Last Full Day in Singapore

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Now all good plans are only as good as the people that are making them, or rather implementing them I guess. My plan for the morning was to wake up early, so that we could enjoy a kind of pre-breakfast at the hotel considering we had already paid for it before heading off on the tour to the Singapore Zoo for the breakfast with the animals. It sounded like a lovely plan, however the part of implementing it, which required getting out of bed at a suitable time, just wasn’t as nice in actual theory. That being said, we laid in bed until we absolutely had to jump out. I did love the rain shower head, and those luxury toiletries had me in danger of not getting out of the shower for any type of tour.

It all worked out ok. We made it to the front on the hotel in time for our little mini bus to collect us. We were doing the Singapore Breakfast tour that we booked via the Viator.com site. The reason I booked it through this website was that receiving their emails they have some discount specials which they release every so often and I was able to save an extra 5% off the price, and also their ability to book in advance. If you book via the zoo you can only book about a month or two in advance. We were the only ones on the bus initially, and collected three more people as we went off then to an apparently central meeting spot with everyone else before jumping on two separate buses going to the Zoo. It was actually an interesting spot, and wish I had taken photos of that whole process. There were several tours going from this one location, two were to the Zoo and I’m not sure where the others were going to. Of those going to the Zoo it was then further divided into those having breakfast and those that weren’t.

I noticed up in the trees there were a couple of little squirrelly things, but my hubby didn’t see them, and I guess if no one else verifies it I might just be making it all up. We had expected to see Robert & Co, but we were all told to go jump on the bus taking us breakfast adventurers as we were soon to depart. It was on the bus that they then took a roll call by the name of the hotel you were staying in. There were a few that obviously didn’t follow directions to well, as they boarded the wrong bus. I guess they wanted breakfast. Oh when checking in initially we were also given a sticker to wear and they were two different colours which meant easier sorting and recognition of who is doing what tour for the guides. Eventually Robert & Co rolled in. Their bus driver was a bit late collecting them all.

Travelling to the zoo our guide gave us a very good run down and history of the zoo and the inhabitants that were located there. A lot of information was provided and I found it extremely helpful. Getting out of the zoo it wasn’t long before we entered the gates and slowly made our way to the breakfast. Walking along to it we went past several exhibits and some of the animals were getting their breakfast so it was a bit of fun to watch.

Upon arriving to the breakfast restaurant, there were several other groups there, including some people that had obviously either just been, or currently on a Princess Cruise. We were allocated a table and told to help ourselves to the breakfast. It was a nice spread and mix of hot and cold items up for grabs. It didn’t take too long before they started bringing the animals out. I guess in a way, it was a shame we didn’t get some breakfast before going there, as the food becomes a second thought as soon as things start happening. I guess they also count on this.

By far everyone had come to see the Orangutans. They brought in some type of snake, but seriously, as if people really like snakes. There is something about them that just says I’m not a nice animal. They just don’t have the cute factor. Before long they lowered a branch across to a different section of the park and the orangutans just swung on by. We were asked if we wanted to take photos to all go in one line with our camera and they would take one of each of us with them. The idea of this was that those who were sitting enjoying their breakfast could then see and watch the interactions of them all with each other, however as my waking up exercise went, theory is always a wonderful thing, practise a completely differing matter.

As we had been warned that if any of the animals were to come out we should go over sooner rather than later, I went and joined the queue. Robert however decided that food was better than the animals I think totally ignored them, til he got his feed.

There were three babies that had come across to play and play they did. It was just so hilarious watching them all interact. They were so childlike and my youngest two reminded me so much of them. Just like puppies fighting and carrying on, the youngsters were having a ball swinging around looking as us curiously then just biting, hitting and all the other fun things little kids do to each other.

During the breakfast they had an offer on where you could buy one of the toy orangutans that the zoo sells and you would get it at a reduced price from what they were selling them in the zoo shop, and being so cute, I decided to get one for myself. Before long the animals had had enough and they walked a mum and two babies off to a different area and lowered the branch so the others could just wander back to their home and swing around.

Our entrance ticket to the zoo gave us unlimited access to the little “train” ride around the zoo. We decided to jump on it, as it was the thing to do, it was to be a way we got to see the whole of what the zoo had to offer. That being said, we jumped on at the first stop then off at the second due to there being a walk in aviary that we could go through. Roberta & Co opted out of jumping off at that stop, and at that point we didn’t know if we were going to go back on the bus to the city or stay longer at the zoo to have a good look around.

The aviary was interesting. It had a range of animals through it and you have to really look out for some as there were so many layers of vegetation that some of the animals if you didn’t look you would have missed. I think out of all of them, the sloths I found just gross. They just looked all wet and dirty and a touch nasty looking. Almost like a dog that has been swimming then just rolled in a bit of mud then wanting a hug. Now I’m not sure that the sloths would particularly care for a hug or anything, they didn’t look at all energetic and I wouldn’t touch them anyway. It was within this big cage that it was only when Robert pointed it out to me that I saw the Worlds biggest flower. I didn’t even know it was a flower, just assuming it was some type of cement art painted in mushroom colours. It was pretty huge, but nothing you would want in a bridal bouquet!

We then jumped back on the next train and thought we would be driven around the rest of the circuit. Unfortunately the next stop was going to be a twenty minute wait. We were told that the komodo dragon was just over in an area that a multitude of people were flooding their way to. Some seal or water show had just finished and hence the wave of people flooding that area. We decided to try to find our way over to see the white tigers. It wasn’t the easiest place to find. It was worth it though. They were beautiful. It made me giggle earlier when the delightful Jeff had told me he didn’t need to see white tigers because he had already seen them in LA. I imagine that would have been a very nature type of experience. The enclosures of this zoo were amazing. They used big pits or water separators to negate the need of big fences or glass walls. There were two tigers in this exhibit. One was pacing back and forth the other just laying there. It did get up and have a big lovely stretch and you realise they are honestly just big cats at heart.

As fun as the zoo was, we decided there was a lot more of Singapore we still had left to see, so made our way to the gates ready to catch the bus back to the city. It had actually surprised me that we didn’t see Roberta & Co by the gates waiting for the bus out of there, especially with Jeff with them. As we waited I watched a pair of Cotton-top Tamarin monkeys. One was carrying a baby on its back and it looked so very cute.

It was on our bus I think much to each other’s surprise Roberta & Co eventually came back onboard.

Not everyone was using the free ride back to the city, some choosing to spend more time looking at the zoo. It was going to be a touch messy getting everyone back to their respective hotels. We dropped off two couples then it came to our stop where half the bus was then divided into smaller vans. Roberta & Co jumped off and we said our goodbyes to them, and then they headed off to the Raffels hotel, while we dropped back to the hotel then headed off to China Town.

Jumping on the trains and getting to China town was a very simple task. As we got out, I decided I was going to love this place. There were streets and lanes with all these little shops and stalls that spilled out into the walkways. We walked around for a while then got too hungry and stopped off at the McDonalds for a bit of lunch and more importantly fluid! There weren’t that many food stalls around or else we hadn’t found their real food section, so McDonalds was an easy option for us.

We spent quite a bit of time wandering around looking at everything. Now I guess after having travelled to Hong Kong in the past I was expecting something more like their temple street markets, it wasn’t really the same. A lot of the shops seemed to be centred on selling Singapore Souvenirs, actually probably the majority of them were. Maybe there were more sections, but what they did have here was so much fun, and we would wander in and out of the stalls trying to avoid being too accosted by the staff. I had to keep a close eye on the husband as they could probably convince him to buy anything if he was kept in the one spot too long. I did have my experience at the Jade markets of HK to be a timely reminder.

After wandering the streets for quite a while, we were just getting tired and headed back to the hotel for a bit of feet up time. I did notice that the closer we would get near our hotel and around the shopping district of Orchard road it seemed you would always seem these people carrying bags with a circle of roses on it. The bags had the name Takashimaya on it, and I had no idea what they sold but people kept walking with bags of all sizes and so many people had them. I was determined to wander around to try to find the store to see what everyone was buying. It looked interesting.

It was quite funny running in and out of the shopping malls looking at their shop list trying to track down this one particular store. It also seemed that every man and his dog was out shopping tonight, which I didn’t understand. It meant all the food shops were over filled with people and there were no seats anywhere!

It was while walking around aimlessly through the rabbit warren of shops and their little trails and interconnecting hallways underground that I noticed that we were going down a different section and it seemed that more and more people were coming our way with the given bags. It took us through to a completely new mall, where they had a big open section and luggage sale on (shame I didn’t need new luggage just at this time). We then discovered the source of the bags, a department store. I was too hungry to go see what all the sales were about and found a food mall, however the options were all confusing and people literally everywhere, so we chose some talk around baked bread type of goods to eat. For my dessert I had this kind of bread possibly soaked in milk then dipped in sugar. It was lovely! With no chairs to be found, it meant walking around eating, so we made our way back to the department store to be right little children and touch everything with our dirty hands …. Honestly we didn’t, but felt horrible eating while walking, but hey, if they don’t provide chairs we don’t have a choice!

The shop in the end didn’t necessarily “float my boat”, and we went home with just a new shirt for the husband. I guess it did mean we got the amazing bag and could happily walk through the crowds looking like one of the “in” crowd. Just thought it was amusing that my entire night was spent trying to track down a shopping bag … I guess in that aspect mission accomplished! Tomorrow was our last day and we were to be flying home, so headed back to the hotel to try to get as much sleep as possible. Plane flights and sleep don’t go hand in hand!

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Photos

babies and momma
yes its a touch dodgy due to movement, but still gorgeous