Advertisement
Published: January 30th 2010
BYE BANGKOK
At 6am on Fri 4 Dec we made our way back to Bangkok airport for the final time and said goodbye to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos and headed South on a two hour flight this time bound for SINGAPORE!
We touched down at 1pm local time - the landing came as a huge shock to us , we still thought we were high in the clouds, well that was what looking out the window had made us presume! Lightening, driving rain, thick, thick clouds, so thick we could not even see the wing of the plane, which we were sat over!!! Great, had not checked when the monsoon season was in Singapore! We made straight for the mega efficient MRT system (their equivalent to the underground). We had not been able to book accommodation on line so we picked a recommended hostel out of the travel guide and went to locate it! Forty minutes later, still walking up and down the same stretch of road wearing our now very heavy backpacks, for the life of us we could not locate the hostel. Finally we saw somebody walking on the footpath ahead of us and asked him
the whereabouts of the New Seven Storey Hotel. He laughed and pointed to the building site to the left of us - apparently the hotel had been demolished a few months earlier to make way for a new MRT station!!
Next problem, all accommodation is exceedingly expensive in Singapore ... no scrub that .... EVERYTHING is really expensive in Singapore (especially when you have just left Laos!) We had previously looked up the main backpacker area in the book knowing that it would be the cheapest area to stay but didn't fancy it as a few reports said the cleanliness left a little to be desired in many hostels. Still, with no other option we started the long trudge in the driving monsoon rain to the next district- Little India!
Wow! They were not joking when they named this district! We turned into the street leading to the heart of this area. I thought we had been transported straight into the depths of India itself (well apart from the streets being much cleaner and a distinct lack of beggars)!! Walking through Little India was an all out assault on the senses! The air reeked of curry powder and
perfumed incense and loud Indian music blasted from shop speakers - it was quite an experience. We located the highly recommended 'Inn Crowd' hostel and were relieved to walk in to an immaculate and very impressive hostel, only draw back - it was 10 beds to a room ... I'm getting to old for all this dorming lark!!
SINGAPORE CITY
Our initial explorations of the city lead us to Raffles and the surrounding areas. Singapore is gorgeous, everything meticulously clean and efficient - well organised and structured. and the shopping ... well!!! The shopping is incredible! Shame our budget did not allow for any shopping at all! Instead we decided to stop for a quick drink in a scruffy little pub (not a fancy or upmarket place as we closely resembled drowned rats!) We asked to see a drinks menu before we sat down - god job - it was £9 a pint, £15 a cocktail or £12 for spirit and mixer in a thimble!!! Needless to say, we went thirsty!
SINGAPORE ZOO AND NIGHT SAFARI
Sat 5 Dec was the day Paul had been waiting for and looking forward to since we left home. At 10am we
caught the zoo express to Singapore Zoo! Classified as “The World's Best Rainforest Zoo”. It covers over thirty hectares and is divided into different sections which tell the story of the animals, the country where they are found and other informative snippets. Not only was the Zoo a particularly educational experience but one of the best aspects was the fact that the animals are not held in cages, instead they live their own individual large islands which are surrounded my moats. The animals are kept in a very natural environment and there are numerous breeding programmes for endangered species. I came to the Zoo when I first visited Singapore ten ears ago but that did not dampen the experience of going again at all - it is definitely THEE BEST zoo in the world!
THE RAINFOREST SECTION
Contained:
A treetops walk
A pond with otters
Cotton top tamarin monkeys
Hornbill birds
Tapirs (The size and shape of a large pig with an anteater type nose and a huge white stripe across its midsection)
Siamang monkeys and
Babirusa (wildhog with horns)
Walking round the next corner and through a wooden gate we came across a lake with Pygmy Hippo's frolicking
in the water. in the same section as this but under a forested part alongside the lake, Warthogs roamed freely, scrummaging in the undergrowth.
The AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK section had been created with the help and support of Steve Irwin. You entered there massive section through a wooden door and walked a pathway which allowed you to walk between and through kangaroos, emus, wallabies, the frill necked lizard and cassowary's.
The ELEPHANTS OF ASIA section had a lunch time display, highlighting Elephants at work and play but we skipped this in order to observe the feeding of the white tigers!
MY FAVOURITE - WHITE SIBERIAN TIGERS
The White Siberian tigers were magnificent creatures, I remembered they were my favourite last time too. So majestic, so powerful - the muscle definition rippling under their skin as they paced waiting for the raw, bloody meat to be thrown in was just incredible! There were three siblings, a male and two females in the enclosure but because they are siblings, the zoo will not breed from them to prevent problems associated with in-breeding. I could have stood and watched them all day but, with Paul in full excited child mode, I
was dragged off and round the corner to see a group of gibbon monkeys living on an island surrounded by a large lake full of basking flamingos!
Next came PAUL'S FAVOURITE SECTION - PRIMATE KINGDOM (monkey's, monkey's and more monkeys)
Including: Crested Macaques, Colobus monkeys, Capuchin, Patas monkeys and the playful spider monkeys. The monkeys lived on three huge islands, surrounded by moats full of Arapaima fish.
A Butterfly walk led through the the next section: THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY OF ETHIOPIA.
Within this impressively landscaped exhibit we saw animals including; The Banded Mongoose, a troop of over 80 Hamadryas baboons, black backed jackals and Nubian Ibexes (sort of antelope).
Almost half the zoo covered we took a short stroll over to the other side and to the BORNEO section, excited about the preview for our next stop!
The zoo was home to two types of Orang-Utan - the Bornean and the Sumatran
The Borneo Marsh showed False Ghavial (like a small croc)
There were even Sun Bear's playing in a forest (so named after the yellow circle on the front of their necks which stands out on the jet black fur)
Giant tortoises and
The Critters
Longhouse - home to Porcupines and various other creatures.
PAULS SECOND FAVOURITE - THE KOMODO DRAGON (which was asleep on our first visit so we had to return later!) This section was also home more monkeys - Paul was in his element!!
Chimpanzees and Mandrills (blue and red faced monkeys with a red backside like a baboon)
Proboscis monkeys (large flat nose)
Squirrel monkeys and
Estuarine crocodiles
THE REPTILE HOUSE - Held a huge collection of snakes
Then came WILD AFRICA with;
Nyala (antelope with zebra like stripes)
Hyenas
Gnu (like a buffalo)
Cheetahs
Ostriches
Lions
Lynx
Clouded leopards
Jaguars
White rhinoceros
Eland (like a antelope with just one horn sort of a unicorn)
Zebra
Giraffe
Guanaco
Round the corner led us to a section with two animals I was really excited to see:
The Polar bear and the Maned Wolf
And the final section - the FRAGILE FOREST
My second favourite: the world's largest walk-through butterfly flight dome. A huge dome where it was possible to observe the inter relationships between plants, human beings and animals including;
Flying Foxes
Three toed sloths
Bats and
Ring tailed lemurs
Walking back towards the entrance/exit of
the zoo we passed through a spectacular orchid garden and tropical crops plantation - the zoo was absolutely fantastic!!! We had spent the entire day walking round the zoo and not even stopped for a break or been bored even momentarily! Unfortunately the day zoo closed its doors at 6pm, however, we had also booked to do the night safari. The worlds first and only night safari. When I first came ten years ago we the night safari was only one night per month and it had been the night before we arrived we were gutted. Now, ten years later the night safari is one of Singapore's largest attractions, maybe even more popular than the day zoo!
The night safari was located a five minute walk from the day zoo in a separate facility. There was an hour and a half gap from when the day zoo closed until the night safari opened, so we grabbed a table and some food. No sooner had we sat down when a small stage a few metres away from us erupted into a fire eating frenzy! We did not realise that to pass the time between the zoo closing and the
night safari opening there was live entertainment and tantalising clippets of things you could experience in the night safari. A curator from the night safari gave information on nocturnal animals. Keepers brought out various animals for us to see them up close but by far the most impressive and spell-binding display was the fire eaters. They performed for over 15mins and the display was the most amazing fire trickery I have ever witnessed - I could not take my eyes off the main performer (mind you the chiseled abs might have had something to do with that) ... included a photo for all you girlie's xx
The night safari had over 1000 nocturnal animals of about 115 species inhabiting over 40 hectares of dense secondary forest. There were three main walking trails and a 3.2km tram ride along two loops that mimicked terrain ranging from the rocky Himalayan foothills to the grassy plains of equatorial Africa. Most people opted for the tram ride and a small minority completed one of the short walks. loving it so much we decided to do all three walks, the night creatures show and conclude the evening with the tram ride.
The
first of the three walking trails was the Fishing Cat Trail where we saw;
Mousedeer
Himalyan Tahr
Binturong
Fishing cat (like a small leopard)
Otters
Pangolin
Indian Gharial (small croc)
Slow Loris (well, we were suppose to see but it didn't come out!)
Marsh birds
Flying foxes
Then came the Leopard trail with;
Golden cat
Leopard
Owls
Porcupine
Malay Civet
Tarsier
and a Mangrove walk within the trail where bats darted through the air and skimmed your head!
Long Tailed Porcupine
Hog badger
Giant flying Squirrel and
Clouded leopard
The final trail focused more on flora, fauna and trees - the Forest Giants Trail
The creatures of the night show half way through the night was a thirty minute show with a hilarious girl as spokesperson - she should have been a comedian not a zoo worker.
There were binturongs, otters, raccoons, owls, wolves, hyenas and several other animals demonstrating their behaviour and incredible abilities
The Tram ride was equally as impressive as the walks and we saw even more animals:
Markhor, Mouflon, Flamingos, Striped Hyena, Indian Wolf, Greater Asian Rhino, xis Deer, Water buffalo, Golden jackal, Banteng, Sambar deer, Greater Asian Rhino, Sugar Glider,
Giraffe, Zebra, Scimitar-horned Oryx, Sloth Bear, Serval, Bat-eared fox, Lechwe, cape buffalo, Hippo, Spotted hyena, Bongo, red river hogs, babirusa, anoa, Malayan tiger, Bharal, Malayan Tapir, red dhole, bearded pig, Malayan tapir, elephant, capybaram, giant anteater, gaur, thamin and ankole cattle - phew!!!
The zoo and night safari were not only incredibly interesting, educational and enjoyable but are also renowned for their commitment to conservation and breeding endangered and rare species - when they do something over here, they do it properly!!
After a whooping thirteen hours in the zoo we eventually caught the 11.15pm bus back to the hostel. We arrived back just after midnight and had to fumble round in the dark being as quiet as poss to prepare for bed as hostel turns lights out at 11pm!! Nightmare!
THE FINAL DAY IN SINGAPORE
Sun 6 Dec was the day of the Singapore Marathon! We caught the MRT to City Hall and walked to Raffles feeling rather guilty about the gorgeous chocolate croissants we were scoffing as all the fit people with there 'completed the marathon' tops on hobbled past!! We finished our explorations of Singapore down the exclusive and horrendously expensive upmarket neighborhood and
shopping area Orchard Rd ... how the other half live - eh?!
That night, we packed up ready for our flight to the our eighth country in three months - Expedition Borneo!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.38s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 13; qc: 68; dbt: 0.2756s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Daniel
non-member comment
Wow, that zoo looked amazing, white tigers brilliant, not so sure about the Proboscis monkey though! Just got back from a weekend in Peurto Banus and I can relate to those prices for drinks!!! Right well, its sunny today, but pretty chilly so off for a run, half marathon training started this week. I will let you know my sponsor link when Ive set it up, all donations greatly received big or small!!! Speak soon, hope you get your flights sorted!