T'other day, my wife told me of a secret 'llama' place nearby our home that she wondered into, but was unsure what it actually was. She never entered per se, but there was something involving the visage of a llama.
It would be highly unlikely that an actual llama would be involved in whatever it is she's talking about, because not only are we in the middle of a city, but we're in the most industrially cramped, high-rise dystopian section of it. There's barely space for a patch of grass in a plant pot, let alone some kind of farm or zoo.
So what on earth did she stumble across?
Well, curious as we are, we finally went last weekend.
Down the side of an alley, a rather obscure, inconspicuous sign - little more than a small circle on a pole - took us down the side of a dark sub-alley... oh geeze.
We were met with a dead end with an unstaffed front desk. Around us was an eclectic collection of... just, stuff. None of it made sense at the time; an old, busted piano, framed stick insects, a glass cupboard of creepy dolls... A llama on a TV greeted us on the wall. So that explains the llama bit at least. It spoke to us in Chinese although I must admit, I wasn't even trying to understand it, as I was fascinated by floor-to-ceiling collections. It's hard to explain.
The llama gave us some clues as to how one opens the door. Took me a good couple of minutes to find the 'door open' button right next to the TV... it wasn't concealed in any way, it just blended into the chaotic collection of cool junk surrounding us.
After pressing this open button, the wall on which the talking llama TV was set swung open and unveiled to us a bizarre world you would never expect, well, anywhere.
Let's explore
The first think we're met with is a much larger open, outdoor space than I expected. At first I got the impression it was one of those kinda private bars that only advertise through social media or something.
Going inside, however, we are greeted by...
CAPYBARA???
Now I'm just gonna say right off the bat, I found this ethically questionable. A bar using animals as a novelty is somewhat concerning to me, depending on how they're treated I guess. These capybaras looked pretty chill and unbothered by their surroundings but then again, that's literally what they're known for. But, the caretakers seemed genuinely into it and caring enough that I felt a lot less concerned about these animals than I ever did visiting a zoo in these parts of the world. So I let it slide. They looked happy, relaxed and healthy.
Also, there were at least four so the social element at least did seem to be appeased.
Still, CAPYBARA! I've had an ancient, blurry picture of a capybara as my microsoft account profile picture since long before they were a well known creature, back in the days people didn't even believe me when I told them there existed giant guinea pigs the size of dogs.
This was, of course, the first time I had ever seen one in person, and you wouldn't believe how rough and thick their fur is, like each strand was an extra thick whisker.
Speaking of guinea pigs, GUINEA PIGS!
On several table tops, guinea pigs exploored with moderate freedom and tbh, looked like they were living better lives than the large collection I had as a kid growing up.
So... what was this place? I'm still not sure. Some kind of petting zoo?
You see, there were indeed tons of animals, the more you explored, all completely available for petting and hanging out with. Birds, lizards, insects, hedgehogs, red pandas, even meercats!
There was even a more traditional cat cafe built within.
As you might expect from the initial TV appearance, therein resides a couple of big ol' llamas too! (Actually I'm fairly sure they're alpacas).
This actually struck a memory. A year or so ago, I remember were were in a taxi, and we were caught by a random white llama/alpaca being walked like a dog in the streets of Shanghai. We thought it was just some eclectic person, but wondered about it. I'm now pretty certain it was these llamas, as they looked like the only creature who didn't have enough land space to stretch their legs as much as they would like. So they go on Shanghai walks!
Oh, but there's more
In China, and increasingly the western world, there seems to be this entrepreneurial idea of combining things into 'everything businesses'. For example here, we have the whatsapp equivalent, WeChat. But it's also your main payment app, your booking of cinemas and restaurants, your mini-app handlser, work and home blend into one place, and you essentially cannot function whatsoever without WeChat.
Elon Musk claims he plans to turn X into the same kind of everything app.
There are examples of physical spaces being used in a similar way too, none more blatant than here.
There was indeed a bar, a poker table, a live performance venue, an escape room, a maze, a ball pit, a house of mirrors, a PS5 VR room, a fishing spot, slot machines, and some other things I forgot... ridiculous!
The thing is, it had almost no customers, likely because it's so secret. They told us that the place absolutely bleeds money, but has nonetheless been open for at least 10 years. This is because it's actually a passion project by some wealthy businessman who likely sees the expenses for the whole place as one less ivory backscratcher.
It probably also has large groups booking the place here and there to hang out for hours and rake in the big bucks, rather than couples like us. It's set up to be family friendly but also somewhere you can do karaoke or pretty much whatever you want for hours on end.
Quite a magical secret, and in fact, I won't be telling anyone the name or location of it in hopes to keep it that way!
With such an introduction it looks like it was made for a horror movie, you have to be brave to flip a switch based on instructions from a talking llama in a place where there are no people. Although I must confess that the idea of moving into the unknown under those kinds of impressions is also exciting.
It is strange but some animals have a harder time in the zoo than in places where they "shouldn't" be, of course, nothing like their natural habitat, but when they will be in the care of people it is more important what kind of people they will be, even more important than the environment.
And finally it turns out that there were llama, but more fascinating is that he was able to decipher the mystery of that old encounter with them. I seriously believe that you were meant to visit this place, more than that, it was something you needed to do and didn't know it.
It is good that someone can maintain it regardless of the income it generates because that way its existence is guaranteed, in particular I prefer to visit places where there are not so many visitors, when things have that exclusive touch it becomes more exciting to visit.
Even if you don't reveal the location (it's still too far away for me) you have revealed the existence of something great. Now I'll be more careful of those inconspicuous corners in my city, maybe I'll discover something great, who knows.
This city is one of the safest in the world. Still doesn't make it safe safe, but as a tall adult man, I don't tend to fear dark alleys too much haha. I do enjoy the mystique too, though.
Certainly you should explore the nooks and crannies where you are. In cities, there's always something somewhere, even if its a natural formation. We have become too accustomed to only looking for things we find on tourism websites, top ten lists, etc.
Thanks for stopping by!
My daughter visited a zoo in China, I think it was in Shenzhen, years ago and said the conditions were horrible, as you suggest.
Your pictures are great, as always, and the narrative interesting. If the animals were rescues, then the shop is a fine place for them. They may have been. Otherwise, probably not the ideal home... 😄
Yeah I can only justify their treatment in context of where they are, unfortunately. Compared to the zoos they're living in a veritable paradise. I have refused to go to zoos ever since I first went to one here tbh, in a small city in the middle of nowhere.
It's those cities where you see the true misery of it. Big places like Shenzhen are bad enough but out there... it's just concrete holes in the ground with nothing but a single underweight polar bear and its years-long collection of urine. Mortifying, and powerless to do anything about it.
So, some chubby capybaras with friends and freedom to roam with lots of social opportunity and trained caretakers... I can deal with that.
Hardly a photographer, but I do like to clean the lens, at least ^__^
Que bonito e interesante lugar para visitar. Gracias por compartir 🤘
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