Creative

On our last day of freedom before being locked in a windowless room for conference, Amanda and I took full advantage of the Thai sunshine at the zoo. It was a delightful (and slightly sweaty) afternoon of hiking the hills of the zoo and marveling at the creativeness of the one we serve. And I’m serious about the hiking. Set in the foothills of the mountains outside Chiang Mai, the zoo is not for the faint of heart or weak of foot.

One of the best parts of this zoo is the fact that you can get real close to the animals.

Really, really close.

Which means you get to appreciate in tiniest detail the creativeness (and let’s be honest, sometimes downright absurdity…have you seen an ostrich run?) of the various species.

Which animal does this belong to?

Is there anything cuter than a baby elephant getting a bath?

Sorry baby hippo, you’re just not nearly as cute. The size of your ears does fit in the absurd category, though.

There were two spots Amanda and I lingered in longer than others. First, the rose garden. I won’t bother you with the plentitude of rose pictures I have. But trust me, I have a fair number of pictures of roses of all color, size, and shape.

The second was the bird house. The bird house where exotic, colorful birds roamed around in perfect freedom.

Words cannot suffice.

All I can say is, it takes a whole heck of a lot of faith to believe this came together by chance and accident.

Also not happening by accident? A harmonica playing elephant. Seriously. Just before this picture was taken this elephant was literally trying to persuade this bus of people (the faint of heart who weren’t up for hiking the zoo) to buy food for him by belting out a tune on the harmonica.

I used to think monkeys were really cute. But I’m going to be honest with you, there’s something a bit creepy about them as well.

Also creepy? Christmas decorations. Still up in February. I don’t know which aspect takes it really over the top. The large panda? The presents? The plentitude of garland? All I know, is it screams Asia, where there never can be too much flare.