Singapore tour and the zoo!!!

We have been busy! I suppose that is the big difference between being in a city that’s designed like a theme park and being on a beautiful relaxing island! While Catherine was still here we enjoyed her company and made sure that we were back at the hotel when she was done doing her educational tours. We had a few more wonderful dinners, including an eat with your hand, absolutely wonderful Indian dinner! On the last day that she was in Singapore she had the afternoon off and we ventured out to Harbor Front which is one of the largest shipping ports in the world! We took a Harbor cruise on the Cheng Ho boat, named after a famous Chinese General. The tour was about 2 ½ hours through the harbor and we stopped off at a place called “Turtle Island” for a 30 minute stop. It was originally two reefs and was formed into a relatively good sized island. There were no large sea turtles, but sculptured marble turtles and plenty of areas with smaller tortoises. We enjoyed being able to relax, enjoy the scenery and enjoy one another’s company! It was such a nice treat to be able to meet up with her!

Obviously we had to move out of the Sheraton when Jonathan’s mom left so we had debated on where to go and finally decided on this place called “Betel Box.” We took a taxi and got there mid afternoon, which was quite possibly the worst time of day to arrive in a place that is only air conditioned in the evenings at the hottest time of year in Singapore! So we checked in and put our stuff upstairs in one of the big dorm rooms. We were a little put off by the place at first because it had said there were laundry facilities and that was something we desperately needed, as well as free internet. Turns out internet is only free for 30 minutes. Not to mention there were a few “characters” in our dorm… So we considered going to this neat little place we had come across in China Town when we were there the other day. We took the Metro over and booked a room there for the next night. I know, jumping all over Singapore just because of internet and laundry, but at the other place we would have access to a kitchen, which would help us save our money! Ok so the next day we took a one of a kind tour around Singapore via bike! It was so amazing but I am going to let Jonathan tell you all about it!

Ok so now we are at the Backpackers Inn in Chinatown! It is air conditioned all day and quiet. Also REALLY important we are doing our first loads of machine washed clothes since we left the states! Can you believe it?!?! I am way excited and am so glad that I can throw the clothes in a machine and not spend forever hand washing them and than finding a place for them to dry! Jonathan thinks it’s pretty funny that I am so excited about washing clothes, but it truly is a BIG deal! We went grocery shopping today! Now that you all know that we are really into our grocery shopping and markets, although here we hit up the grocery stores, which are all located in these huge malls. We even found the equivalent to a Whole Foods or Wild Oats, organic and healthier stuff.

One of the highlights of our stay thus far was a 35km bike ride around the island. Yes it’s true – we had no idea what we were getting into!!! We started the morning at around 10:30 a.m. and didn’t get back until 6:30 p.m. We were tired but it was AMAZING. The owner of Betel box Backpackers lead it and knew so much of Singapore’s history. From its founding days, to its problems with neighboring countries, to the many different factors that have contributed and driven it’s development. They are investing heavily in new water technologies at the moment…yup that means turning poop laden blue liquid into glacier clean hydration matter - whoa! We also had to take shelter because we got caught up in a wicked lightening storm. \ Singapore is one of the top places in the world for lightening strikes. In fact, one struck only about 300m away from us over a lake!! All this was cool – but getting a tour of their Red Light district was crazy. On any given night there are 1500-2000 girls on the street. When we were there (18:00) there were many girls already out. Some of the other backpackers were going to come back and ride in the back of Tony’s truck to see how many there were…we decided we were cool NOT doing that =p

We also went to the Singapore Zoo. It was spectacular. The walkthroughs allowed you to actually encounter the animals. Yes that means monkey’s jumping on you anywhere in the park, you could touch the ring tail lemurs, a herd of deer-mice walked right over our feet, giant red flying squirrels soared just above our heads and there were loads of other free roaming animals. There is a day zoo and a really cool night safari…all in all we spent 12hours there! Good thing we had lots of food and water. There were so many highlights…let’s start with Tara and I feeding a Manatee!! It’s true we had a great time watching them gobble boiled potatoes and carrots from our hands. Their skin was soft and they had whiskers that poked your hand every time you fed them! I must admit that I am trying to grow my hair long and one of the hobbit ponies at the entrance had the same color hair as I did…seriously I am now considering a hair cut. We watched Inuka (silent stalker in Eskimo speak), the 5m tall polar bear and his Mom Sheba feed on Watermelon and fish. They even throw a live fish in the water and we watched him hunt. You would think that a giant like that couldn’t sneak up on a fish…but ever so slowly and gracefully he did! Then there was the lion feeding…it was uneventful and the zoo people managed to hit a few lions in the face as they were throwing meat. Apparently, they had a big meal the day before so most shrugged off the blow but a few did eat. The zoo created a very intimate experience with the animals and the design let you be right next to them as you walked by! We were less than 10ft from white rhinos, tigers, hyena’s, giraffe’s and so much more. There was also a great seal show that involved penguins, seals, and sea cows! Seals are so fascinating, extremely intelligent and simply amazing in agility and speed in the water!

It’s Tara again! I get to talk about the Night Safari! Definitely the coolest part of our zoo experience, feeding the manatee was a close second! Ok so the Night Safari is the World’s first zoo that lets visitors visit animals and observe them in the nocturnal habitat. Pretty cool! The whole day I was wondering how the Night Safari worked and figured we would be walking around the same sections of the zoo, but just in the dark. WRONG! It was a whole separate zoo! Complete with a second set of animals, another pride of lions, herd of elephants, tigers, hyenas, giraffes, zebras, flying squirrels and the list goes on! So the best way to see the park is to take the tram that goes around the park around the main animal exhibits and than at the tram stops, get off and take a few of the walking trails. The walking trails take you through some of the exhibits (like the flying squirrels) or right in front of the exhibits. Ok so the funniest thing that happened during the Night Safari was at the tiger’s lair, ooohhh. Well the tiger spotted Jonathan (not that he was provoking it…) stalked back and forth a few times and then stalked towards the window (I thought he was going to attack the glass). He stops right in front of Jonathan and sprays his scent glands all over the glass in front of where he was standing. I started busting out laughing while Jonathan stood there speechless. My comment “So I guess all cats really are alike.” One of our friends here is an experienced San Diego zoo-goer and he swears that San Diego is the best in the World, but I am not sure, it was definitely the best zoo I have been to!

All of our love!