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Published: February 7th 2006
Amazing animal
Giraffe at the Singapore Zoo coming over to be hand fed by the zoo keeper. It's Tuesday night and I'm in K.L., or if you prefer, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
I've been in K.L. for less than 24 hours and it's been a nightmare ever since I got here. But I'll leave that for my next update...
I need to first cover my final day in Singapore (Sunday, February 5). It was a busy day...
In the morning I went to Orchard Road, one of the primary shopping areas in Singapore. Walking along Orchard Road is a fairly pleasant experience since it has wide sidewalks with an ample amount of shade provided by the large trees that line the street. Even for those not intending to buy anything (like me!), it's not a bad place to walk around for an hour or two (although I'm sure the Botanic Gardens nearby would be better).
To get to Orchard Road, I ventured for the first time on Singapore's subway. I bought an EZ-line card (definitely get this if you are using the public transportation in Singapore) which is essentially a smartcard with a credit amount that you choose at the time of your purchase. It is used for buses and the MRT (subway). It's a
Entrance to...
No explanation required lot easier than buying tickets all the time (especially for buses where exact change is needed). There are two MRT lines in Singapore currently but another one is expected to open next year.
I didn't spend too long on Orchard Road though since I wanted to see the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. My primary interest was really the Night Safari. However, it made sense to see them both since they offer a discounted combo ticket package and they are right next to each other. The Singapore Zoo is highly regarded but the Night Safari is world famous since it was the first of its kind (world's first wildlife park built for visits at night; opened in 1994). The cost for the combo ticket package was S$28 (around $17) but there are add-ons like the trams that aren't included in the base price.
The Singapore Zoo was one of the better zoos I've seen, primarily due to its great design. Most of the animals are separated from the people with natural barriers such as moats that are disguised. It gives the impression of being in the wild. It's not a big zoo though and I easily navigated it
Lion
An active lion following some impressive roars. in 2 1/2 hours time. The highlights for me were watching the giraffes and jaguars during their feeding times. The zoo lists the feeding times for many of the animals and I recommend going to as many of these as possible. It's the most interesting time to see the animals in my opinion.
As for the Night Safari, I ended up hanging out with a guy from Australia (Melbourne) who was in Singapore on business (his wife and 2 kids were back home). Since I wandered around the Singapore Zoo on my own, it was nice to have someone to hang out with for this part.
Everybody at the Night Safari does the tram ride but it was pretty basic with a "guide" giving an over-dramatic play by play of what we were seeing. Kind of comical really. The animals were bathed in subtle lighting and I could see a fair amount but they weren't necessarily more active. It did add a bit of an "eerie" feeling to the experience though.
The highlights for me were definitely the flying squirrels and fruit bats. These were located in large cages that we walked through (leopard trail). Although I
didn't get as close to the flying squirrels, they were interesting to watch. The fruit bats, however, were literally hanging upside-down from a tree branch one foot away from my face as I stood there mesmerized. Once they started flapping their wings though, I quickly backed up. The reason they were so close to the walking path was from strategically placed food (bananas in this case). I wish I had pictures but you can't take flash photography at the Night Safari and it's just too dark to get decent pictures.
That's all for this update...
Check back soon for my update on K.L. I'll try to get that out tonight since I leave tomorrow for Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
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The guy from Oz :)
non-member comment
Hey Dave - nice to hang out with you too - having someone to speak to outside of a work environment and to share the "enjoyment" of the blow-by-blow descriptive commentary was fun. Obviously you got to KL ok, hope you got to catch some of the superbowl. Best of luck with the rest of the this trip and the many more to come. Cheers!