I saw a post going around Facebook that entrance for Zoo Negara was free for February babies so we decided to go see some animals. Ayub and Aisha loved it, Sulaiman did not. Mr Ninja and I left feeling kinda sad to see the sad animals in their sad cages. We gave our stupid kittens lots of hugs and kisses when we reached home.

Admission was only RM44 because I am the best

February babies Mr Ninja and Sulaiman got in for free with the Zoo Negara birthday promotion. Individuals with an OKU card get free admission so Ayub was free too. And kiddies under 3 are free so Aisha didn’t need to pay for her ticket either.

Just lonely ol’ boring me. RM44 for an adult ticket. Hohoho.

I got totally suckered into paying RM125 for photos

So I’ve mentioned before that I love taking family pictures at these kinda places and will pay for one to be printed so we can keep it as a souvenir. Well. The moment we entered Zoo Negara, the photographers brought us to two backgrounds to take pictures. They were so pro. Do this pose, that pose, this pose, look here, look there. Snap snap snap.

Then we had to check the pictures. In my mind I was like, we’ll only buy one ^_^

But the salesgirl was like jabba jabba jabba you get SIX special for CNY and I was like nah I don’t need 6 prints of my family and she was like normal price is xxx blah blah blah and you get THE COMPLETE SOFT COPY OF ALL PICTURES and Mr Ninja is like yeah but we can take our own for free and she’s like ONLY FOR 2 DAYS you get this and this and this AND THIS yada yada yada plus this pack of magnets FOR FREE!!!

Mr Ninja looked at me and I looked at him and he looked at her and she looked at me and I looked at Mr Ninja and he looked back at me and we paid RM125 for everything.

I appreciate people with excellent sales techniques. Now behold the RM125 worth of pictures I paid for:

Ayub’s happy face makes all the pictures worth it. Plus we got to choose 6 to print out and frame. And I got my Zoo Negara magnets. I fucking love magnets.

The panda exhibit is the best

Aisha’s highlight of the day was seeing “bebear” i.e. the panda. I forget what his name is. The female is in confinement after giving birth. So it was just this dude.

Aisha was ready to jump into the enclosure to cuddle him up close. He’s in a nice air conditioned enclosure with lots of greens and a panda playground. We weren’t allowed to make noise so everyone was super quiet except for Aisha who was “BEBEAR BEBEAR BEBEAAAARRRRRR!!!!” all over the place.

You’re only allowed to be inside for 20 minutes max. I think. They scan your wristband before you go in and you’re not allowed in for a second visit after that. Aisha was so sad. She wanted to see Bebear again.

Luckily, the dude in a panda suit was walking around outside and Aisha’s eyes totally lit up when she saw him. “Bebeaaaaaarrrrr!!!” For the first time every she said this word: “hi!” And waved to the fella. He was a good sport, he waved back. Aisha was thrilled. He reached out his paw and she put her little hand in it then he gave her hand a kiss.

Aisha pretty much lost her shit.

She’s been asking for Bebear ever since.

The food is overpriced and insanely bad

We should have packed a picnic. I had sandwiches but they weren’t enough. We went to the Panda Cafe after seeing the panda.

They had “western” food, which consisted of sad fish and chips and even sadder chicken chop.

The stupid cafe didn’t even have any baby chairs like wtf.

Fish and chips with dry sad corn.

The chicken chop was tiny. Like half a normal portion.

Our sad meal came up to like RM80. 🙁

And they sold these sad looking panda cupcakes.

And these even sadder panda pao. Just regular pau but with black stuff stuck to it.

0/10,000 for the food in Zoo Negara.

The rest of the day with the animals

It was a super hot day and the zoo layout makes no sense. You go up one path to see the animals and it leads to a dead end so you have to u-turn and go back the way you came. So much walking under the scorching hot sun. There’s hardly any shade for humans, let alone the animals. Poor animals.

The aviary and butterfly garden were literally the worst

I mean, aside from the panda enclosure, everything was pretty bad and sad. But the aviary was so horrible we didn’t even bother with pictures. The place reeked of shit, the birds looked miserable, and I don’t think anyone has ever cleaned out any of the enclosures. KL Bird Park is the best.

Mr Ninja is scared of butterflies so he was not looking forward to going into the butterfly garden…

But once inside, we realised… there are no butterflies. I think I saw a total of 3. It was pathetic. Ayub was still super happy and adorable and excited to see bugs though. He’s the best.

Aisha showing you a bush.

It’s nice inside but super hot. Super super hot and humid and sticky. We were all feeling pretty miserable by this point.

Stupid butterfly garden.

For the best best insect and butterfly farm experience, you have to go to Entopia Butterfly Farm in Penang.

Final thoughts

Zoo Negara has improved a lot since the last time I was there 5 years ago. But it’s still pretty shit. Ayub and Aisha really loved it though. They are animal people. Ayub read every signboard and I think he learned a lot. It’s just a shame the animals live in such horrible conditions.

Sulaiman beat his high score on his pedometer

Sulaiman really likes numbers. We have to use numbers to get him to follow us on our adventures. I knew he wouldn’t enjoy Zoo Negara because he’s not that into animals, hates the hot weather, and has no interest in walking around for hours. So I gave him a pedometer. He likes watching the numbers go up as he walks. It’s the only way to get him to follow us around the zoo for 5 hours.

And he beat his record of 6,000+ steps from Gegaria! So well done Sulaimon!

I can’t wait to bring the kids to the Singapore Zoo

Everything Singapore does is infinitely better than whatever Malaysia does, with the exception of food. I am DEFINITELY bringing the kiddies to Singapore Zoo this year. Yaaaaas.