Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The trip to Prague got postponed- so instead of going on the 1st of April and coming back in the 4th, I will only be leaving tomorrow in the morning, and coming back on Sunday night. So I'm spending Easter in Prague! Am excited- everyone who's been there says its very pretty=)
This month I figured I wouldn't be traveling too much- at least, not like I did last month (4 countries- it works out to 1 per week)- just Prague at the start of the month, and another one to Poland (Krakow) at the end. Places within Hungary itself would be fine too- like Szentendre (heard they have a nice Easter festival going on on Monday) and Lake Balaton (Chantal's granddad has a house right by the lake and we could all go sailing, or lie on the beach, or whatever). Also I have to start writing my papers- I have to keep reminding myself that I still have academic obligations here; it feels like I'm having a semester break in Europe actually.
Yesterday we went to the zoo, which in my opinion was just alright- I feel guilty comparing but I kept thinking to myself how the Singapore Zoo was prettier, had bigger enclosures, had more animals etc. It wasn't all that bad really, at least the company was good- Cynthia, Laura and Kristineh (I think this is how you spell her name, she's German), and we went all over the zoo entertaining ourselves by pretending the animals could talk and coming up with monologues and conversations for them...come to think of it, we probably came off looking like a bunch of retards, though we were happy retards nonetheless (and really thats all that matters=D).
I did like this one enclosure which was built like a green house, and there were lots of tiny monkeys inside, plus some birds and a sloth. There were no glass panes separating you and the animals, so they kind of just leap over your head, or walk right into your path (except the sloth, which hung on a tree and ate and fell asleep intermittently). At first we were all worried they would crap on us or something, but once we got used to it the whole experience was fun... though I probably traumatized this little monkey by chasing it through the bushes with my video camera because I refused to leave without a memento, and I couldn't get it to sit still for a picture. I also liked the petting zoo (it was full of goats), because it was amusing to watch Cynthia running after the baby goats and picking them up with their legs still kicking in the air (I know this sounds like cruelty to animals). That wasn't even the funniest part- this little Hungarian child tried to copy what she was doing (she sets a bad example!), albeit unsuccessfully because he had little hands, and this huge-ass parent goat with horns and all came after him=D You know how difficult it is to put on a sympathetic face when all you want to do is laugh till you asphyxiate? I do now!
One last thing-I tried to get a picture of the baby rhino, but either it wasn't in its enclosure or Mama Rhino was sitting on it. A baby rhino can't be that hard to spot, but I couldn't find it even after circling the rhino pen three times (Here's a bit of trivial I learned: Rhinos mate by running after their potential mates- males chase females- and they can run on full speed for as long as two days without stopping...definitely not an animal I would want to offend). Maybe the baby rhino grew up really fast, and one of the two big rhinos I took for the parent rhinos is actually the baby. Argh, don't know. Stupid rhino.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
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