Phuket & Singapore 2009 –Day 11 – Singapore Zoo
The bus picked us up at 7.45 we had 2 more stops before arriving at the "Singapore Flyer", to once again, be transferred to a larger bus. The bus trip was for about an hour as it was in peak time, the roads are very modern, even the express ways had trees lined along the sides!
It was going to be a hot day – 37 deg & we forgot the sunscreen !
Once at the zoo we were taken to "Ah Meng" Restaurant ( breakfast area) where we had a buffet breakfast of both hot & cold foods, while we were eating some of the zoo keepers bought out snakes to touch….ew. & then the orangutans arrived.
we were about 3 tables back from their platform & could see them quite clearly. You could have your photo taken with them. We lined up to get close to the animals, listening to the keepers talk on how strong they were & how poaching has effected their numbers, had our photo taken & finished breakfast, then at your leisure you could take your own photo’s getting up really close but you couldn’t touch ! They were so cute, there was even a baby one who kept going from one adult to the next. Once breakfast was over & the orangutans left we had a ride on the zoo tram which did 1 lap of the zoo so you could get your bearings, then 1&1/2 hours at your own leisure to look around.
We took quite a few photos, 1 of the most remembered features of the zoo was that a lot of the enclosures were not fenced off & some of the animals ( especially the small monkeys ) were only cm away from you. We saw a lot of animals – the usual Giraffe’s, Rhino’s, Zebra’s Black Leopard, cheetahs,Lion’s, Anaconda etc, the last animal we saw was the majestic white tigers- so beautiful.
Then back on the bus back to the hotel, we all had showers as we were a bit sticky (understatement !) & made our way back down the street for some last minute shopping- We checked a few more camera shops out but no good & even went back to 1 that we visited on the first day – but he said no stock !
We caught the bus to the Raffles stop & visited the Raffles hotel & mall- not sure why it is the done thing when visiting Singapore but we can say we did it. David wanted to check out a mall called "Furama – Digital Life" – so we looked at the map & headed off – we got lost on the way but a nice business man gave us directions- the mall was filled with computer, camera, TV, video stores -about 5 levels – but still no lens, I ended up buying a new phone at David’s insistence. We then went into another mall , found an ice cream shop (Ben & Jerry’s) & splurged out.
Once we finished our ice creams we went to search for a taxi – couldn’t find one – well we did, but taxi drivers can only get fares from taxi ranks not from the street, so we kept walking & walking until we finally found that elusive taxi rank, we jumped in the first taxi and travelled for about 2 streets to the hotel – we were so close … had tea at the hotel David -"Nasi-Goreng, Brendan- spag bol & I had Chicken Satay Sticks, we then packed & got ready for the bus to pick us up at 9pm for our flight home was at 00.25
