Khao Keow Open Zoo

Last weekend, our family took a day trip to the Khao Keow (Green Mountain) Open Zoo. It is only 45 minutes or so from our home, in Chonburi province. Zoo's in Thailand ordinarily have horrible reputations. Animals are often kept in "cells" with little food or water. They can often look injured as well. With a bit of skepticism, we headed off for the zoo and were pleasantly surprised. Many of the animals had nice open areas to roam. The animals looked well cared for and healthy. At the zoo entrance, they had stalls of people selling bags of fresh vegetables. At first impressions, I thought, "this is an odd place for a vegetable market, but ok, whatever...this is Thailand!" Upon further thought, I realized that these bags of veggies were for sale to feed the animals. We promptly bought a bag and had a great time feeding the animals. The kids were able to pet deer and get up close with giraffes! Gracyn loved feeding them, especially because of their long blue tongues! She thought that was very funny. Aidan wasn't too keen on them. I think their size was a little intimidating. He wailed! Jack was all excited about being able to touch a hyena and play with a very playful elephant calf. The calf kept trying to wrestle people with his trunk. Jack was all about that. We were able to feed some monkies as well. We even caught one monkey in the back of someone's truck helping himself to a bag of Lay's chips. We could imagine the arguements later that day with accusations flying regarding the missing contents of the bag. Too fun. This was a great family place to visit. Afterwards, we loaded the kids up in the car and took a little scenic drive around a resevoir in the area. It was such a beautiful drive. I couldn't get over how beautiful of a road it was. Maybe I was just starving for a little nature, but the drive had a very calming effect which doesn't occur much here. I highly recommend this day trip!