Jurong Bird Park

Today we decided to check out the Jurong BirdPark since we already had tickets via our ParkHopper passes from the zoo. It was quite a trek out there as it took about an hour and a half each way via public transportation. We got there and immediately jumped on the tram to get the lay of the land, so to speak. It only took about 20 min and took us around the park.

Then we hopped off and walked around on foot for awhile. They had lots of different exhibits that we checked out: penguins, parrots, owls, pelicans, toucans, and dinosaur descendants (this is what they called their flightless birds). They also had a huge walk-in aviary that they called the African Waterfall Aviary. This is the second-largest walk-in aviary in the world and it contains the world's tallest man-made waterfall in an aviary. It was also very warm and humid in there (basically the same as outside...) and they replicate a thunderstorm in there every day. We went to look at the waterfall but then we headed out. Here are a few pictures from our visit:

I probably wouldn't have made the trek out there if we didn't already have tickets, since I'm not super into birds and it was pretty much exactly as expected. The most exciting thing that happened was when a bird pooped on Matt. He thought it was a bug that landed in his hand and he immediately slapped it with his other hand, effectively splattering it all over himself. That was pretty funny. I tried to help him clean it off his shorts but then I accidentally made it worse by smearing it even more. Whoops. It was the biggest thing of bird crap I've ever seen and kind of red, it was weird. So we got to do laundry again this afternoon! 

We took public transport back to our neck of the woods and stopped at Orchard Station for a bite to eat around there. There are a ton of malls in that area so there was lots to see and do. We eventually meandered back to our apartment and decided to call it an early night. We have lots of planning to do and tomorrow is going to be a looooong day. We fly to Africa tomorrow but our flight isn't until 9:20pm our time. Our travel itinerary is then over 20 hours long. So we need to get things packed up and get a good night's sleep. I'm not sure I'll get around to publishing anything tomorrow.

Another fun thing we've started doing is we've been playing a card game given to us by our friends, Eric and Nichole. It's called "Sneaky Cards" and the idea is that each card has a different challenge to interact with strangers in some way. And once you complete the challenge you give them the card. They can then track it and also keep it going by completing the challenge and passing it on again. If people go online and enter the code on the card then I'll be able to see how far the cards spread. So far I've handed out three cards. I found someone who met defined characteristics and gave her the card (I needed a light-haired girl who was wearing a dark shirt), I pre-paid for an item in a vending machine and left the card, and I also sneakily left the card with someone without them noticing. So whenever we have a notable story from that I'll include it here since it's fun, but I figured I'd share the backstory first.  :)

Gardens by the Bay

We started our day at Gardens by the Bay. First we wandered through the many free gardens which were really pretty. They also had neat little information boards where you could learn about the different plants. There was one section where you could learn how different plant species evolved and they had examples that you could look at.

Gardens by the Bay was kind enough to supply us with media passes for my blog so we were able to enter the conservatories for free. We went into the Flower Dome which is in the middle of their "Tulipmania" event. They had a ton of tulips and some were organized in a way to re-create a famous painting. There was one of Van Gogh's Starry Night which was really pretty. They also had lots of other different sections, like cacti and other succulents, and Mediterranean or South American. I liked the tulips the best. This is the world's largest glass greenhouse according to the Guinness World Records 2015.

Next was the Cloud Forest, which is the other dome. This was really cool. They re-created a tropical mountain region with cool, moist climate and a man-made mountain (35 meters tall) with waterfall.  The flowers and plants grew all the way up the 'mountain' and it was really pretty. You could take an elevator up to the top and walk around inside it and also on a skywalk around it. You'd make your way down through the different sections. We also got to learn a bit about how the huge conservatories were built to be so environmentally friendly. They collect rainwater at the surface and circulate it through a filtering system which uses the Supertrees (more about those later) to vent hot air and cool circulated water.

We wanted to go straight to the Supertree Grove and do the Skyway, but at the time it was closed down due to lightning concerns. We decided we'd come back at night when it was all lit up. The supertrees are tree-like structures that are vertical gardens. They contain lots of unique plants and are fitted with environmental technologies to help mimic the function of trees. They take in solar energy to be used for lighting, they collect rainwater to be used in irrigation, and they also take in and exhaust air for the conservatories. Here is a picture, but more to come.

We left Gardens by the Bay and grabbed a quick lunch. We checked out the Fountain of Wealth- you had to stick your right hand in the fountain, make a silent wish, and then walk around it 3 times. We followed the instructions so hopefully our wishes come true!

Then we went to Haji Lane, which is well-known for it's unique shops and restuarants and also its intricate graffiti. Lots to see around there. We wandered by a Mexican restaurant where a couple was enjoying margaritas and guacamole. I decided I had to have some, so that was my afternoon treat. 

Once it got dark we made our way back to the Gardens by the Bay just in time for the first light and sound show at 7:45pm. There were a ton of people there for the show. It was really cool- they had music playing and the supertrees would change colors along with the music. We were lucky enough to skip the line (thanks to the media passes!) and go right up to the skyway for the light show and enjoy it from up there. It really was beautiful along with the night skyline. I would definitely recommend this to be visited at night. I have a ton of pictures and a few videos, here are a couple:

After the show was over the crowd dispersed into the gardens. We did the same and caught a train to Clarke Quay, which is near our airbnb. We hung out there for awhile and grabbed some dinner. Then we walked around and enjoyed some of the live music that was playing and people-watching as everyone was out in their Saturday night outfits. It was a happenin' place with lots going on and lots of clubs. We were pretty tired though (walked over 26k steps today!) so we headed home after a bit. 

Gardens by the Bay did sponsor our visit today but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hawker Center and Zoo

Well yesterday was a big day since we had to make up for lost time. We started by making our way to the Chinatown Hawker center in order to try the first food stall ever given a Michelin star. The place is called Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle (kind of a mouthful). In addition to the food stall they've also recently opened their own restaurant not far from the original. We were intending to go to the original food stall for lunch, but we walked right past the restaurant and noticed there was hardly any line at all so we decided to try it there.

We waited for only a couple of minutes before we were able to place our order and then a couple of more minutes to get our food. It was really good! I had the chicken and noodles and Matt had the chicken and rice. I didn't really like that my chicken had a bunch of bones in it; it seems they just chop it up bones and all. But Matt was nice enough to share some of his with me. The sauce had great flavor and it mixed really well with the noodles. They also had some peppers that you could add which added a great flavor as well. Also, we paid less than $6 for our Michelin restaurant experience! Overall, success!

We still wanted to see the original food stall though and also check out the Hawker center since we'd never been to one. We wandered around the different food stalls and looked at the menus. It looked like some great food for cheap prices so we hope to go back to one for another meal. I found some fresh sugar cane juice for only $1 for a glass so I tried some of that- it was really yummy as well. We eventually found the original food stall and saw the huge line snaking around the place, so we were glad that we had eaten at the restaurant.

Look at the line!

Then we made our way to the Singapore Zoo. The Singapore Zoo is well-known for displaying the animals in natural, "open" exhibits with hidden barriers, moats, and glass. We decided to just get the ParkHopper Plus pass so that we'd be able to go to all of the parks: the zoo, the river safari, and the night safari. It also gets us into the Jurong BirdPark but we haven't made it there yet. 

The zoo was pretty cool and I did like how there weren't really any cages. We saw a whole bunch of cool things: monkeys with huge noses, a wolverine, rhinestone, zebras, orangutans, turtles, Komodo dragons, and other things I can't remember the names of. We also got to see wallabies and kangaroos (lol). We also saw African wild dogs, which was really funny since we didn't know that much about them before but just the previous day we watched several segments on National Geographic about them. And we're going to the one place in the world in two weeks where we're likely to see them- Botswana! There was one huge enclosure where you could enter into and all of the animals were roaming "free". We saw weird looking birds, toucans, parrots, mouse deer, bats, huge lizards, a sloth from a distance, and several ring-tailed lemurs. Here are some random pictures:

The monkeys with the huge noses:

The African wild dogs!

Then we moved on to the River Safari which I was less impressed with. First it high lighted some of the major rivers in the world and what kind of creatures live in them- the Mississippi River was one of them. We got to see some cool fish and we also got to see pandas which was the coolest part, although I don't understand why the pandas are in the river safari section and not the normal zoo. We did the River Boat cruise, which really wasn't worth the wait, especially if you'd already been to the zoo. We sat for awhile and caught one of the last boats, but it just took us by a couple of the major zoo exhibits (elephant, zebra, giraffe) which we'd already seen. Plus we were at such a distance you could hardly see them anyway. So I wouldn't recommend that one. But apparently there was another boat cruise, the Amazon River Adventure, that we probably should've prioritized. But we didn't realize there were two until it was too late and they had already closed. So maybe that one was better. 

Then we grabbed a quick dinner before we could enter the Night Safari- our time slot was 7:15. The time-slot really just means that's when you can enter. Once you're in you can stay as long as you like. The Night Safari was pretty cool and unique, since I've never been able to be in a zoo at night but that is when a lot of animals are more active. We rode the 45 min tram at first but we had to wait 30 min for that. The tram ride was pretty cool and took you by most of the major exhibits. Then there are also 4 different walking paths that you can do, so we did a couple of those. We started with the "fishing cat" trail, which features cats that fish. Go figure. Then we did the other big cat trail which I can't remember the name of. We also caught the 9pm Asian lion feeding, which wasn't really that impressive. The zookeepers just through a couple of pieces of meat up to the cats. It lasted about 5 minutes. We skipped the wallaby trail since we've seen lots of those recently, and we also skipped the African trail since we'll be there in a week ourselves. 

It was hard to get good pictures since it was, well, dark.

Here's the "fishing cat":

The lions at feeding time:

Anyway, all in all it was cool. If I were to do it over again I would probably just go to the zoo and the night safari and skip the river safari. But we still need to visit the Jurong BirdPark before I can really say for sure that the ParkHopper pass wasn't worth it. 

It was a really big day and we didn't get home until 11pm, so that's the reason for the late post!

Altitude

Wow. What a night!

Yesterday our airbnb host, Ola, messaged us and asked if we wanted to go out and that he could get us on "the list" at the 1-Altitude roof top club. We said of course and what an experience! 

We got there before he did and told the bouncers that we were Ola's guests and we were able to skip the line and not pay the cover (which I think was like $30/person).  Then we rode the elevator up. And up. And up. We went up so high my ears popped. Twice. The back of the elevator was clear so you could see the city getting tiny below us. We went up to the 60th floor where we had to get off and get on a different elevator which took us the final 3 floors. The elevators were really fast as this whole ride only took about a minute.

We got to the top and it was unlike anything I've ever seen or experienced before. First of all, it was a super hopping club and the music and lights were going and people were dancing. I was a bit surprised since it was a Wednesday night but apparently that's the night to go out in Singapore because it's ladies' night. We walked around to check it out and the views were incredible. You could walk the entire way around and get full 360 degree views of the night skyline and it was amazing.  Here are a couple of pictures:

Ola had also arranged a table reservation and bottle service. Ordering drinks at the bar is apparently about $20 each so if you're going to have more than a few it's more economical just to buy a bottle. We got our table and bottle of Belvedere vodka and several mixers. They also had these glowing containers of ice which they replaced for us every 15 minutes or so. I've never had bottle service before so that was awesome. It was very fancy. We hung out there for a bit just enjoying the atmosphere. It was cooler up there and a gorgeous clear night with a slight breeze; perfect weather. They also had palm trees up there which was a nice touch.

When Ola and his friend arrived he immediately arranged for a better table. The servers moved all of our drinks and things. A few minutes later Ola goes "I think this table is a bit too loud. We're moving again". They moved us again, this time to one of the best tables in the place. We could look out at the city lights and also down at the dancers on the dance floor right below us. It was great. We had so much fun drinking and hanging out with Ola and his friends. His friend that he brought, named Long, actually works for Allscripts (one of Epic's main competitors) so we had fun chatting about that for awhile. What a small world! 

We eventually found out why we were getting such special treatment. Ola is good friends with the owner and he stopped by our table several times throughout the night to chat. He's also great friends with the manager who spent most of the night hanging out with us. He also knew all of the servers, so he clearly spends quite a bit of time there. He was chatting with everyone and our table was always full with different people.  It was a blast.

We went through 2 bottles of the Belvedere (I think) but Matt and I were doing pretty well not drinking too much. Definitely having fun but not sloppy or anything. The bar started to clear out around 3am so we decided to head home shortly after that. We got home and then Ola started pulling out his liquor and insisting on shots. How could we refuse? I don't know how many shots we took but based on how I felt this morning, it was a few too many.

We were getting ready to turn in when Ola announced that he was hungry. "There's a really good restaurant close by." Okay. We went there and I ordered a banana dessert thing which was the biggest dessert I've ever seen. It was delicious but I couldn't even eat half of it. We chatted about what Ola does for a living- he owns his own business that does mergers and acquisitions. I've never really understood what that actually means so I tried to learn more about that but I was probably a bit too intoxicated at that point to take much in. So I still couldn't really tell you.

So that was our big night out! We got to bed around 5am. Probably our biggest club night of the trip. We haven't even drank much on the trip since we don't want to spend the money on it and we're usually too exhausted at the end of the day anyway. But it was definitely an awesome experience and I'm so glad we did it.

Today was... less exciting. I didn't actually even leave the apartment since I was not feeling well. Matt eventually felt well enough to go get his hair cut but that's about it. We've been just relaxing and watching National Geographic on TV. Can't believe we're going to be on safari in Africa in like two weeks!

Sentosa

We started the day by eating cereal and dragon fruit for breakfast. We found dragon fruit at the grocery store for about 75 cents! It was really good; kind of a cross between a kiwi and a pear.

We spent the day at Sentosa which is a popular island resort. It has lots of beaches, golf courses, hotels, Fort Siloso, and a Universal Studios on the island. We had a great time! It was also really nice to visit on a Wednesday when there weren't that many people there. We spent most of our time at Siloso beach which was really nice. It was nice and sandy and there was music playing. It wasn't very crowded. The water was super warm and had lots of seaweed floating around. There were several bay areas of the beach and each one had an island just off the coast. There were also lots of bars and restuarants right on the beach. 

After we left there we went to Fort Siloso which is a restored gun battery now turned military museum. It's free so that was pretty cool. We decided to take the skywalk to the fort so we rode the elevator up and were met with a surprise. Right outside the elevator was a monkey eating his lunch! I'm not kidding, here's a picture:

There were actually three of them, but this one wasn't sharing the food. Apparently there had been a group of schoolchildren sitting up there when the monkeys approached them. Frightened, the kids abandoned their stuff and ran off; we could see them about 50 ft down the walkway watching the monkeys apprehensively. The monkey proceeded to raid their belongings and one lucky monkey found a lunch box full of goodies. It was really interesting watching him eat; he prioritized which food he wanted to eat first and he had no trouble at all removing the wrappers from the food. The other monkeys rifled through the books and things and tossed some things around. Seemed like they were having a good time. The monkeys were pretty aggressive if you got too close to them, so perhaps the kids had good reason to be frightened.  It was a pretty interesting situation to walk into, though.

The skywalk was really cool and had great views of Sentosa and the city. It also had information panels along the way describing the history of the area. We were in a bit of a hurry because it looked like it could rain any minute so we didn't stop and read all of them. Fort Siloso also had lots of informative panels set up, describing the history of the fort and their part in WWII. 

The island was a bit difficult to walk around and we wandered around at first struggling to find the beaches. We later found a pamphlet with a map which was super helpful and discovered that there were three buses running for free on the island so that would've been good to know. In our wandering though we did find the famous merlion. It's a 37-meter tall statue that you can go inside, but we didn't do that. We just snapped a photo and went on our way.

We made our way back to our airbnb and it never rained on us! Success. We plan on checking out the 1-Altitude bar tonight, so I can report on that tomorrow.

Special birthday shout out to mama Ann!! We hope you have a great birthday!