Hsinchu Zoo

   This Saturday, my aunt decided to bring my nephew to the Hsinchu Zoo(新竹市立動物園) on the spur of the moment. It was the beginning of the three-day holiday of Taiwan's National Day, also called Double Tenth Festival. As usual, if I don't plan to go abroad on vacation, I don't go elsewhere in Taiwan. I fact, my original schedule for the holidays was staying home resting, going to my Italian class on Saturday afternoon, and working on Sunday.  However, I couldn't resist the invite to the zoo with my family. (When was the last time I went to a zoo? Maybe ten years ago?) I asked for a leave to my Italian teacher.



  The zoo is located right in the Hsinchu City with the entrance fee 10 NTD per person. That's pretty cheap. I think it's because of the size of the zoo. Hsinchu Zoo is a small zoo. People are able to walk on all the paths in the zoo in half an hour. We arrived at the zoo at one in the afternoon. The weather was nice. Not too hot, and the breeze blew intermittently. Many people like us brought their kids to the zoo. The first animal we saw was an antelope. A really huge one. Due to the fence limit we were not able to look at it closely. Then we saw a beautiful white horse, which was my nephew's favorite. I guessed the time we visited the zoo was time for lunch, so most animals were eating their food. So did the horse. It was having its bountiful hay meal. We walked by a stinky pool (really really stinky) for pink pelicans. There was a area for some scarce animals: the Bangal tigers, the orangutans, and the Malayan sun bears. The tigers were sleeping deeply, and the bears were walking in a circle (maybe they were bored?). There were some crocodiles lying like statues. Oh, we also saw a hippopotamus.

    I think the most interesting part visiting a zoo is to look for the animals inside the region they belong to. They may hide upon a tree, in a pool, or anywhere possible. It's a pity that there were no giraffe or elephant. My brother said next time when he is back from Shenyang, China, he will bring us to the Taipei Zoo(木柵動物園) , which is the largest zoo in Taiwan where we can see elephant, panda, koala, and even pigeon. That will be another fun trip.

My nephew and I

The ostrich