Tuesday 25h March
Trying not to focus on the very sad news re the
Malaysian plane…we have a press conference playing on the TV right this minute…
In our small
corner of life…we have had a fabulous day, at Singapore Zoo.
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| Cotton-top marmoset |
On the way Pete
posed, touristically, with a street sculpture/water feature thingy which took
our fancy in Orchard Road, not far from the Tanglin Club.
We then went to
Orchard train station and bought 3-day transport passes. The woman behind the glass was very efficient
and helpful. When Pete asked why it was
$60 for us both, rather than $40, she said there was a $10 deposit on each
ticket. “What is that for?” asked Pete. She looked at him, deadpan, and said, “It is
a deposit.” Right…
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| Squirrels |
I took a photo of
us, reflected, sitting on our bench – a bit blurry, but I like it…
The man we were
sitting with was very VERY serious, but helpful. We had to wait a few minutes so we discussed
public transport in Singapore – how fantastic it is – and how Tasmania doesn’t
have the population to warrant such large infrastructure. I said most people have a car. “Or a bike,” he said. “Well yes, but Hobart is VERY hilly,” I
explained. He pondered this, and then
said, “That is very good, for fitness.”
Then he looked at Pete and me, dispassionately, and said, “But maybe not
for the elderly.” Why thank you,
HelpfulMan!!!
I got my revenge
by taking a photo of him asleep on the train…
Our ZooDay was
just wonderful. I probably don’t have
enough superlatives….
Singapore Zoo
comprises about 28 hectares of thick jungle, with as much natural habitat as
possible for the animals sheltered within its confines.
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| Meerkat on sentry duty - each duty session lasts one hour |
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| Crane tree |
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| VERY peaceful lioness |
There were lots of
fish in the moat, and Pete idly wondered whether the tigers would be
interested. Well the tiger in Life of Pi was a good swimmer… So why
not? At that very moment our tiger
strolled down to the moat and gently slid into the water. He looked very happy, cooling off, as he
padded up and down, and then started swimming in the deeper water.
Nearly our next
stop was to look at a pair of pigmy hippopotamus. And how delightful were they! They are very heavy, dense creatures, and
they sink rather than swim. So they
tippytoe around in their moat, so very gracefully!
We felt, with
these two exhibits, that we had had our $33 worth but there was so much more…
Lots of beautiful,
cool jungle plants, lots of fat, happy animals, reports of successful breeding
programs and rehabilitation.
The polar bear
looked so very happy, basking in the sun chewing a stick, although he had a
very cool air-conditioned lair he could have been lurking in.
Pete made friends
with a baboon, who came and sat just on the other side of the glass, scratching
its head and looking at him quizzically.
The orangutans
have a marvelous free-range enclosure.
We are hoping to see them in the wild…But maybe they won’t be as happy and
healthy as they are here in the Singapore Zoo…
We walked up and
down and round and round. I think we saw
all of the displays except for the Australian animals. Every now and then we clambered onto the zoo
tram, to have a bit of a break (we are, after all, elderly…) and from the tram
we glimpsed kangaroos, cassowaries, which made us homesick…
After five it was
time to find the EXIT. No so easy…the
paths all meander hither and yon. And so
lucky – one of the paths led us to the tapir enclosure. And what delightful animals they were! They were standing in their paddock when we
first saw them, but as we watched, they both wandered down to their moat for a
little swim. SO lovely!
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| Tapir |
As it was we didn’t
get back to the Tanglin Club until 7.30, and very glad we were to be “home.”
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| One las photo of our white tiger (I took MANY) |
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