Zoo!

Today we decided to go to the Hong Kong Zoo which is officially called the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens.  I wanted to have a day in Central to celebrate Charlotte's birthday and when I gave her several options of things to do, she picked the zoo.  We decided if we got ready early we could ride most of the way with Tom to work.  The kids were really excited about being about to ride with Daddy in the morning.  I looked up possible routes, and found what looked like a decent one that included riding on one of the buses Tom can take to the office.  This route had a 15 minute walk after we got off the bus, but I didn't think that was a big deal and the other options included several buses and still at least a 5 minute walk.
We got off the bus and started walking.  After a couple minutes, I got worried.  Pretty much our entire walk was straight uphill.  We were in a part of Hong Kong called the Mid-Levels which is VERY steep.  The Mid Levels have the world's longest covered outdoor escalator (around half a mile.  It was built to help commuters handle the steep terrain.  About 2/3 of the way there, Charlotte stopped and told me she didn't think she could make it.  The map showed a food kiosk, so I told them we could get something to eat when we got there, possibly ice cream.  (Maybe bribery isn't the best method, but it was hot and very steep and I definitely didn't want to have to carry her the rest of the way.)  At one point, we got to the top of a big hill and came to an intersection.  One way continued straight up, the other was flat and curved around.  Tommy started walking in the flat direction and told me there was no way he was going up the hill.  Luckily, it led into the entrance of the zoo.  :)

The zoo was nice, but very small.  Much smaller than what we are used to.  It is combined with the Botanical Gardens, so there are lots of trees and plants.  It was nice because the trees were big and most of the walkways were shaded.  It took us a while before we found any animals.  First, we saw some tortoises. 

There were 2 enclosures with tortoises, and then another long walkway with plants and trees.  Then, we came to a big cage with monkeys in it.  The kids liked watching the monkeys.  Unfortunately, the cages were surrounded by several feet of grassy area, then a fence and walkway.  It was hard to really get a good look at them from that far away.  There were also a few other mammals in cages on the other side.

Then we started to look for the food stand.  The map showed it being really close to where we were, but we kept walking in different directions and couldn't find it.  The area is really hilly with a lot of big trees, so you can't see too far in any direction.  We finally asked someone, and she told us we had to go through this underground tunnel to get to the lower section of the zoo with the food stand.  I wish they would make that more clear on the map!  We finally found it and indeed they did have ice cream.  Both kids picked a chocolate drumstick.  :)

Then we walked through the greenhouse and by the birds (Charlotte liked the flamingos).  I think we saw pretty much all the animals they had at the zoo, even though we had only seen a handful.  We found a taxi and took it to Tom's office so we could all have lunch.  (We were not going to attempt to walk the 15 minutes to his office, even if it should have been downhill.)  We ate at a pizza place in the Mid-Levels (and rode part of the escalator).  Then the kids and I took the bus, train, and shuttle back to our house.  Overall, it was a fun and busy day.