Singapore Night Safari & Zoo

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Geo: 1.28941, 103.85

My hostel is in Little India, so I've got culture and color hitting me from the moment I step out the front door. The front desk guy, Benson, has backpacked across Asia several times and has lots of great advice. he recommended this little spot for a great cheap 'brekkie', so I went. And it was a great cheap brekkie spot, open air so I could watch all the folks walking past. This is the weird bit, they had Dolly Parton's greatest hits playing. So I listened to her whoops and ye-haws while I had my morning curry puffs. ok.

In the afternoon I took the MRT subway to the Zoo outside town - see photos for more. The subway was really great, it reminded me of the tube in London, super-clean, air-conditioned and computerized. A far cry from our ancient, dirty one in Manhattan.

After the Zoo I went to the adjoining Singapore Night Safari, apparently the only one if it's kind. It's a combination zoo / conservation effort / Jurassic Park. You get into a leopard painted truck/bus thing and follow a path through the zoo, all them animals are along the sides of the path, not in enclosures, but enclosed by electric fences you can't see. There are dim lights placed above the spots where the animals most often hang out (near the food sources) and you can see so many nocturnal animals. After the ride you are free to walk the paths that are all dimly lit at the base so you don't trip. And see the animals up close. I don't think any of my pictures really came out, so I stopped trying. It's hard enough to get a good shot of an animal in the day, never mind in dim light. Forget it.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to stay in town and goto a couple temples (The Temple of a Thousand Lights, and The Bright Hill Buddhist Temple) and then catch a show at The Chinese Theater Circle. We'll see what actually happens. I think I'm going to take the train up to Kuala Lumpur (or KL as everyone calls it) on Sunday or Monday. I want to give myself about a week for the Malaysian peninsula, because I need to be in Thailand for April 13th - it's New Years in Thailand! And they celebrate like no-body's business, but I'll tell you about that in another entry.

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Photos

b - Mosque on my street in Little India
It's really nice hearing the call to prayer all the time. As soon as the voice starts over the loudspeaker all the men start filtering out of all the shops and restaurants and flowing twords the mosque.

k -Kangaroos!
Finally!

n -Macaque behind his photo
Now if I'd only been smarter, I'd of taken a photo of more signs so I'd actually know what these guys are! Nest time...

s -Cheetas!
The enclosure for these guys was almost non-existant, I could get so close!