It’s Monday and a Fabulous Zoo!

 

Up this morning about 5:30 am and catch-up blogging to do.  Finally made it to breakfast around 8 am.

 

Left for the Singapore Zoo about 9:15 am, arriving there about 9:45.  After the hoards of people at the Aquarium on Sentosa the other day, we were very pleasantly surprised to find a nice trickle of people at the Zoo, but nothing really overwhelming!  Entered and walked down a lovely green pathway past some very cute otters, a great display of pelicans as well as some small lemurs and monkeys.  We made it to the tram, and figured that we would take it once around the circuit, and then decide exactly where we wanted to walk.

 

The weather forecast was calling for a day of thunderstorms and occasional torrential rain, but the sun was shining brightly and there was lots of blue sky overhead!  Amazing!  At any rate, we traversed the zoo property, and finally decided to get off back at the beginning tram stop, and walk back towards the lions and giraffes, which held the most interest for us.

 

The Singapore Zoo, like the San Diego Zoo, is basically cageless, which is wonderful.  Also, the background – tropical forest everywhere, makes for quite interesting displays.  The keepers are very “into” animal enrichment – that is, finding things that the animals are interested in doing to keep them engaged, which is also a real plus for zoo keepers, as well as keeping the animals active.  

Very cute Asian river otters

Not sure exactly what was swinging through the trees...

 

Very flashy pelican

Native Lemur

Love the outdoor bathrooms!

The Zoo is built on the side of one of the reservoirs

Orangutang on the mesh frame outside his enclosure!

Pack of hyenas

White rhinos!

Zebras

Think this is from the wart-hog family

Giraffes

The "King!"

One of the biggest surprises we found was a suspended mesh platform OUTSIDE the Bornean orangutang enclosure!!  I mean, it was basically suspended in mid-air, and the animal was enjoying a lazy snooze!  We asked a keeper why or how the animal doesn’t get out, but she informed us that there was rope to enable the animal to get to and from the platform, but otherwise, there was an electric fence to keep the orangutang from joining the visitors on the ground.  Whew!  But a unique idea, to be sure!

 

We very much enjoyed seeing the zebras, giraffes (Debby’s favorite!), hyenas, lions, and various kinds of monkeys along with a large assortment of other animals too numerous to mention. 

 

The other thing that was interesting is that the long-tailed Macaques, native to Singapore, are literally everywhere!  They are not part of the zoo – but they make their way in anyway, and love to try and steal food from visitors!  They actually have people with sticks walking the park to chase them away!  Debby and I stopped to get cold drinks at a machine, and the young man suggested that we not stop there to drink them, as the macaques were right there – I mean, just a foot or two away – and were waiting to grab things from us!  Interesting!

 

Spent a very enjoyable albeit WARM couple of hours at the Zoo, but finally decided that we had had enough of nature, and headed back to the hotel for a sit-down and naps.  Heading out this evening to Jumbo Seafood on the East Coast Parkway for an early dinner (5 pm) tonight!  So, more later!!

 

Much love,

m

xxx

 

Hello!

 

We left for dinner about 4:15 pm for a 5 pm reservation at Jumbo Seafood, at the East Coast Seafood Center, which lies along the coast of the South China Sea.  When I first visited Singapore in 1976, I was with a group traveling from Okinawa, and we ate in this area … it was SO basic that they set up a board on two sawhorses, and we all sat around it on stools.  They then proceeded to dump several buckets of prawns on the boardtable – one bucket boiled in beer, another boiled in salt water and a third boiled in chili sauce.  We just basically dug in, cleaned the prawns by hand, and when it was over, the tilted the board onto plastic, wrapped it up and hosed everything down.  As I said, very basic but delicious.  Well, in these hygienic times, that obviously doesn’t happen anymore.  

 

However, Jumbo Seafood is still there – expanded throughout Southeast Asia, and famous for their Chili crab.  We arrived about 4:45 and were seated immediately – actually, we opened the restaurant!  And, while I had originally requested an upstairs table (because it was air conditioned) we opted instead to sit on the ground floor, because there was such a wonderful breeze coming in from the Sea, right next to the boardwalk!  Fabulous!

 

With the help of our terrific waiter, we ended up ordering one chili crab, along with an order of seafood fried rice, and an order of asparagus with onions.  We also both had glasses of white wine and sparkling water. 

South China Sea filled with ships!

Jumbo Seafood!

Looking down the boardwalk

Well … when the crab arrived, we definitely needed the help of our wonderful waiter to guide us through the eating process!  First off, we donned bibs – a very necessary step, as it turns out!  Next, we were introduced to our one-size-fits-all disposable gloves – which were hilarious on Debby and me, as we both have small hands!!  And then we were supposed to use the crab-cracker (like a nut-cracker, only a bit larger) to crack the crab shells and dig the meat out with picks … wow!  And of course, there is chili sauce over everything!  Truly, we laughed SO hard – the chili sauce was spicy and definitely made my nose run – but there was NO way to get a Kleenex out of my pocket, as my hands were covered with these huge disposable gloves that were literally dripping in chili sauce!  Truly, a unique experience!  

 

Asparagas and onion

Excellent seafood fried rice

The famous Chili Crab!

Notice the gloves??

Family passing by on the boardwalk!

Finally managed to crack and pick out way through dinner, which we very much enjoyed – but as Debby said, did it once; don’t have to do it again!  Think I will definitely stick to prawns after this, as usually, unless they are served with the heads on, easier to eat!  Oh!  One other thing about the menu, that I found VERY disconcerting!

 

The use the word “LIVE” constantly, to mean, I believe: FRESH – as I don’t think they’re going to bring a LIVE chilled whatever to your table … although you never know!  I could be wrong!

 

At any rate, we enjoyed our meal immensely; it is always good to laugh, which we did, heartily!

 

Easy pick-up by Grab from the restaurant, and in another half-an-hour or so, we were back at the hotel.  We both wanted a little something sweet for dessert, so walked down the street to 313 Somerset.  Debby got coconut ice cream that she said was wonderful, but I had to settle for a Magnum Almond, as apparently they are now out of Classics … oh well!

 

Back to the room about 8, with notifications from Singapore Airlines for our check-in on Wednesday evening. All set now and planning what we’re doing tomorrow!

 

Marina Bay Gardens, here we come!

 

Much love,

m

xxx