Beijing trip: Day 3 (29 October)

Hey everyone, so by now you have figured out that it might be a full year later before I finish up writing about these trips. Nevertheless, I fully intend to try and finish them up. Today should not be that difficult, since the only thing on the agenda was a trip to the zoo; while perhaps not the ideal way to have this particular experience, I was very excited about the prospect of seeing real live Pandas! On a separate note, I was desperate enough to churn these entries out faster that I tried generative AI to do this entry for me, but it was such a mess that I ended up giving up entirely on that route, and I’m back to doing everything manually. So, if you like to read this, then I’m an amazing writer. However, if you don’t like it . . .well, then let’s not discuss that for now.

Anyway, on Day 3, I was up and out of Alex and Melody’s house at 10:38 AM. Once more as I was walking, I was really impressed by how clean and well-maintained both the streets and sidewalk were. However, since I had already seen it once, I was not as inclined to take so many pictures. At 11:00 AM I was back at the China International Exhibition Center, this time, having already learned how to navigate things easily the day before, I was able to quickly buy my one-way subway for ticket for 6 RMB ($0.83 USD), and then get on the first subway at 11:00 AM. This first trip was more challenging than yesterday, since it would involve four different subway lines. I won’t go into all of the details about the subway trip this time, but it’s worth noting that when I changed to line 13 at Wangjing XI I had to pay special attention to the indicator lines before actually arriving at the platform.

Most of the time in Beijing, you stand on the same platform and just check to see which direction, but there are several stops where you have to check ahead of time to make sure that you get the right entrance since the train only goes one direction on each platform. However, just like for day 2, as long as I was checking the Moovit app while making a transfer, it was very easy to see which entrance to take. Still, you definitely need to pay attention. At 12:10 PM, when I was switching to line 2 at Dongzhi Men, I noticed it was another “double platform”. I also noticed that this station seemed a bit more “industrial” (read as “slightly outdated and rundown”) looking than others; I assume that this is because the line numbers indicate when each line came into service, so this was probably an older station. Still, it was very clean, safe feeling and orderly.

My other transfers were uneventful, and I was even starting to feel very relaxed about the whole thing. No doubt if I were to do this on a daily basis, within a month I would not even think about it. With great anticipation, at 12:15 PM I was finally taking the exit to street level. Pandas here I come!!

And, this is what happens when you get too excited about something . . .

So . . . what to do? Clearly, I was not the only one who primarily sees the zoo as a place to see Pandas. Otherwise, they would not have seen the need to put this sign in the window. Still, I was thankful that they had done so, since I would have been incredibly sad had I entered and then discovered that they were not available. Despite all of this, between the walking and the four different subway lines, I had travelled for two hours to get here. Furthermore, the entry fee was only 15 CNY ($2.06 USD). So, using similar logic to what got me into the park on Day 2, I went ahead and bought a ticket and headed on inside at 12:28 PM. Given all of the generally negative reviews I had read online, my expectations were incredibly low, but for two dollars, how could I complain? Rather than focusing too much on the animals, I decided that I would approach this as another “park visit”.

For most Europeans or North Americans, that is probably the right approach to visiting this zoo. The landscaping really is beautiful, and it is very peaceful if you go during the day on a weekday like I did, especially in October. Honestly though, there is a good chance that you might not be very happy about the conditions of several of the animal enclosures. While the animals themselves appear to be well cared for, the larger animals in particular seem to have very little space. This definitely seemed to be the case for the Malayan Tapirs, and I also wondered why the three of them were kept separate from each other . . . perhaps they would otherwise fight?

However, if your goal is to actually SEE the animals, these smaller enclosures pretty much guarantee that you will get an up-close view of most of them. Unsurprisingly (due to their small size), at 12:48 I saw that the banded mongoose enclosure was a bit less depressing, but I was somewhat surprised to see the people ignoring the “Do not feed” signs.

The entrance to the “American animals” area was also priceless. I will let you figure out why on your own.

So, despite obvious criticisms, it really was pretty to walk around, and there was also the opportunity to see some interesting looking animals.

Then at 1:09 PM I realized that the Beijing aquarium, which has a separate entry fee, is actually located within the zoo. From the outside at least, it looked reasonably modern, and with a fee of 160 CNY ($22.02 USD) it was also quite a bit cheaper than other aquariums which I have visited around the world. I was a bit short on cash and WeChat funds, but I decided that if I were able to pay with my international credit card, I would go ahead and check it out. Furthermore, even less so than the zoo, it did not look crowded, so I figured it would be a decent visit.

My first impression as I entered at 1:33 PM was that while it was not “incredibly fancy” it seemed to be reasonably well maintained. Furthermore, if comparing aquarium costs elsewhere, it seemed to be entirely affordable. Of course, it also helped a lot that there were so few people. There was some signage in English, but most of it was only in Chinese. Unlike the zoo, there seemed to be only one set route, so as long as one continues forward, you will see everything.

At 1:50 PM I wondered if there might be something wrong with one of the sharks, since its body seemed to be permanently L shaped.

In addition to the aquarium sites, there were of course also PLENTY of opportunities to buy overpriced souvenirs.

At 1:54 PM I noticed that the Beluga tank seemed very small for an animal of that size, but the 2:00 PM Chinese sturgeon show (a diver giving them food) was particularly impressive. I had no idea that these fish were so huge!

At 2:25 PM I saw a fire shrimp. That was also something special which I had not seen before.

The nearby tanks I saw at 2:27 PM for lobsters and crabs were way too small, but maybe they were just happy that they were not being boiled/steamed alive to be eaten? Again, I noticed that they were REALLY working the gift shop angle. Parents with more than one small child beware . . .

At 2:29 PM I came across a fairly short aquarium tunnel, but the only way through was on a fairly quickly moving mechanical sidewalk. I guess that’s one way to keep it from getting too crowded while also eliminating long term gawkers.

At 2:33 PM I walked past the penguin exhibit, but the penguins were clearly not in a mood to cooperate.

There were also some tanks with some sea turtles which seemed a bit small, but maybe they don’t actually mind? At any rate, at least they were able to move around a bit. On a separate note, all throughout the aquarium there were abundant restrooms. I also went in to check them out, and all of them seemed to be very clean.

As is normally the case at aquariums, the jellyfish exhibits were especially beautiful. Note, these tanks also seemed to be very crowded, but for whatever reason, I at least was not that concerned about jellyfish not having tons of extra room.

At 2:51 PM I decided to head towards the marine mammal pavilion for the 3:00 PM show. As is usually the case with zoo and aquarium shows, there was no extra charge for any of the shows themselves, but there were always abundant salespeople trying to hawk overpriced “souvenirs”. I was seated at 2:56 PM and I noticed that even for a “slow day” there seemed to be a few hundred people. However, as the amphitheatre itself was made to accommodate many more, the first impression was that it was almost empty.

The show started at exactly 3:00 PM with a silly clown show. I have to give them credit; they did a very good job amusing the kids. Then at 15:06 PM a sea lion came out and they launched into what I can only assume was an educational spiel, but I of course understood nothing. Despite my lingering misgivings about this sort of a show, I had to recognize that they really did seem to be trying to keep the focus on education rather than forcing the sea lion to do all sorts of ridiculous tricks.

It was a similar situation with the two dolphins which came out at 3:15 PM. Again, the emphasis did not seem to be on making the animals do lots of tricks, but rather primarily on the educational talks. Still, it was nice to see, and I was happy to see that they were pushing the learning side of things.

Especially for someone who had not seen dolphins before, this would have been a very special experience. Finally, again, for what it’s worth, not that I am an expert, the animals seemed to look healthy. The entire show was exactly thirty minutes.

By 3:36 PM I was heading out the exit where there was of course one final gift shop. This was perhaps the most “troubling” of the shops, since they were selling small aquatic animals in tiny “cute containers.” Most of these animals will presumably die within a few days of being bought, and those which do not, being confined to such tiny quarters, will doubtless be miserable unless the thoughtful purchaser has a MUCH larger enclosure at home. I did not take a picture of everything, as I figured they might realize that I was being critical, but there were even tiny animals in sealed plastic key chain pouches . . .meaning of course that there would be no way for them to be fed unless they were cut out of the pouches. On the plus side, today at least, nobody seemed to be buying them.

Putting aside all of the questionable elements of the various gift shops, the aquarium visit was nice, and certainly worth the $22 USD. By 3:40 PM I was back out outside at the main zoo. As mentioned earlier, the gardens really were a treat, and since nobody else seemed that interested, I had them all to myself.

At 3:51 PM I admitted to myself that I really did like to see the bears, even though the Polar Bear in particular seemed a bit lonely. Of course, in reality I have no idea what the any of the them were thinking, but it is impossible to not speculate.

Then, unsurprisingly, at 3:58 PM, I noticed that the Red Pandas were absolutely adorable, even though they were not the type of panda I had planned on seeing today.

Yes, I saw a couple more animals, but at 4:18 PM I decided to go ahead and start finding my way out of the zoo and then head back to Shunyi. While it only took me 10 minutes, it was a bit more difficult to figure out the exit than I would have liked; I think they could work a bit on improving their signage. Again, as mentioned earlier, the gardens continued to be a big highlight as I headed towards the exit.

By 4:27 PM I was at the exit and headed out walking towards the subway, where I arrived at 4:39 PM. Now being an old pro, I was able to quickly buy my 6 CNY ($0.83 USD) subway ticket, entering the first subway at 4:44 PM, once more following the same route to get back to Melody and Alex’s place. As I have already explained a lot about transfers, and also how to best manage them (Use Moovit!), I won’t once again share all the details.

Several smooth transfers later, at 5:43 PM I arrived back to China International Exhibition Center and finished my walk back to the house, arriving at 6:16 PM.

So, once more, things had not gone quite as planned, but I was still satisfied with my second full day in Beijing. I was now a pro at taking the subway, and I was also happily rolling with the punches whenever my plans went a bit sideways. However, if you have the patience to keep reading Day 4, you will see that things really started to pick up, and you will start to read about some of the experiences and see some of the images you no doubt had in mind when you first heard that I would be heading to this part of the world. As always, thanks for reading along, and don’t be shy about putting any questions or comments in the section shown below.