Chester

Chester.

Have you ever heard this city?

I have heard it from my lecture. He asked us to watch and analyse "Chester Zoo" drama that tells a story about the journey of the owner to build Chester Zoo, the first zoo with no cage based on true story. So we got curious about the zoo in UK and we tried to visit. And here's the story.

[22nd January 2016]

We took train from Manchester to Chester. It only takes about one and half hours. Then, we took the bus X8 that went to Chester Zoo. You can buy the bus ticket inside the station in the tourist information. If I'm not mistaken, it only costed not more than 5 pounds for return.

The journey from station to the zoo was about 20 minutes. After that you still need to walk to go inside the zoo area, went through the parking area. You can buy the zoo ticket, there is a special price for students (around 20-28 pounds). You also can buy the ticket online that will give you cheaper prices. Then we were off to go exploring the zoo.

The zoo has a lot of animals collection, however the most interesting for me was the Indonesian section. So, actually they has Indonesian animal collections and they kept it in the special area with Indonesian traditional housing. I'm so proud to be Indonesian! But at the time I visited, the Indonesian section was under construction, so we couldn't go inside.

Pinky goose.

Penguin!

Can you see the animal? Because I can't

Indonesian section: Sumba, Papua, Bali, Sumbawa, Sulawesi, etc. with the Indonesian traditional house.

Inside the butterfly house.

They have a cable car facilities to across the zoo from one side to another if you are too tired, it costed 5 pounds for returns and 3 pounds for single journey. They also offered some attractions, such as elephant feeding, monkey feeding, dolphin attractions, etc. Just like the normal zoo in Indonesia, such as Taman Safari. Don't worry if you get hungry inside, there was a lot of food stand as well as restaurants.

After a long long way, we finally got finished exploring everything and I made a conclusion. The zoo in Indonesia (Taman Safari) is better than Chester Zoo, considering the animal collection. In Chester Zoo, the animals always sleep and sometimes they were hiding, so we couldn't see them. But in Safari, you can feed the animals from your car and they will always be there around you. So, I am a proud Indonesian.

At the end of the tour, you can buy merchandise in the shop, from doll to the book of "Chester Zoo" that tells story just like the drama that I told you above.

We still have around 2-3 hours, at first we were planning to go to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, famous place to shop with cheaper price in UK. However, we were afraid that the time wouldn't be enough. So, we decided to have dinner around the station. However, if you go to Chester, it is very recommended to go to Cheshire Oak if you plan to go shopping a lot, especially in Boxing Day and Black Friday with a lot of additional big discount. There is a lot of famous brands with cheaper price! Watch out your money.

So, our dinner was really really fancy in the pub across the station. We tried steak for the first time in UK. Yeah the taste was quite good. After we finished, the desserts were so attempting! So we tried TOFFEE APPLE CRUMBLE and COOKIE CUP EXPLOSION. I still remember now that the desserts taste REALLY REALLYY GOOD! They were crunchy and sweet. OH I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! Wish I can eat this in the future and wish to find it in Indonesia.

Toffee Apple Crumble. Can you see the crumble is so crunchy even from the look with the vanilla sauce. UUUHH.

Cookie Cup Explosion with cruchy cookie, marshmallow and ice cream is a perfect blend!

So this is my story when exploring Chester, especially Chester Zoo.

Things you need to know about UK Train

* You can buy your ticket online. In the link that I gave you <-- , you can compare the price of bus, train dan flight. Usually it can be cheaper to go by plane than bus or train, especially if you go somewhere far (such as London-Edinburgh). You can try another link too.

* It is recommended for you to buy online ticket, to make sure you get the best price and get the sit. However, you also can buy in the station.

* If you are planning to take train often (inside and outside city), you can make rail card that can give you 30% discounts every transaction.

* At the station, print your real ticket by entering your booking number. Your ticket will be checked inside the train.

* If you didn't book a certain seat, you can seat wherever you like as long as there is no one booked that seat. You can know from the tag above the seat.

* However, you can give your preference of seat in your booking and get your seat booked (such as plugs, near window, etc.)

See you toffee apple crumble and cookie cup explosion,

Amelia Stephanie

#travelwithamel #chester #chesterzoo #cheshireoak