The Saigon Zoo

The Saigon Zoo

Yesterday the planets all aligned in just the right way to make it a perfect Saigon Zoo day!  Well, more or less.  Actually, it was the alignment of the several natural, though maybe-not-planetary, events.

First, it was a lazy Sunday afternoon.  A typical how-should-I-enjoy-today day.  Secondly, it was a cloudy day – no scorching tropical sunshine (always a pleasant relief for me here in Saigon).  Thirdly, it was cool – relatively speaking.  The afternoon temperature never quite reached 29 C (84 F) – coolly below our recent afternoon high temps approaching 35 C (mid 90’s F).  Fourthly, it did not rain.  Yes, a cloudy, cool, no-rain Sunday afternoon!

Perfect – it’s off to the Zoo! 

But, how?  Hai was already at his restaurant whipping up scores of cơm tấm (broken rice) dishes for his local customers …  I’d have to find my own way to the Zoo today.

I consulted the Saigon bus route map (conveniently found here on Eating Saigon! 🙂  )

Eureka! – Bus #30 (stops just outside my apartment) would take me almost directly to the Zoo entrance.  The fates had spoken.  The Zoo was now calling more loudly!

As it turned out, there was actually a surprise, but pleasant, five block walk from where I got off Bus #30 to the Zoo entrance.  Không vấn đề (not a problem.)

Greeted by dozens of vendors with their colorful balloons, bánh mì (Vietnamese sandwiches),  cá viên (barbecued balls of ground fish), and offers of taxi, xe ôm (motorbike taxi) and cyclo rides, I entered the Zoo grounds and paid my 12,000 vnd (60¢ USD) entrance fee.

The Saigon Zoo – What a treat!

There may be only one place in the entire 15 million-people-populated Ho Chi Minh City where there’s a general sense of peace, quiet and relaxation.  And I just found it!

Truly amazing.  The Zoo was crowded, yes.

But people strolled slowly.  Saigon’s frantic pace just outside the Zoo gates softened to shuffle here inside the park. NO motorbikes in sight!  REPEAT – Not a single motorbike insight!  Young couples sat everywhere, side by side on the park benches, sometimes gazing into each other’s eyes; most times gazing into their respective smart phones screens.  The sounds in the Zoo park seemed  muffled and soft – an absolutely rarity in chaotic, honking, blaring-music’d Saigon.  Even the hoards of young children grouped around the animal cages and ponds seemed to have been somehow seduced into a gentler, quieter enjoyment of their surroundings.

Large old shade trees everywhere – many labeled for the botanists in the crowd, providing both the botanical and common English names.  Winding gardened walkways.  A history museum.  Lakes and creeks – yes, man made, but very pleasant.  Bonsai gardens. Koi ponds. Occasional food vendors.  A slow shuttle train winding through the park.  All making for a wonderful and peaceful Sunday afternoon.

And, oh yes … the animals.

A surprisingly broad collection.  Gibbons, orangutans, lions, white tigers, elephants, hippopotamuses, flamingos, a white rhinoceros, and on and on and on.  Simple displays, basic and sparse cages.  Clearly not the San Diego zoo.

But, then again, not the Hanoi zoo either.  (I recall from years ago at the Hanoi zoo having been horrified at the plight of the sole elephant, brutalized by his chained isolation.  And being aghast at the number of rats running amok through the zoo there, out-numbering by far the number of caged animal and zoo visitors combined.)

But here, at the Saigon Zoo, I had an overall sense that there was a bit more attention to cleanliness, maintenance and care of the animals.

Clearly, much was still lacking.  Children freely threw food into the primate cages. Plastic bottles were tossed into animal habitat ponds.

And the elephants paced and rocked in their limited spaces.  NOT being an aficionado of zoo standards and care, I can’t rate where the Saigon Zoo falls in the international zoo rankings.  But, likely in the lower quarter percentile.

But, notwithstanding some concern for the animals, my trip to the Saigon Zoo did provide a pleasant and enjoyable escape from Saigon’s daily street chaos – especially on a cloudy, cool, no-rain Sunday afternoon. Oh, if you or the kiddies choose not to walk, for 15,000 vnd (10,000 vnd if you’re very short) you can cruise the Zoo effortlessly.

POSTSCRIPT:  It’s now Monday morning – cloudy, cool again, but with steady rain. Maybe a Saigon Zoo umbrella day.  But, now I’m sitting directly across the street from the entrance gate to the Zoo, at the ground floor of the PetroVietnam Tower, in Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s latest Ho Chi Minh City cafe.  A great place to enjoy a cappuccino and remember yesterday’s pleasant stroll through the Zoo.

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