Singapore - Zoorific

[Sunday Oct 7th]
Today we got an early start and headed next door to the Technology Mall. Wow, Terry was in heaven! It was a six story mall and every shop was a technology store. How bizarre and totally cool is that? They had everything you could want and everything you never needed there. They had a 120 inch flat screen for sale, big money! They also had tons of computer stores, what an array of laptops there are out there. We walked away with nothing but our lunch, how sad and funny is that? Even sadder than that is Terry was feeling very western-food deprived, so we ate at a little delicatessen on the ground the floor. Terry tried the lasagna and it came out hotter than hot. It wasn't that good either, so he was really disappointed. After stopping at McDonald's and trying out the local Coca Cola, we decided to get a cinnamon swirl croissant for the road.

We started to walk to the National Museum of Singapore eating our croissant on the way. Sounds great, right? Not if you're allergic to nuts and you don't realize there was some in there! Usually Anna is so careful and avoids everything, but it did look safe. We walked part of the way to the museum and headed back to the hotel for some medicine. Anna's lips were swelling, not a pretty sight. On the way back it started to storm. We heard the loudest crashes of thunder we have ever experienced. The rumbling echoed though the city and seemed to shake our bones. It was very cool and would have been more fun had we not been in such a hurry. We were running under all of the canopies outside each skyscraper, Singapore is full of Skyscrapers. How else do you manage to have 4 million people living in such a tiny island?

Well, we made it to the hotel. Anna got her medicine, which makes her very sleepy and she ended up taking a two hour nap. After the nap we got going, again, and went to the museum. We went to the History & Living exhibit. It was so neat to see and experience all of that. We each got a little portable device with a screen and a head set. There were numbers on the floor for each area. You punched in the number on your device and it gave you audio commentary. You could choose more commentary about the area and sit and listen, or you could punch in the number for any photo, statues, artifact, etc. They had full write-ups and description, some even had video relating to each item. It was very well laid out and well done. We could have spent tons of time there, but we were a little rushed because they were closing that exhibit and we got a late start. We were really happy with all that we saw. They had on exhibit still open, 'Empire of Nature'. It was a large collection of original drawings and painting made by William Farquhar that detailed all the plants and creatures he found and discovered here long ago. Quite interesting, especially when you think he sent these strange drawing back home to people who had never seen such crazy animals, flying squirrels, yeah right...

After the museum, we took our first trip on the MRT (the subway system). We decided to check out the Night Safari. The subway was easy to get around in and like the rest of the island was impeccably clean (remember, this is the place where gum is illegal). The MRT didn't run close enough to the Zoo so we needed to transfer to a bus. We came across a random van that had a posting on it related to the Night Safari. We spoke with a guy and he sold us tickets to the Safari and the Tram ride for the same price as the ticket counter, and he'd give us a ride there. We signed up! Zoom were were gone, we were the last seats! Soon we arrived at the Night Safari and we got on a tram that took us around a Zoo/park (more free-range like). We got to see Lions, Tigers, Rhinos, Giraffes, Elephants, and a Tapir walked less than a foot next to our tram cart, it was amazing! Its was dark out and they had gentle lighting out so you can see the animals out and about. There was a point along our tram journey where the tram stopped and we could get out and walk around some trails. It was a little scary walking around being in a open concept zoo and night, very little lights to help keep you on the trails. We were heading on the Leopard trail afterall... Along the trail you get to get really close to a lot of these animals, while still being safe. Terry went in an area that Anna would not go. It was filled with large bats, very disgusting. Terry got a little frightened as he nearly walked right into a hanging bat. Their wingspan was over 2 foot, and just hanging there they were about 1.5 feet tall, just massive! We came to the Leopard exhibit and we were standing right against the glass looking into the area looking for activity when all of a sudden a Leopard was right infront of us, only the glass separating us! Anna got quite startled.

After the walk we continued with the tram ride to see the rest of the animals. It was very fun. When the tour was over we both decided that we were very hungry and needed to eat, so we ate at the zoo at nearly midnight. Can't say we've ever done that before! Anna had Sweet & Sour Prawn and Terry had a steak. Both meals were very good, but the Sweet & Sour definitely reigned out. Because it was really late, we decided to take a taxi back to the hotel and that ended our second day in Singapore. What a great day.