The zoo in Cambodia was an entirely different experience than any zoo I've been to in the US. First difference? They let you into some of the cages. Obviously we were not mauled by tigers or anything like that, but we did get to wander around playing with/feeding monkeys for a while, and got chased around by hungry, pregnant deer.
The deer would sneak up behind you and try to eat the potatoes out of your bag while you fed bananas to the monkeys. They were quite needy. We had an Ecuadorian friend with us at the zoo, and she screamed and jumped away every time the deer got anywhere near her, so it turned into a pretty chaotic mess of deer, potatoes, Cambodian women, American college students, monkeys, screaming Ecuadorians, bananas, and a ton of red ants.
The animals that actually were "caged", we pretty much just behind chain link fences that you can walk right up to. It would be easy to lose a finger/arm if you so chose. I chose not to.
Slightly less intimidating than the large cats were the long armed monkeys (which I'm quite sure is their scientific name). Although the seemed less intimidating at the start, they provided the only scare (or two, or six) of the day (besides the red ants, and that hurt... a lot).
You can walk right up to the caged monkeys and shake their hands/feed them. Or, you can reach out to hand them a banana and have them stick out their foot to grab it, which you of course think is just so cute and funny until they quickly snatch your shirt with their hand and pull you against the cage. You can also be standing next to the cage while not paying attention and have them reach out and grab your shirt sleeve and tear it. *Disclaimer* I was not the one grabbed by the monkey in either of these stories, I was just a witness.
My favorite little guy at the zoo was an orphaned elephant that they found in the wild. He had a broken leg, and was wearing a cast when we saw him. First of all, I was sympathetic to his cause. I felt a bit of camaraderie, seeing as my leg is also not at its finest this summer. Luckily for me though, when we figured out I need surgery, we scheduled a surgery rather than shooting me.
The elephants were all eating coconuts while we were there, and this little fella had a huge advantage. The bottom of his cast had a tire on the bottom, and he would step on it just enough to crack the coconut and then use his trunk to take pieces to his mouth. The other elephants seemed to struggle a bit with the "whole coconut" concept. I loved this little guy. If I could have an elephant as a pet, I totally would. Most of all, I'd really like an elephant to stay about size of a small-ish horse, and be my pet. Small enough to keep as a pet, big enough to ride. If anyone finds one of these, please let me know. ASAP. 
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