River Wonders and Night Safari

 

We navigated the one hour transit on the Metro & bus, to the zoo complex in the northern part of the island. The area has four separate "zoo experiences". Westarted with River Wonders, which is nicely well done with modern enclosures and lots of variety. There are different zones for different rivers of the world.

The maps show a clockwise circuit of the park, but for some reason we decided to be rebels. This meant that the Amazon was the first area we visited. I suspect that this is supposed to be one of the main highlights and to leave a lasting impression as you leave the park. The manatees were eating their lunch.

Unfortunately, the giant otters were sound asleep.

 

There were fish of all sizes, from giant catfish to tiny cardinal tetras.

The Amazon River Quest is an optional extra for a fee. Essentially, it's a flume ride with some animals beside the flume. Harry decided that we should ride in the 'Splash Zone', which he almost instantly regretted.

The main draw card for the Amazone River Quest is the three magnificent jaguars doing what cats, big and small, do best...

 

The Yangsi River zone is home to the pandas. The Panda connection to the Yangzi River is a stretch at best. But who doesn't love pandas? There was a lone red panda going about her business.

The star attractions were mother and son giant pandas. Although, that's a matter of personal preference depending on which panda species you think is the best.

There were more enormous catfish in the Mekong River section.

With the River Wonders well and truly covered, we had plenty of time to walk over to the Night Safari.

Despite some difficulties in sourcing food on this trip, some prior research lead us to some delicious shrimp satay sticks at the Ulu Ulu BBQ Restaurant within the Night Safari Zoo.

Our first move was to do a loop of the zoo on the "Tram" which is a glorified golf cart of sorts.

Most of the many animals were awake and moving about, with a couple of exceptions like the white tiger above. We don't have any decent photos from the Night Safari because the light was terrible.

Above, a fishing cat is at the water's edge toward the top of picture. The school of koi are, rightly, keeping their distance.

I feel like we rushed the Night Safari but it has been a very long day and we were all on the limit. We made the decision to catch a very comfortable express coach back to the city which ended up saving us nearly an hour in travel time and was far more comfortable than the way we had arrived.

The coach driver kindly dropped us within a couple of blocks of the hotel. Bed was a very welcome sight. We are planning to go to the water park on Sentosa tomorrow.

Chinatown

Stop 2 on our busy day was Chinatown. It was a couple of stops on the train from Fort Canning and therefore easily accessed.

We walked along the main street heading for the Hawkers Market (below) for lunch.

The market was exactly as the tourist guides had described... Hectic! So hectic, in fact, that we couldn't find a table to sit down, let alone choose a food vendor. Eventually, we gave up and went to find a more peaceful, if more expensive restaurant down one of the many side streets.

It proved to be a good choice. The one we stopped at had air conditioning with very nice food. Harry discovered how good satay sticks can be, along with the sweet Mantou buns. They're a bit like a donut but not as sickly sweet.

After lunch we explored Chinatown a bit more. The side streets were full of small market stalls, intermingled with restaurants.

A number of the buildings are painted with elaborate depictions of life in Chinatown early last century.

The centre piece of Chinatown is the Budda Tooth Relic Temple (above). It is quite the achitectural work of art.

With Chinatown explored, we headed for the metro station (above) as the next activity was in the zoo precinct in the northern part of the island.

Battlebox, Fort Canning

 

Today is going to be a long and busy day. This morning, we started with a visit to the Fort Canning Battlebox. It is located within the Fort Canning parkland, and a stone's throw from our hotel. The Battlebox is the facility where the allied forces managed the military effort in WWII as the Japanese invaded Singapore.

Inside the Box, there are many displays of the equipment that would have been used during WWII and very detailed, and almost life-like wax models of the soldiers involved.

 

Garden Rhapsody

 

We spent the afternoon in the hotel pool before returning to the Gardens for the evening light show in the Super Tree Grove.

The sun was just vanishing over the western horizon as we arrived at the Gardens. The lights were turning on illuminating various features including the giant steel drangonflys and fountains.

The Super Trees were also lit up and as it became darker, the picture changed. The lights gradually cycled through colours making for an endlessly changing scene.

The Rhapsody music started and the light show ramped up to match the flow of the music. We lay on our backs looking up at the show which ran for about 15 minutes.

What a great show! The Gardens had certainly delivered today. One last look at the Marina Bay Sands lit up before catching the train back to our hotel.

Cloud Forest Dome

 

The Cloud Forest Dome was one of the highlights from today. There is nothing I've ever seen to compare it to. The complex is completely man made but the plants are very real.

The first thing you notice when you step through the door and into the dome is this huge waterfall & the immediate relief from the heat as the temperature drops 20 degrees!

The apex of the dome is directly above the waterfall.

There is a huge variety of plants with grouping in different zones. The Orchard zone was pretty popular and had many different varieties.

In a different area, pitcher plants.

Scattered around the dome are these dried vine sculptures.

We were intrigued to see these glass sculptures by Dale Chilhuly. We had visited his gallery in Seattle last year.

This display inside the Chrystal Mountain has a 360 degree motion projection of various forest themes.

The true 'Cloud' Dome appeared once the reticulation sprays came on. What an amazing place!

We stopped for lunch at Satay by the Bay where Harry discovered Satay sticks were good,  despite having butter chicken for lunch.