Shanghai Aquarium

Jill has been wanting to go to the aquarium for months and months and months…. and we even attempted to go to the 'Blue Zoo' here in Beijing. But bad directions interfered and we never made it back.

After riding in the most RIDICULOUS tunnel ride ever… Jill and I trekked over to the Shanghai Aquarium. I think we both we're feeling a little dubious when we saw this teeny tiny little inverted pyramid-esque building. Especially when the entrance fee was over 100 kuai! 

But we proceeded and boy are we glad! It turned out to be a labyrinth of excellent exhibits- just tank after tank after tank of the most interesting aquatic animals. 

The aquarium began with a traveling exhibit of 'deadly creatures of the deep.' That is where I got the LOVELY picture of the dragon head eel- that thing is creepy!

It then went into a section of animals form the Yangtze river- many of which are  very endangered. The Yangtze river dolphin is suspected to actually be extinct since none have been seen in years. :(

The rest of the aquarium was divided up by continent. It started in South America with a rain forest room. Then on to Australia and Africa. Our favorite continent was Antarctica because of the seal tank and the penguin tank. This one seal was such a flirt and would come and make eye contact with Jill and myself. It was awesome! He would swim around and then stop and bat his big eyes at us. We were swooning!

The penguins were not super bright- and so they just continually tried to swim through the glass…. but adorable none the less. I was just bummed to not be able to see the little buggers waddling!

Somewhere in there was also a jelly fish room filled with tank after tank of beautiful and scary jelly fish. They are just so beautiful, elegant and graceful. But they scare me so bad! I guess what I should say is….I appreciate them being on the other side of the glass. They also had the exhibit really exquisitely lit- so you could see every detail of the jellies. 

The last part of the aquarium was an underwater tram ride that weaved underneath 5 HUGE aquariums. It made you feel very much a part of the exhibit and also gave you a good sense of scale. Fish are big! haha

Overall a really great aquarium! I would say that it might be just about as good as the Baltimore aquarium- even if it is smaller. 

The pictures show a few of the highlights of the exhibits.