Visit to the Singapore Zoological Gardens

I do face-painting as a side job, and sometimes the locations I'm requested to work at can be pretty awesome! I was lucky enough to be invited to a company function last week that was being held in the Singapore Zoological Gardens, and since my job was only for a couple hours in the morning it gave us enough time to explore the entirety of the zoo for the rest of the day.

Yay elephants! ...alright, these are just statues. Real life ones further down the page though!

The Singapore Zoological Gardens (or simply the Singapore Zoo, or the Mandai Zoo) occupies 28 hectares of land and plays host to about 315 species of animals/reptiles/birds, most of which are housed within spacious, naturalistic "open" exhibits. Upon alighting at the zoo you may choose to explore the site on foot or on tram, the latter of which is slightly more expensive - at the time of posting normal tickets are S$20 per adult and S$13 per child, and S$25 per adult and S$16 per child if traveling by tram. Personally, I would recommend going about on foot as this allows you to take your time with the individual exhibits, and perhaps even first-hand close-up encounters with some of the tamer creatures that are allowed to roam the zoo freely:

A small number of peahens and peacocks can always be found strutting leisurely all over the zoo.

And within the exhibits too:

A shy mousedeer that came out of the fauna to greet the visitors. We were seriously only inches from it! Mousedeer are housed within the Fragile Forest exhibit.

I suppose I don't have to go into detail on all the different animals we have in the zoo, although you can be rest assured that it has a lot of big cats, African wildlife, reptiles and even amphibians on the list:

 

You're never going to get a clear shot of this beast.

The zoo also has regular shows that feature elephants, seals, monkeys and more:

The elephant show at Elephants At Work and Play. Be prepared to get sprayed if you sit in the front.

The sea lion show at Splash Safari, Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre. Prepared to get soaked here too!

However, if watching animals from behind a glass screen or from a bench seat just doesn't quite do it for you, you can also take part in feeding some of the mammals straight out of your hand for a small token fee of S$5. Feeding was definitely the highlight of our trip to the zoo! 

Michi's feeding them in this one but MANATEES ARE MY NEW FAVORITE ANIMAL

LOOK AT THOSE PUPPY FACES. SERIOUSLY HOW DO YOU RESIST A FACE LIKE THAT

Giraffes have really, really long tongues that are about as prehensile as an elephant's trunk and a monkey's tail combined. Also, slimy.

Those were the only two animal feeding times we managed to catch, but as biased as I admit I am I would still recommend feeding the manatees over the giraffes. There was definitely a much larger crowd in demand for the giraffes, but feeding took only all of ten seconds since the keepers only gave us like... five tiny sticks of sliced carrots. We were also asked to feed and leave quickly to make way for the next people in line, and according to the keeper we were not allowed to pet the giraffes as they "could get nervous and hit you with their necks". The manatees, on the other hand, took at least five minutes to finish feeding - we were given a full basket of sliced potatoes and carrots, and since there wasn't a crowd we were allowed to take our time as long as the food would last! Being allowed to pet them was also a huge plus (they feel like wet canvas). 

The zoo closes at 6pm daily, and if you're the more adventurous type you can continue your trip to the Night Safari which is right next to the zoo. I'll save that for another blog post when we actually get to explore it - if I'm lucky, maybe when my next face-painting job calls me there.

Subliminal last image post~

HSBC TreeTop Walk

Opened in 2004, the HSBC TreeTop Walk is a very cool, but very exhausting way to spend a free afternoon. Considering you'll be hiking anywhere between about 5 and 15 km (about 3.1 to 9.3 miles for my American friends who cannot convert metric... on which to note I used google to convert because I'm still far below average in recognizing metric equivalents too) you should come prepared with good shoes, snacks, and someone else, because hiking that long alone would be boring as heck.

Just a note before we start to give everyone an idea of perhaps why Pris and I found this trek so exhausting, aside from the fact that we're both willing to admit we're horribly out of shape- we're idiots. We knew beforehand how long we would be hiking, we knew it would be difficult, and yet we chose to take the hike in flip flops. Do not do this.  Seriously, this isn't a nice little hike in the woods. This is a difficult, often up hill path made of rocks of all sizes in various holds. Some will slip out under your feet, you will have to climb over many large, strangely placed red bricks in the path now and again, and it is not at all paved. For the sake of your feet please let us learn the lesson for you and wear the appropriate footwear.

The hours run from 9-5 on weekdays and 8:30-5 on weekends, so do make sure you get a head start, as they will not let anyone on past the 5pm mark. Two other things to keep an eye on: the size of your group (only 30 are allowed on the walk at any time, so if you are making a large group tour it may take a few minutes waiting to get on) and the weather (...please don't even attempt to get on a swaying bridge 25m in the air in a storm). It is definitely worth it to head out as early as possible, however, as the midday sun is a killer.

You can find a bit more information, including trails and whatnot, right here.

We headed out somewhat early, about 9am, but since we live pretty far we didn't really get started until around 10:30 or so. From the Marymount MRT it's about a 1.5km walk to the entrance of the trail, but pretty easy to find. Just follow the MRT map to St Theresa's Home and the start is right there. For those who will be driving or who want to make the trip with kids, you can shave about 5km off the total hike by heading straight to the Venus Drive entrance and starting there. They say in all the guides that it will take about 3-5 hours for the hike from start to finish, but in our experience it will be much closer to 3 unless you spend a long while eating lunch at the ranger station. We stopped for plenty of pics and our own lunch and still managed to finish right around the 3 hour mark, despite taking the longest route and keeping a steady, but not terribly fast, pace.

The TreeTop walk is located on a long path in the MacRitchie Reservoir, linking the two highest points within the area. It is about 250m long and 25m high, literally in the highest trees. It is also worth noting the actual suspension bridge is a one way route, so if you are terrified of heights you will literally not be able to turn around and change your mind once you start- the only option is to continue to the end. This isn't as bad as it sounds, both Pris and I were pretty wary about the height before we got there and neither of us flourish high in the air, but the walls of the bridge are high and it feels secure. Aside from a bit of swaying in the breeze there was nothing to make us nervous, and even that was totally welcome after about an hour and a half of up-hill hiking in 90-something degree weather (sorry, about 33c to my metric buddies, but you probably know how hot it is here anyway). 

The path is clearly marked, but also very busy. As a nature trail, you'll be sharing the first 5km with other joggers and hikers not looking to go to the walk, and sometimes it's a tight squeeze. The path is somewhat narrow and isn't paved, so watch your step and try to stick to one side so others can easily pass. The path out was nice, but as it was a lot of uphill walking also tired us out pretty quickly.

After 5km you'll come to a split in the path. This is where the path from Venus Drive merges and most hikers do not continue if they aren't looking specifically to get to the TreeTop walk, so after this things aren't nearly so crowded. To be honest, there isn't much to say about the hike itself as it's mostly the same thing, long winding roads surrounded on all sides by trees. Fortunately, nearly the whole walk is shaded so that helps take a lot of the edge off the heat.

A short while later you'll pass by the ranger station, where almost everyone will be stopping before or after the walk to relax a few minutes. There are bathrooms and free flow water, as well as blessed chairs, so take advantage before heading to the walk itself, as it's totally uphill from there (you're going into the trees, it's a tiring portion!). After what feels like forever, but what the signs tell you was only .3km (lies), you'll finally reach the suspension bridge.

The good news is not a terrible amount of people are willing to hike so far into the woods, so it was reasonably free and without too many others around. As I mentioned before, the bridge is sturdy enough to not cause worry, but it is a little frightening being so high up, especially if you don't love heights.

Enjoy the views and take your time! As far as things go, the TreeTop walk wasn't as suspenseful and exciting as we'd imagined, as most of the trees are actually right at your height and not hugely tall. It was definitely interesting and worth the trip out since we're not exactly crunched for time in which to see things in Singapore, but if taking half a day or so out of your trip would leave a gap in which other activities couldn't be done we'd both give this one a pass. To be honest, our favorite part of the trip wasn't the walk at all- it was:

MONKEYS!!!!

Pris still gets a kick out of my excitement at seeing wild monkeys, but this time even she was pretty pumped. We didn't see any monkeys the whole way out and thought we were going to miss them altogether, despite the signs everywhere reminding us not to feed them. Fortunately, about 1.5km from the exit we were absolutely ambushed. What started as one monkey climbing close to us (and actually scaring me farther away) turned into about two dozen a few steps down the road. These were mostly cute little guys, but obviously looking for and expecting some food. They lined all sides of the road and overhead and even got right in the path!

Many were actually close enough to reach out and touch. It was pretty funny too, watching all the foreigners stopping for pictures and to watch them and all the locals who take the path frequently zooming right around them without a second glance. Definitely the best part of this trip though.

This Was Not A Fun Post To Make

This blog post is about pests.

It will have pictures of bugs and creepy crawlies.

The back-button is at the top-left.

And now that you've gotten your fair warning... To be honest, I'm not even sure why I'm blogging about this topic since it's such a common thing to me, but I guess what's common to me might be news to others, so. If you're a local reading, sorry to bore you. If you're an expat living in or visiting Singapore and you're reading this, and you haven't had the opportunity to come across these lovely creatures yet, I'd like to introduce you to...

THE COMMON COCKROACH

...it seriously is really common here. The common cockroach in Singapore can grow to as large as the size of an adult thumb, and they are near impossible to kill. You can smack them with newspaper or bugspray them and the little buggers just either reanimate, respawn, or come right back. Even better, a lot of them are apparently psychic and they'll run straight at you - instead of away from you - if you try to attack them directly.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a non-blurry picture
of a cockroach that's running toward you while you're simultaneously
running backwards away from it

Not only are roaches invincible, they're everywhere too. You'll find them scuttling between the shadows, hiding in the drains, feasting in the garbage bins, hanging from the ceiling; they even ride the bus to work with you and fly into your hair. More than once I've witnessed full-grown cockroaches creeping along the windows or poles of the public buses while riding the commute to work, and the latter happened to me only a mere week ago. (I got rid of it by doing a impromptu three second rain dance on the sidewalk and then just stared after it as it continued to lazily fly away.)

As disgusting as I've made it sound though, be rest assured that a large majority of the public buses (and Singapore in general!) are roach-free, and while they do fly roaches normally prefer to creep along flat surfaces than take to the air. Most places are regularly fumigated every couple months too, keeping the roach population in check (although the only downside to that is having to pick your way through the hundred of dead bodies carpeting the floor the next morning).

And next up is...

COMMON HOUSE LIZARD

Often found on the ceilings of bathrooms, in the corners of room ceilings, under the lights on the wall and behind the automatic kettle on the kitchen counter, the common house lizard reaches various sizes depending on how stable its diet of flies is and is also very likely the source of that weird chittering noise you hear above your head while sitting on the john. Nearly transparent, they move in short, zig-zaggish bursts of speed and may or may not drop down on you from above instead of running in the opposite direction while being chased. Young lizards can be as tiny as the first joint of your thumb and well-fed adults can reach the size of an outstretched hand (from the tip of the middle finger to the base of the palm).

They're always hiding somewhere. Always.

Some of my personal notes on house lizards: hosing them with hot water from the showerhead will not melt them through the shower stall drain, and fishing their partially liquefied bodies out after is not a pleasant task at all. Also, the tail stays alive for up to ten minutes after dropping off the body and it will somehow continue wriggling menacingly towards you even long after the lizard itself has run away.

And last but not least...

STRAY CATS

You heard me. These fuzzy little cuties are considered pests in Singapore, mostly because of the noise they make during heat and during fights, and even though the Singapore Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) have taken measures to stop them from breeding via neutering, they somehow keep multiplying. You'll find at least one cat in the void deck of every HDB building there is in Singapore. And despite numerous signs telling the general public not to feed the strays, people still do because face it, cats are cute. (I haven't really heard of anyone getting fined for doing so though, seems like most people close an eye to it.)

You can tell if a stray cat's been fixed by looking at its ears. After it's been picked up by the SPCA, the cat in question will be dewormed, vaccinated against rabies and common diseases, and neutered before being returned to where it was found, with one small difference - a little slice of one of its ears removed. It sounds painful, but it's done while the cat is under anesthesia (with a hot metal wire, very quick and efficient) and it doesn't affect the cat's hearing at all. It's also very common for most stray cats here to have a kink in their tail or two, but not to worry because this is actually a genetic defect, and not a result of abuse during kittenhood as I had previously thought. (According to Michelle, all the cats in Ohio, USA have long straight tails. Now that was unusual to me!)

And that ends the post on pests for now. Have a kitty.