Our next planned activity for Golden Week was a trip to Tama Zoo and Tama Tech Motopia Park, both venues on our wish list of places to visit.
The main entrance of the park was decorated with many colourful carp streamers in honour of Children's Day. The flying streamers symbolize endurance, perseverence and fortitude. Parents hang streamers to wish their children future success.
We really enjoyed our trip toTama Zoo. For one thing, most of the exhibits had ample room for the animals to roam around in their designated enclosures, which made them appear to be more lively and active than most zoos we've visited in the past. It was also pleasing to see many different animals cohabiting. In one enormous section, the giraffes, zebras, oryx, pelicans and ostriches shared the same space.
One of the main attractions of the zoo is the lion bus tour. We arrived at the zoo rather early so the wait for the line wasn't long-less than 20 minutes.
The ride itself was rather short, but we got real close to the lions roaming around in their den.
Each time the bus departed from the passenger pick-up depot, raw meat was strategically hung outside of the windows of the bus to lure the animals to approach and retrieve the meat. This of course provided the perfect photo-op. At one point where the bus stopped, the lion was right in our faces with only a sheet of plexiglass between us. We thought Markus would be frightened by the closeness, though he handled it surprisingly well. I, on the other hand was feeling a little too close for comfort, but loved it anyway!
Markus picked out the perfect hat for the occasion...our little safari boy!
We really enjoyed being able to get up close for a fantastic view of the animals. Besides Markus' ever-so-favourite lions, he was also very fascinated by the elephants, kangaroos and orangutans. This kid can never get enough of animals.
After an afternoon of what seemed to be a lot of uphill walking in the zoo, we headed out to Tama Tech. It took us about 25 minutes to arrive, by foot.
Tama Tech is owned by Honda Motor Co. Ltd. It's official name has been changed to Mobilityland. It is an amusement park where children three years old and up can ride and operate small vehicles including motorcycles and go-karts while learning real traffic safety regulations. Of course, there were many rides for little tots like our little guy. He was so adorable geared up in the racing suit.
Rodney was amused by the
foreshadowing element of this photo
Children get to operate these vehicles in a makeshift village complete with traffic lights.
It was another long day of being out in the sun. We were all drained and managed to get some shut-eye on the long train ride back home. I guess you can say we're blending in really well with the Japanese...most passengers doze off on the trains at one time or another. They just seem to know when to wake up to get off at their stop.
To be continued...
