Singapore Zoo and Night Safari

Today Eliza and I spent the entire day at the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, which are actually two different zoos side by side.  We left the hostel at 9:50am and didn't get back until 11:30pm.  It was a long day but a lot of fun seeing alot of animals that are native to Asia, South East Asia, and some from Africa (very few if any from the Americas). 

Ready to start the day of exploring the zoo.

White Rhino baby and it's Mommy.

Hello Mr Iguana

Pygmy Hippos - Mommy and Baby (the 11th this Momma has had)

Pygmy Hippo - The Entire Family

Tortoises enjoying a late breakfast.

Orangutans in the world's first free-ranging exhibit, they were climbing all over the trees above our heads.

Timon! Saying Hello.

Yee-Haw!

More Tigers! But different breed from Harbin.

Asian Elephants.

Gambir the Elephant crossing a log, her feet never touched the ground even when she turned around.

Thank you for my hat Gambir.

Eliza feeding Janti, the next possible Matriarch in the Singapore Zoo elephant herd.

Me feeding Janti.

Giant Rabbits in the Kid's section (Eliza was curious how big a giant rabbit was).

Ring-tailed Lemurs smelling each others' bottoms.

Me and a very lazy Zoboomafoo! 

This little guy sat and posed for 5 minutes as the pesky humans took pictures of him.

"I didn't touch him."

Malayan Tapir

There are no pictures from the Night Safari as it was dark and they asked us not to use flash photography to protect the animals but here are some google images of some of our favourites from last night.

Asian Otters, these guys were so small and cute.  Whenever we stopped to watch them at their enclosures they would watch us hoping we had food for them.  One of them answered me when I said 'hello' to it.

This is a Fishing Cat, we stood and watched them for a few minutes as they contemplated catching some of the fish in the pond of their enclosure.

My new favourite cat after the Lynx.  This is a Serval, its coat is very similar to the above Fishing Cat but this guy is bigger and and very distinct large ears.  They had a momma and cub at the Safari and while we were watching the cub caught a mouse to eat.

And last but not least the Slow Loris.  This little guys were so cute and they actually moved pretty fast despite their names.  There were baby Loris' in a seperate enclosure that were even more cute than their parents.

Marina Bay Sands Skypark

Two posts in one day, no need of VPN is awesome!

After a short break at the hostel, Eliza and I headed down to the Marina Bay Sands Area instead of going to the Night Safari which was the original plan.  We went up the Marina Bay Sands hotel to an observation deck not linked to the hotel.  After that we took the river boat cruise to Clarke Quay for dinner at Hooters ( I wanted a burger and mozzarella sticks!).

Those shell like buildings are the Gardens by the Bay greenhouse, we didn't visit them so I don't know to much about it.

The white "hand-like" building in the bottom of this shot is the Art and Science Museum of Singapore.

Thaipusam Festival - Hindu Thanksgiving

This is the festival I mentioned in yesterday's post.  This temple was only a short walk from our hostel, we entered from the back and walked through to see all the people getting ready for the parade walk of 4km.

I don't remember if I mentioned this yesterday but these ornate costumes are attached to the person by little hooks through the skin on their chest, back, and on some even the face.

The festival also involves alot of drums, unfortunately we were never sure what the different drum tunes represented but they were fun to watch.

Everywhere throughout the temple you would see people getting ready to put the costumes on, the first step was always blessing the contraptions and offering food to the gods.

This guy was just about finished when we saw him, he was supporting the weight on his own and his helpers were making sure that all the hooks were attached.  Each of those chains you see end with a hook that was attached to his skin.

Bells attached by hooks on the back.

This one was different because instead of chains it was actually long rods that were crisscrossed on his chest.  The supports for the contraption were even threaded through his skin.

Somehow we ended up part of the procession towards the temple where the parade would end (completely my fault).

A lot of people were carrying these urns, unfortunately we don't know what was inside them.

The young man behind this guy is holding ropes that are actually attached by hooks.  Everyonce in a while he'd pull up on the ropes.

This guy is actually attached to the cart behind him (the umbrella) he has people helping him so the weight is not too much but he is essentially pulling the cart.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am glad we stuck around Little India to see.  I don't know when I would have had another chance to see something like this again.

Singapore Botanical Gardens

Hello all,

Finishing up our first day in Singapore. 
It was a great day.  We bought some flip flops cuz the humidity was so bad that our poor feet couldn't handle being confined in our running shoes.  We then took a walking tour of the Botanical Gardens of Singapore and did some shopping down the famed Orchard Road. 

I am now sitting outside of our hostel on the patio enjoying a beautiful evening.  It just turned 8pm and it's very peaceful here.  I spent a few minutes talking to one of the workers here while Eliza went to get dinner and he told me that there is to be a large festival celebrating Hindu thanksgiving only a few steps away from our hostel.  It's going to be something unique to see that I am actually looking very forward to. 

Only a few pictures tonight, I love being in a country where there is no VPN needed and I can post pictures the day of instead of waiting until after we've nearly finished our trip. 

This was actually where we exited the park but it seemed like the best picture to introduce the day.

Black swan, and the humans in the background enjoying a beautiful day at the park.  Eliza and I already decided if we were ever to live in Singapore we would visit this park as often as we could, it is just so peaceful, beautiful and quiet for the middle of a large city. 

It was hot, we needed a break.

Big bacon cheese burger for lunch. 

The Three Week Trek Begins

Hello all,

Just thought I'd put up a quick post.  Eliza and I leave on our big three week trip tomorrow afternoon.

Here is a map of our journey. I will most likely be posting while on the trip.

Off we go!!!