A Zoo without otters may not be a real zoo, but can still be pretty fun

On my second to last day in Patna, we went sightseeing through the city, with my favorite site probably being the Patna Zoo. Many of you may know how much I love the zoo: it combines a number of my favorite things, such as childhood throwbacks, ample opportunities for silly pictures and jokes with friends (e.g. spectacled bears), and, of course, otters. We elected to go the Patna Zoo on New Years Day, but once we arrived, learned that it was pretty much the hot spot for celebrating. Waiting in line involved a good deal of grinding up on the guy in front of me to ensure no one could cut in line, and, naturally the guy behind me symmetrically crotch-checking me. This picture kind of captures it, but without the density of crowds in attendance. Fortunately, I have become a master of the hip to hip tango, so was willing to wait in line to get tickets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loulouh/3650516393/

In a different twist from my usual zoo-going experience, we got to be one of the attractions: a number of people either surreptiously snapped photos on their camera, or just straight out asked us for one. Handshaking also occurred, and at least ten people wished us Happy New Years in English. My favorite was the person who yelled out at us “Heeeeeeeeello Foreigner!”, which I think you probably had to be there to understand the hilarity of.

As the lack of otters in the below picture attest to, there were also some crushing moments of sadness, but overall, a fun outing. I just hope the otters are in a happier place. People were cracking up about me taking a picture of an empty cage, rather than animals, but hey, even a sign with the word otter on it is still a wonderful thing.



The zoo also lacked some of the safety features that I have grown accustomed to. I suspected that the absence of the tigers from their exhibit was because the low barriers allowed them to roam elsewhere in the zoo, but fortunately there were no face to face encounters. In the elephant cage, there was also a random guy just sitting there next to the elephant. Perhaps it was a trainer, but I like to think it was a random guy who climbed over the absolute lack of any deterrent security measures into the exhibit.


Yeah, this is pretty easy to jump over.

There were also random awesome buildings in the shapes of animals.


Outside the zoo, I was able to add to my ongoing collection of pictures of goats in sweaters. All throughout the slums (and other places), during the "winter", every manner of sweater of canvas bag is placed on goats to protest them from cold. In addition to being totally unnecessary, it is completely adorable, and I get a smile on my face whenever I see it. I would totally start a Tumblr of this, but still am not quite sure what Tumblr is... and realize that anyone eager to see pictures of goats in sweaters is probably someone who should not have access to my email address or name.



If I remembered the order my pictures went in, I would insert this into the narrative flow: somewhere in there, we went to Café Dive, Patna’s premier (and only coffee shop). Because I have hit my making fun of Patna quota, I will not comment on it. And, in fact, I am unable to continue writing without an issuance of further snark and vitriol, so will cut it off here. Until next time.