Taro's Travels

I think the last time I'd been to a zoo may have been Ange and Kieren's wedding reception; the only visible animals small and tasty. Saigon's Historical Museum was closed on Mondays, however, and since the zoo was adjacent it seemed a waste of a walk not to do something. Buying a ticket and seeing the zoo seemed like a reasonable something to do.

So I did.

From the entrance, the Zoological Gardens appears more Garden than Zoological - there's a temple over on the right, the museum on the left, large stretches of well-maintained lawn and gardens, but not an animal - tasty or otherwise - in sight. There was an arrow labelled "Giraffe", so I walked past more well-maintained lawn and there in an enclosure was a giraffe. There were no other animals around, but there were a lot of unattended carnival rides - the zoo is open till 8pm on weekdays and probably later on weekends.

Yet another path to follow - more well-maintained grass, and an unpatroned eatery. Beyond that lay the reptile house, swarming with builders but free of reptiles other than the ubiquitous gecko.

Small Cats! ...near invisible as they hid in the shelters.

Gibbons on an island! ...invisible.

Elephants! ...plural, and pretty hard to miss. The elephants that give rides appeared healthier, however - these were all Asian elephants, and most had been detusked - their skin colour was greyish, whereas the ones used for rides have black skin with pinkish splotches.

Tigers... and rabbits! ...Oh My. In one cage, a couple of rabbits crouched underneath a low wooden platform/bed with the tiger pacing beside; in the second, the tiger was in the process of eating its kill - I saw the pounce and heard the squeal from a distance; in the last, the rabbit sat out in the open grooming itself - the tiger lay asleep behind.

There were other enclosures also clustered there at the back of the grounds - deer, crocodiles, hippos and leopards; birds, birds, and more birds; and a petting zoo.

But there was a lot of green space compared with the animals. And this really wasn't a negative thing, either. The place serves as not only entertainment, but as a clean green place where middle-class Saigonites can come and relax without the hassle of hawkers and beggers - perhaps half of the people there were just sitting and talking.

There was a zoo in Siem Reap, too - apparently a smallish one when viewed from outside, as I had to since it was closed. It was a kilometre's ride through one of Siem Reap's navigable swamps, the turning for which was north of the ticket checkpoint for the Angkorian temples. Its lack of visitors was not unexpected since it was a weekday, locals are working or at school, and international visitors pay US$20 (1 day), US$40 (3 days), or US$60 (7 days).

For all that Cambodia and Thailand have lush grass, a number of cows I've seen have been fairly skeletal; worm infestation, perhaps, though water buffalo appear more robust. These are not the only skeletal animals I've seen: a wooden corral at the exit of the Penang War Museum held an emaciated horse; the horses pulling tourist carts tend to show a little less rib.

On a Saigon street, I saw a cage with a tangle of live green snakes - snake is on the menu here, and is pickled in rice wine - "Snake Wine". In a cage above these snakes, terrapins clambered sluggishly. Another cage held a couple of youngish dogs, and in a cage next to that, two kittens nestled under another dog. Dog is, of course, eaten in Vietnam as elsewhere in parts of Asia. A restaurant in Cambodia displayed its promise on a sign outside: "We do not serve dog, cat, rat, or worm". You can never be too careful, I guess, and you do see "meat" as an ingredient at times.