Panda, Polar and Koala Bears at San Diego Zoo – USA Vacation Day 9

As I am writing this at the comfort of our family room, many of our Malaysian brothers and sisters in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and several other places are suffering. For the past few days or so, it has been flooding terribly in those places and until today the water level is still rising especially in Kelantan.

We sent some donations hoping it will reach those poor victims, we prayed for the water to subside soon but most importantly I hope the governing bodies will do their role effectively after this by improving the drainage system, detect and take action on illegal logging if any etc… I believe, being in this modern era, even natural disasters can be managed to avoid loss.

Anyway, today I want to continue our travelogue, #MikiRafaCaliforniaTrip2014 in the USA. It was tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of fun! We went to amazing places one day after another and on the 9th day, we took the kids to the world famous San Diego Zoo.

It covers a 40 ha area and was opened in 1916. San Diego Zoo house over 3700 animals!

After more than 7 days of having fun out in the sun, we became very tanned. Or they way I say it, very hitam berlegam. But Miki was very excited to go to the zoo coz they had many animals that we have never seen like the polar bear, koala bear, panda (at that time the Chinese panda loaned to Zoo Negara was making headlines but the new exhibit was not launched yet). We took so many pictures cantik-cantik but these are all I can upload here. Maybe will upload more on Facebook.

The San Diego Zoo was super huge! We didn’t have time to see all the animals and experience all the attractions. One of the attractions that we went to was a 4D show of RIO. The theater was situated near the Children’s Zoo and that’s where we saw Blu! Yay!

Rafa remembered who Blu was and I was happy to see this, it meant his brain cells were connecting lah! hehe! Blu is the character of a Blue Maccaw in the movie Rio. I thought this species were extinct but here they are… cool!

Miki was not crying in the above pic, he couldn’t open his eyes… the sun was just too bright.. hehe!

Actually we didn’t go inside the Children’s Zoo. I saw a huge colorful playground in there and if Rafa steps foots on that we probably need to spend another hour just at the playground. Hmm.. tak payah la! haha!

We saw huge elephants, see how this one strike a  pose for our camera. He was freaking grinning with his eyes closed! LOL

Due to the fact that the Zoo is too huge, we took a bus tour. It was double decker bus and we sat on top. We got to see the magnificent view and soaked up more sun to be become more hitam LOL..

Miki’s lips were blue from drinking so much blueberry smoothie.. hehe

From the bus, we saw the polar bear! Yay! Rafa loved it! It was so white and it was swimming happily..

Hi! I am Mr. Polar Bear!

And then we went to see the gorillas. To get there, we had to ride on am outdoor escalator. This is so nice. Malaysia needs a lot of this. I am so lazy of walking…

There were so many of them in the enclave. They were running around, playing I believed and they were really humongous .

Then one of the bigger ones stopped in front of Rafa and showed him his butt! Hahahahaha! Biadap punya gorilla!

Masya Allah… Magnificent animal. Would pee my pants if I encounter one in the wild. Mujur kat Malaysia takde gorilla.

Then we moved on the the next animal not available in our country (at that time) the PANDA BEARS! Yay! Even is San Diego Zoo there was a long queue of people wanting to see this cute furry species.

But it was worth it! The big mama panda was sitting there happily eating her bamboo lunch and facing us. She was so cute!

And she was a poser  too! Look how she glanced up at the camera. hahaha! Binatang kat san Diego Zoo ni pandai posing lah! LOL…

Alhamdulillah! Miki happy lah dapat tengok panda… Tak payah pergi Zoo Negara dah..

We also saw a grizzly bear, native to north america, big and fierce. And below, another animal takde kat Malaysia, the Koala. Tapi Koala tak posing.. sebab dia sibuk tidor. Pemalas tul! ahaha

There were cables car but we didn’t ride that. The shops at the zoo sells really nice and quality stuff. We bought some souvenirs, Miki and Rafa bought this animal heads toy thingy and one of them broke after 30 minutes. Takpe. Dadddy memang chop duit.. hmmpph

We went for lunch at this cafe in the zoo. I am amazed at how other people can bring home made food from Malaysia to reheat when they are abroad. Rajin dan save giler. Bagus diorang ni… Aku takde. Aku tak kuasa satu.. keduanya kalau dah pergi berjalan tempat orang belajarlah makan makanan orang ye Miki Rafa…

At that time we were very hungry but most cafes were selling sausages and since they were pork, I geli lah! In the end we found this cafe that had vegetarian menus. I walloped this vege burger, it was yum!!! Macam grizzly bear kan aku makan?? Hahaha…

We also had fish and chip yang sedap!

After we left the San Diego Zoo, it was such a lovely afternoon so we went for a walk at Balboa Park. Sangat cantik tempat ini Masya Allah…

Again I want to say that I love this Californian weather.. Love it! At Balboa Park there were many museums and great attractions. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to see them. One of the museums were having Pirate exhibition, I know Miki would love it but who knows kalau ada rezeki kita pergi lagi ye Miki…

Art Museum! I nak masuk! Tapi dah tutup… 🙁

Happy Miki!

Jalan-jalan at the gorgeous Park, we stopped at a fountain and the kids ended up joining the mat salle kids playing with the water.

Too much fun! Way too much fun!

By the way, in San Diego we stayed at Red Roof Inn. About US$100 per night, we were very satisfied with this place. They served breakfast of breads, cereal, toasts, yogurt, fruits etc that suits our diet and these Americans were very friendly and helpful.

I had a great overall experience in San Diego… Writing more soon…

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