China: pt.3 - Beijing Aquarium

I realize I didn't start my little "how I experienced Beijing/China"-series in the most positive way. That will change though, pinkie swear. It got better after the zoo. A lot better.

After walking until our feet (and my heart - pardon the cliché) hurt in the zoo, we finally found the Beijing Aquarium. It has huge, as things apparently tend to be around there. And, even though we were a tinsy bit scared of what we'd find, (I personally fantasized about whales lying in a puddle in concrete boxes, and fish gently floating on its back in various aquariums), we finally decided to go in. The blistering sun ushered us in as well, I'll admit. And man. What a different world, compared to the outside zoo.

Fishies! And in so many colours! I got my diver's license in Sri Lanka last year, and one of the best parts of it was so just follow small fish around the corals. Just staring at the rainbow of colours found in both the tiny things swimming around me, aswell at the plants and corals, was an awesome way to spend a day. And now, there were fishies everywhere!


I'm not sure I can say, with my hand on my heart, that all the little creature we stumbled upon in the aquarium had the optimal sized area to move in. Freedom would be the optimal size now, wouldn't it? But consider this: while a panda is stuck on the ground, a fish held captive in the same area would also be able to move up and down. To be rational about it: they're using their given area more effectively. I don't support putting everythig we see in cages and boxes. But when I'm presented to all these things that the world has to offer, I'm still baffled by its beauty. And so many things in the aquarium cannot be described in any other way. Simply beautiful. I like aquariums. They let me see a world I don't belong in, a party of colours and shapes I'm not invited to but still get to peek at.

While the tropical fishes and corals were nice and dandy for a good while, what we found next held up captive for an indecent amount of time. There were colours, and shiny lights and aquariums so big I felt like a little kid just staring into the water. "Why", you might ask. "What can be better than little fishies in shiny colours? Hmmm?". Well. They had this:

JELLYFISH! After seeing this video a few months ago, I've been just a tiny bit obsessed with the mindless little lumps of jelly. Because, even though they're probably not so self-conscious about it, they look absolutely stunning. They way they swim, the way they float and the way they seem to just not give a damn about how we struggle with gravity while they magically float around - the little girl inside me wanted to jump up and down, clap her hands and yell "prettyyy!". (Let's not discuss if the older girl on the outside did the same.)

And hold on tight, because there will me more jellyfish up soon. I have too, I've got some many photos of these little jelly monsters that I should be ashamed of myself.