Day 10

 

As we didn't go out yesterday, and day before, we wanted to go out today...anyhow. So I got up at 10:45 CST in order to go out before lunch. 

 I know 10:45 is very late, but I slept at 3:45 last night. I was writing blog, and later was trying hard to sleep. And anyway my college will be in the morning 7 next year, so I will have to get up at 5:45 every day. I must enjoy my vacation right now; because soon, it is going to be my final year. Stress everywhere.

 I got up at 10:45, brushed and got ready. When I was almost ready, it was a knock on the door--the maid was here. So we waited for her work to get done.

Last night I saw a little rat in the house. My dad said he hadn't seen one for ten months, and it came only after mom and I came here in China. Dad and I tried to kill him last night, but he escaped. And as the furniture is too heavy to move, we couldn't scare him, or rather, kill him. Thankfully I'm not scared of any insect (but if it can fly, I might collapse), so I always am at the forefront when one of such uninvited guests arrive at home.

 

My dad's secretary will contact the house owners to ask them to take this matter in their hands. It's just a rat, for God's sake. But I guess in China, a maid cannot do anything in the house. When I called up dad's secretary to remind her to buy a rat poison, she told me this. She said that as there's a hole made by the rat in one of the walls, the matter is more serious than it appears to be. Anyway, this was an important thing to tell in this post, because we think that there are insects visiting our homes only in India, but that's not true. And I wanted to tell the issue about the 'house owner', so mentioned the rat issue here.

 Alright, in a while the maid's working was done, and she left the house. We thought we should have lunch before going out, because it would be too late then. We wanted to buy two main items--Ketchup and salt; we bought them and came home. Later, we watched two movies of Barbie through my hard disk. 

 The rest of the evening and night were as always. I was eagerly waiting for tomorrow, as we were going Shanghai Wild Animals Park!

 

 

 Day 11

 Last night I slept at 2; I don't know why. I had slept at 3:45 previous night, still I couldn't sleep. Anyway, I got up at 6:45, even though the alarm was set at 6. After getting up, it was pretty cold. Parents were busy making Aloo Parathe, Poli and Variche Tandul in kitchen. 

 I thought they were normal, and weren't angry on me for getting up later than decided. They didn't even wake me up hurriedly, as they usually do before going out anywhere. I thought it was pretty okay, so I shut my eyes, and fell asleep again! After a while when the 'snoozed' alarm rang again, I finally woke up, regretting yesterday's late sleeping time. The atmosphere was still calm at house, but it started lighting up as and when the time passed by. I somehow tried to get up from the cozy blanket, and cozy room, and went to the bathroom to brush.

 I wore my sweater, and went to the kitchen where my parents were seated on dining table for breakfast. We all had different things for breakfast--my mom had Variche Tandul as she was fasting today, dad had cereals with milk and I had my favorite early-morning breakfast, Tea and two Poli. 
I cannot have anything but an apple or tea with Poli in early morning. If I eat anything else, I feel uneasy. So the menu for me has to be either of these. 

 After breakfast, one by one we started going for bath. Mom went first, followed by dad. I chose the last number because I wanted to wash my hair today. After everybody's bath, mom and dad were pretty frustrated on how late we were. We had to watch a show of sea lions at 10:30. This Park is two hours away from us, so we had to leave at 8-8:30, but instead we left at 9. Anyway, I told my parents that it was okay if we missed that show. My parents (especially mom) get super-stressed during such times. I told them we were here to have fun, and that we don't have an interview waiting for us. 
 

Anyway, after leaving the house, luckily we got a taxi waiting outside. We reached the park. On our way we saw Shanghai's villages, which didn't appear like 'villages', as they looked modern. 

 
We crossed the road for park, and it was crowded. Lot of Chinese families were there, dressed in shorts, dresses, skirts, hats, sunglasses and cardigans. Dad took three tickets, inclusive of a bus tour. It was Rs. 1300 per head. 

We did not find bus-stand anywhere. So dad inquired, and they told us the directions. We waited in a small queue. The queue wasn't a long one, because I guess everyone were busy watching the sea lion show; because when we came back from the bus tour, there was a very long queue.

 

We sat in the bus. It was an AC one, and hopefully had good glasses. This wasn't the bus we sat in, but it looked like this. 

The babies and the kids were very excited. Some of them were excited even before entering the park. How cute!

In a while, the bus moved. I did not know that the bus tour was a safari in actuality!   

After entering the gates, we saw a ground of random animals. It was very difficult to click photos from a moving bus. The bus ahead of us used to stop properly on appropriate places, but our bus driver used to start the bus when the bus in front of us used to leave. I wish I was in that bus; I would've clicked better photos.  

 

 

There were zebras! I love their skin. Zebras were in plenty!   

 Rhinos...

We entered the Cheetah zone, and I casually looked below at the grass near my bus, and saw a cheetah sleeping there! As it was the first official 'beast', everybody got excited to see it, and clicked photos. I felt awesome as I was the person to spot the cheetah. This cheetah was so close to the gate that he could've escaped anytime. Even the cheetahs in the above picture were pretty close to the gate.
  

I have clicked more than fifteen photos of lions, but this was my favourite amongst them. The lions were literally near our bus! 

 

This is the proof! 
Lions and lionesses had gone crazy. They were roaming here and there. 
Then an SUV came in the safari area, and two lions started running behind the car. Such a deadly sight that was! 

 

I had never seen a real bear in my life. And today I saw it. I didn't know a bear was so dangerous, that they kept it inside an area like this.

 

It was crazy when we spotted one bear going all 'hello' on a yellow bus. In a while, another bear joined him.
 

Then we entered the Tiger zone! Indians always have a greater bond with tigers. As tigers are seen in numbers in India, we all have seen them many times in our lives (of course in zoos and safaris). 
All these beasts are so huge. I wonder how badly we would be eaten after they come in front of us, without us having any safety around. So ferocious; so magnificent! 
These tigers were very close to the bus. Sadly, our bus driver moved the bus faster when our bus went near the place where they were sitting. I wish the bus driver had stopped the bus there.
 After the safari, we got down, to see further what all animals were there in the park. We saw lot of different species. 

 

A BLACK Swan. I had never seen one in my life. I really went insane in clicking its photos. I saw swans' ducklings, and it reminded me of 'ugly duckling'. Beautiful these birds are. I'd watched Barbie and the Swan Lake just yesterday! I also saw the regular white coloured swan here, and a different type of bird that looked like a swan.

 

After the swans, we sat on benches nearby, to have brunch. Dad and I had one Aloo Paratha each, and mom had Variche Tandul. We also had a Magnum ice cream, and potato chips.

 Later we went to further see animals and birds. Apart from these, we saw sun-bear, raccoon, giant anteater, peacock, parrots and lots more.
After the zoo, we took a taxi to 'Wild Animals Park' station, and then came home by metro, changing trains twice. Metro tickets are so cheap.

 
We came home, and had tea and biscuits. Later mom prepared Dosas for dinner. Right now I am in my room, and it is 1:30 a.m. here.

Tomorrow we are going to an aquarium. Goodnight.