sizes, panda pack packs, panda slippers, panda keychains, panda carrying bags, and more. I couldn't help myself but to adopt a baby panda as a memento of my visit to the Beijing Zoo. And not just any visit either, as I can't recall ever being at a zoo in my 25 years of existence! I lived a rather sheltered childhood...

There was more to the Beijing Zoo than just the pandas. The bird pond was a beautiful place to watch swans, ducks, seagulls interact with people feeding them off the walkway. These were just birds that swam close to us on the half frozen pond. Vultures, turkeys, and pelicans lived almost too harmoniously with one another on a little island.

Aside from birds, we saw a friendly four-legged animal with long legs and neck that loved eating the leaves from our hands. Peering out from their house with a high archway, the giraffes walked around their small confines like gracious supermodels walking the runway. I want to ride on one, grab a hold of their cute little antlers, and run with the wind!

Moving further along, we came across the primates of various species, more cute four-legged creatures with antlers, a camel, reindeers, ponies, zebras, ostriches, eagles, falcons, rhinos, elephants, lions, tigers, arctic foxes, and so many more! Kim and I couldn't believe how much there was to see at the zoo and how long it had taken us to see most of it. There were even a few areas where we simply didn't have time to spend quality time through to learn about the habitats!

We were quite impressed with the zoo. It certainly brought about the inner child in me which isn't seen all that often in public.