Surabaya's Zoo

It's been awhile since I went to Surabaya's zoo ( an understatement since the last time I went there was more than 20 years ago ! ). This is mostly because of my father's idea. He knows that LL is crazy with animals so he wants her to see how those animals that she admire on the books or in the form of stuffed animals really look and sounds like. Actually the day before I took these pictures my father already brought her to the zoo alone ( with driver ). He did not even bother to carry extra diapers, milk bottle, or even change her clothes. She was still wearing her pajama!

The zookeeper maybe misinformed or maybe my father who misheard him, but according to my father understanding, only on Sunday we can ride the elephants ( or horses ). So today on Sunday when we were suppose to go to church, he dragged us all the way to the zoo with him again.

And off course being it was Sunday, the zoo is like a zoo. It's totally jammed with people. There were many buses in the parking lot that carry people from out of town who come to see the zoo on weekend. Thank God that my luck on getting parking spot is still holding on. We got a great parking spot under a shade of tree and only 10 meters from the entrance! But we got cheated buying peanuts! Yes, I don't know if this is the same with any other zoo anywhere else around Indonesia, but in Surabaya you can feed the animals ( some of them ) with boiled peanuts. You can munch on them too since they are cooked. In fact my last memory of this zoo was me and Wike ( my best friend ) fighting over peanuts because even though I bought a full plastic bag ( big one! ), but she almost ate them all while I want to give them to the monkeys!!! Hahaha....
Wike said the boiled peanuts taste very sweet and she loves it. I remember to taste it too at that time and I did think that they are sweet but I would rather give them to the monkey!

Okay, let me continue on with my story...

So here we were in the zoo, fighting our way to get close to the elephants. When we arrived, what we saw was at least 100 m of long waiting line. Because it is his idea, my father said that we can walk around while he wait in line for us. When we walked away from him I heard he told the person in front of him this " I did this for the sake of my grandchildren you know!! "....hahaha.... he really really loves his grandchildren!

So while my father wait in line, we walk around to see the monkeys.



After more than half an hour we came back to see my father again. Now Richard took his spot and he has to wait another half an hour again without complain ( I salute him for this! ). My father told me that he should have just bribe the person at the front Rp.50.000 ( US $ 5 ) to give him her spot. I told him that I am not comfortable to do that and ironically, just when I finished saying that a lady is in the middle of bribing that woman who stand at the front of the line with Rp. 20.000 ( $ 2 ! ). My father said that he really can not put down his guard when he stand in line because just when he relax for a minute, some people directly squeeze in front of him and since they are all women he couldn't do anything. I hate that !!!! Usually it's always woman who stole your line or your parking spot and then they act so oooh... I am a weak female ... I am so innocent.... do you expect me to wait? Don't you hate that too? When I was in the University in Oklahoma, when I was waiting in my car for an opening at the parking lot I have to be extra cautious when there are Asian girls driving close by!!! Asian girls are the worst on this matter!!!
While we waited for our turn to ride the elephant, we saw many parents who have been waiting for a long time like us had to go down from the elephants because their children are too scared and they start crying. We were worried that LL will be the same. Actually she was scared too, she refused to sit but her dad manage to make her feel secure in his arm and plus she saw that KK had a great time never stop laughing and questioning the elephant's handler. That boy.... never stop asking people about anything! He is constantly curious ....

While I was busy taking picture of the children and their dad, my father was busy chatting with the zookeeper ( different zookeeper ). This zoo keeper told my father that we CAN ride the elephant EVERYDAY. The only difference is that we can only ride from 10am till noon on weekdays because on weekdays the zoo is VERY VERY quiet. He said that we probably can ride the elephants so many times without waiting in line AT ALL. To enter the zoo cost Rp 10.000 ( US $ 1 ). To ride an elephant cost Rp. 5000 ( 50 cents ), and to see my father's face when the zookeeper told him that he doesn't have to wait in line at all if he come again on Monday was priceless.....

After riding the elephant, he went to the aquarium. LL loves the fish. Her eyes become so big and she turn left and right so fast while pointing her fingers at all those fishes and said " Ish...Ish...ish...ish..!!!" sooo funny....



Then we saw and feed few birds too. Oh yes, when we first arrived, we also saw camels and feed 2 of them with our peanuts. LL likes the camel because they are gentle.


At home...

We found out that my aunt next door just bought a puppy ( a Pincher maybe? ). So I borrowed the puppy and show him to the kids. They love it !!! Today is definitely a meet-the-animals-day.



I played around with my PhotoImpact12 with some of the pictures that I took at the zoo and here are they ...