Back to Singapore

Flights to Singapore were the cheapest in the region so a lot of JETs, us included, went there first on our way to some other south-east Asian destination. Unlike the other folks we stayed in Singapore for a couple of days before moving on. Mara was temporarily living there so she hung out with us a little bit. There were a few things we missed last time we were here so we tried to fit them in. Our first stop was the botanic garden.

Carnivorous plants!

I should relax.

This is the most tortured bonsai I have ever seen. Cool though.

One afternoon we got schooled in tea. We learned about what makes good tea and how to properly brew and drink tea. We tried four kinds of tea, drinking seven tiny cups of each (see the thimble sized cups in the picture above this one). It was the best tea I have ever had, but the oolong in Taiwan was a close second. Check Laurel’s blog for a bit more info.

Singapore is a colorful place.

We took a short river cruise while waiting for the Asian Civilization museum to open. It was corny, but relaxing.

One of the big attractions we missed the first time was the Night Safari Park. It’s like a zoo that you go to at night. The idea is that the animals are more active at night and it seems to be true. It’s not very helpful if you want to take pictures, but the animals were much more entertaining than a typical zoo.

You were allowed to enter some of the cages, like this one with the flying foxes, bats (big bats). Another cage you were allowed in was the flying squirrel cage. The path leads between to rows of fake trees and the squirrels fly over your head quite regularly. We also got to see a fishing cat actually fishing and we got the crap scared out of  us by a crocodile.  The  last highlight was when the tiger tried to spray us through the glass. If not for the glass I expect he would have done more than spray us.

This is called the tree top walk. They built a suspension bridge between two hills in the middle of the jungle so that the bridge is about level with the tree canopy.

Maintenance guy.

This was a really nice walk through the jungle, like much of Singapore, sterilized for your convenience.