Calgary Zoo - one of the top 10 Zoos in the world

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So it's been a couple weeks since my blog entry which pretty much is the last time I went snowboarding. Yes I have been lazy. But I'm back into the swing of it. Today was an exciting day, Tess(an NZ girl working with me) and I were going to the zoo. We were getting picked up by Chelsea(a girl that we also work with) at 10am and she was dead on time.She was also with her long time high school best mate Adam, who she hadn't seen for 10 years. So we jumped into her 7 seater Van and drove off to the zoo. At that point when Chelsea and Adam were just talking continuosuly to each other about the last 10 years of their life, I realised that the connection you have with a good friend will never change. It is such a good feeling to have when you haven't seen a good friend for ages and then when you do have the chance to catch up with that good friend. It'll only take you less than 30 seconds to find that connection where you left off when you last talked to them.

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Anyhow back to the zoo, we were well truly on our way to the zoo until sirens sounded 'Whoop,'Whooooop' A police car was behind us so we pulled over and Chelsea was freaking out at this point because she has never been pulled over by a cop before. A straight A record was about to change. So the police did the copper strut with hands on his waist up to the car and Chelsea wind down her window to talk to the police.

"Maam do you know why I pulled you over today?" the copper said.

Chelsea was pretty frantic and scared and said "I have no idea".

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After a minute or 2 with general police questions, it appeared that we were speeding doing 80 in a 50 zone and in a construction zone as well. After the police got her license and registration and insurance papers. He walked back to his card to do the general check on her license and car. But when he walked back he did not deliver good news. It was a total $710 fine, with 3 seperate fines, one for speeding, the second for speeding in a construction zone, and thirdly having a photocopy of the original registration in her car. But then the words that everyone wished that came out of the policemans mouth "I'm going to let you go this time" had been somewhat magically spat out of his mouth.

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"It's a miracle", Chelsea screamed with excitement and then thanked the policeman and we drove off smiling. I would have felt bad if she had the fine. One thing in Canada is that they are pretty lenient on the speeding but when you get caught they really send you bankrupt.

But it was a happy ending and we went on to meet Wayne(my boss) at the Zoo. Wayne had complimentary tickets waiting for us at the gate because his Dad was the head chef at the zoo. So there was $17 bucks we saved each.

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Once we got into the zoo, we quickly grabbed a bite and then went on to see the animals. I was trailing behind the group all day like a Japanese Tourist, taking the opportunity to take a photo of anything that was a little intriguing. We saw lots of animals that I haven't ever seen before, like squirrels, Echidneas which were massive, I've always pictured them to be small but they are like the size of a mini fridge. A big fat Hippo and his wife these things are like the size of a bus and it's so funny to see it swim, it's like he was floating in space. Then there was a Warhog which was sleeping, but many of the animals were. The life of a zoo animal is pretty much eat and sleep. Lions and tigers and Cougars and Wild cats and Buffalo's and Mountain Goats and lots more. It was all pretty amazing. We pretty much checked out the whole zoo in 4 hours apart from the Dinosaur Park. Well the Calgary Zoo is ranked one of the top 10 Zoos in the world so I'm glad I had seen it. Although I wanted to see a grizzly bear the most as I thought it would be walking around growling and roaring but when we saw it, it had it's fat ass pointed to us in a log sleeping and the only explantion I got was "it was hibernating." But oh well I did get some other memorable pictures with another grizzly I had bumped into though.

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After the Zoo we had a bite at the Marriot Hotel downtown. As we sat down and got served by this sophisticated waitress, I caught her name tag and it read Sydney. So I thought I'd ask her how she came about to be named Sydney? Since it was a city of Australia and because it was an unusal name to have for someone. I then said, it's like calling someone "Toronto". But apparently Sydney was the best voted name last year. But anyway onto the food. It was great, I had pork ribs with half a roast chicken and some twurly chips. MY drink was a Mojito, a shot of Barcardi Rum with some fresh lime mixed with Soda, a little dap of syrup and some crushed mint leaves. Hmmm it was a great tasting drink.

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Once one of those were down, we made the simple decision of going out and hitting a club. That place soon was Coyotes. When I showed the security at the door my Australian License, he looked at it with some doubt then said "No way, you're an Asian from Australia" and he gave me a massive hug. I then said "Do I get in for free?" But it didn't work. So apparently a lot of Canadians have not met an Asian Australian before. So I take it as a complement. Coyotes was like Cowboys shooter girls everywhere and hotter. It was another good night out, I ended up meeting this cute Asian girl who was there celebrating her sisters birthday with some other friends. But when I got her number she said she was "kinda seeing someone at the moment" but still gave it to me. So with that said. I never called. But I still wander why girls would give out their number when they are seeing someone. Maybe I will never know. By the time we left the club the coppers were outside the club and 5 of us hailed a taxi down and suprisingly he did agree to take 5 of us back home. Which was very lucky.