Roaring into Lion City

Friday 28 -Sunday 30 May 2010

Took advantage of the Wesak weekend holiday to head down to Singapore. Jerry needed to make a visa run anyway as his visa expires in a few days. Highway was damn bloody jam as everyone was going somewhere or another. Our bus ride took 5 1/2 hours to reach a rainy Singapore.

We stayed with Jerry's uni mate Shehan and his wife ET, both Sri Lankans. They were such nice hosts who cooked us a big Kiwi fry up for breakfast. Ironic that my first Kiwi breakfast should be in Singapore.

Shehan's Big Kiwi fry-up

Shehan stays in an apartment on Emerald Hill Road. The walk up is damn poyo with expensive looking cosy bars at the bottom and fancy heritage houses lining both sides of the road. Shehan said he asked about the rental there once and the agent said S$25K. A MONTH!! Sheesh. This is just a tiny double storey terrace shophouse mind you, although they are heritage buildings but S$25K??? That's like RM60K a month! That's disgusting. Might as well just buy the bloody thing. How can people throw so much money away? I can buy a low cost house each month with that amount.

Wanna rent these shophouses for S$25K a month?

Was supposed to meet up with Carolynn and Byron at Clark Quay that night but we got lazy and stayed home enjoying drinks with Shehan instead. Sorry you guys! Walked around the city the next morning. Damn bloody hot! Almost had a heat stroke.

The impressive Marina Bay Sands

Walking around town

Here comes my favourite part. Singapore's Night Safari!! Singapore never dissapoints when it comes to their attractions. I enjoyed their Zoo with Tanya the last time I was there and the bird park was apparently good as well (don't remember it though as I was young but I trust my daddy!) Night Safari is S$22 for the entrance fee and S$10 for the tram ride.

Being the kiasu buggers we arrived before 7pm, the opening hours of the park, to be treated to a tribal performance by... wait for this... a Borneon tribe!! What they doing showcasing our people?? I swear they were wearing Iban costumes.

Tribal performances

Had these yummy yummy Bongo lamb burgers for dins

It's really weird this night safari. The animals here are exactly like Singapore - everything's all in place and everything feels like they are putting on a show. You would expect to be squinting for lazy hidden animals only to catch a glimpse of its motionless backside in the dark but no, not singaporean animals.

We saw every single animal except for the Tapir and indeed, a glimpse of the rhino's ass. It's really weird. When you appraoch their enclosure, the animals are always doing something like eating or posing. The Fishing Cat was hunting for fish (ok, the keepers threw fish pellets into the water to make the fish jump) and the otters were swimming and posing on the logs like puppies begging for attention.

The hyena posed in the light (Lion King style) everytime a tram passed by and the leopards, lion & tigers all did the same. The kancils were happily munching away in the light just a mere 2 feet away oblivious to the noisy humans rudely pointing at them. The fruit bats were happily munching away right in my face. I could just reach out and...
At one point, I suspected the animals to be mechanical coz it's just unnatural to be moving about so actively everytime someone walks by! Like, it's too perfectly orchestrated. But I'm not complaining. I reckon the animals are just so used to humans and their food is placed in the light so they keep heading there.

ET, Shehan & Jerry for the tram ride

Love the zebra chairs!!

Various animals at the park

Flash photography is not allowed at most enclosures so I gave up trying to capture any pictures as it was just too dark for the pics to come out nicely. We ended up leaving the park at midnight. There was just so many things to see! Really enjoyed ourselves there. Highly recommended for animal and nature lovers.