Green Planet

We finally got there after numerous attempts! This simulated rainforest has been open since last year. This summer, they had a promotion over the summer (50% off), so we decided it was time to check it out.

The day began with three more hours of phone calls. My car part arrived quite early, but I wasn't able to get it to Volvo as I had no way of getting there, so after G got home, and we had some lunch (at the Bagel Bar no less), we delivered said part and headed to the other side of town to experience a tropical rainforest.

As a single biodome, It is like a mini Eden Project, housed in a five-storey, purpose built building. We started at the canopy and worked our way down. More pictures in the extra. Two large blue parrots, a toucan, a chameleon and this sloth really stood out. The sloth was my main reason to visit, especially after Ice Age made Sid so lovable.

We were extremely lucky. Liam John Parker (yes, that is really his name) woke up at just the time that we approached his level in the forest, and he immediately started climbing upwards as he got the whiff of food from his keeper. We followed him and were rewarded with a bit more of his history and info about sloths. In the wild, they have whole ecosystems on their bodies because of the extreme humidity. We also learnt that Liam came from a sanctuary in Miami rather than the Amazon.

We got to watch Liam and his antics for more than thirty minutes during which I shot nearly 1GB worth of images! All in all, we were there just over two hours. It is warm and humid and really quite uncomfortable.

Back home for the evening, and G relaxed after a very non-stop day by watching "Shall We Dance" which was showing on TCM. Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez on screen at the same time - the movie was entertaining and had some great laugh out loud moments! I tried to do my blip but a faulty trackpad shut the browser and I lost all my text!

And lastly, whilst we were having lunch, just outside M&S, we saw posters advertising their 20th anniversary of operating in Dubai. Time really flies!