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Published: July 14th 2009
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Welcome to the home of the Singapore Sling…Singapore!
On our way to Bangkok we decided to stop off in Singapore for a few days to check out the city and its famous zoo. Arriving late at night we were relieved to find that the MRT ran until midnight, which was useful as we had to catch 3 separate trains to our hostel and luckily made the last train by 2 minutes. Even though it was 1am the first thing we noticed about Singapore was how humid it was, which didn’t help the 200 meter walk to our hostel.
To get around the city we read it was best to purchase an E-Z card which allows you to travel on all trains and bus around the city and we were happily surprised that the $10 card secured us three days travel on public transportation…Bargain!
As we only had one full day in Singapore we got up nice and early, armed ourselves with maps, train times and mosquito spray and set off to try and fit in as many of Singapore attractions as we could manage. First stop thought was Breakfast…… Kim’s face dropped as she was presented with a food
James sipping his singapore sling
There's nothing better than a cocktail at 10:30am!! court which didn’t sell any western food and James was in his element blending in with the locals and ordered a strange beef and rice dish which Kim couldn’t stomach that early in the day but instead settled for an Asian omelette which looked like a cross between a flan or a sloppy pizza…….
With our stomachs full we caught the train over to the Raffles Hotel, home to the famous cocktail, the Singapore Sling. We had heard that to purchase a Singapore Sling in the Raffles Hotel was going to cost $50 for one drink so in advance we had agreed that we were going to share one as two would shatter our budget. To Kim’s delight they only cost $25 each so we splashed out and got one each! James was kept quiet, munching on the free monkey nuts and loved the fact he could just throw the shells on the floor.
So a little tipsy (it was still only 10:30am) we left Raffles and walked across to the harbour to look at the MerLion, a statue that is half Lion and half Mermaid. We were left a little disappointed as we had expected it to
be a little more impressive and didn’t feel it was worth the 30 minute walk. To cheer ourselves up we went to McDonalds and bought ice cream sundae. yum!
We were originally going to miss Singapore Zoo and head to Night Safari but as it was still early we decided we had time and energy to visit the Zoo as well. The bus o the zoo took longer than expected so we only had two hours to see all the animals and with Kim map reading it was going to be a race against time. The zoo is ‘twinned’ with the Australian Zoo and is supported also by Steve Irwin fund, RIP Steve!!
We had heard a lot of great reports about the Zoo and these were for good reasons, the zoo had a superb range of amazing and unusual animals and some of our highlights included seeing 3 beautiful 3 Siberian Tigers and seeing the Probuscus Monkeys. These monkeys were fascinating as there resemblance to humans was so uncanny and are known for there unusually shaped and long noses. This made Kim genuinely think that they could be one of James ancestors because of the legendary ‘Deverell’ nose.
The zoo also has many varieties of monkeys and apes, and another one of our highlights was to see the free ranging orang-utans swinging from the trees a few meters above our heads.
Many people have also recommended doing the Night Safari as well as the Zoo as it gives you a chance to see what the animals do at night. The Night Safari starts at 7pm till midnight. The first part highlight is a 40 minute tram ride which takes you around a neighbouring zoo home to free roaming animals such as cattle, deer, anteaters, buffalo etc and in one part of the zoo you can actually walk it seeing leopards, mere cats, bats and animals that are nocturnal. There are also lions, elephants and hyenas but for obvious reasons they are in their own habitats. Kim’s face dropped when James decided to put her on the outside seats of the tram knowing full well that some of the animals get real close to see if you have food. As you can imagine seeing the zoo in the darkness only lit by fire torches the atmosphere was pretty cool and unusual. This tour is supported with shows
throughout the evening such as tribal fire dances and birds of prey. We would definitely recommend this as a must do attraction in Singapore.
Although our stay in Singapore was short we saw everything we wanted to see in just a couple of days. Compared to the rest of South East Asia, Singapore is a very affluent city, the transportation system is simple to use and it is very clean which is a welcomed break after some epic trips in Indonesia…it even has a Topshop which made Kim smile even if she couldn’t afford to buy anything. Our next stop is Bangkok to pick up two of Kim’s friends; Amy and Sarah who are joining us travelling for the next three weeks; James is already preparing himself for the stresses of travelling with crazy 3 ladies.
Next stop Kao San Road, Bangkok!
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