I have no idea why they fascinate me – perhaps it is the myth of them being the creature sailors confused as mermaids (too much time at sea and rum I think) but they do. I had hoped to see one in America in 2012 at sea world but they no longer had them, and I have looked high and wide on the east coast of Australia and been on a cruise in the far north west of Australia – all with no success.  When I stumbled across the relatively new ‘River Safari’ experience in my Singapore research I was extremely excited to see they had a good sized tank and family- group of them.  So today was about getting to see them in real life, and to see as much of the Gardens of the Bay as possible, do night photography, and go to China Town for dinner.

Our sleep was not too bad and we gained a few hours with the adjustment to local time.  I woke a few times during the night as the aircon was a bit noisy, and I take time adjusting to air conditioned sleep vs. fresh air sleep. Vern, well family know he can sleep upside down in a tree for all he cares ….  I woke quite refreshed and rearing to go at 7am local time, and did a bit of blog work before that disturbed habibi and he got relegated to duty on our nespresso machine. He really is a fine barista. I think for the first time in my life – or for a very very long time – I was actually not hungry!  Neither was Vern so we got sorted and decided to make the most of our time and get a cab to the River Safari which was about a 25 minute drive away from the harbour-city area we were staying at.  Our room is on the 29th floor and has a wonderful harbour view – along with being in the ‘upper’ section we get a select few outside lifts which are fun things.  The interesting part is that the aircon doesn’t extend – or is certainly nowhere near as efficient as the indoor lifts.  Boy could we feel the warmth difference!

The trip to the Safari park cost us a mere SGD$20. The drive out was really pleasant too – viewing the tidy roads lined with bougainvillea and tropical native bush, polite drivers, and manicured city and residential areas. Singapore is so tidy and organized – you don’t see rubbish, graffiti or chaos – except perhaps the busyness and chaos of tourists at places as they get to grips with where they are going and what they are doing.  On one part of the motorway they have built a ‘green belt’ style bridge across the motorway so the native animals can get safely from one side to the other. Our driver said the animal are using it – like deer, boar and more.

The River Safari is next to the Zoo, Night Safari and the Bird park is shifting there as well so people will be able to get a four park pass in the future.  We got our tickets $30 each and decided to have a snack before going on safari.  We chose a local style food with noodles and curry chicken and a simple laksa.  Cheap and flavoursome all up SGD$14.

Now the moment had come, so amidst “I’m getting excited Vernon” we headed straight to the Manatee “flooded Amazon forest”.  Apparently it is the worlds largest fresh water aquarium.  They have some feeding boxes on top of the tank, and the gutsy creatures feed at leisure, being mammals they also come up for air frequently.  After watching them for a bit we headed downstairs for a better view.  How can I describe it?  It was cool and just felt so satisfying to see them at last! They appeared happy and would play and interact with each other, or roll happily around.  There was a mum and baby who was cute and getting brave at times doing a bit of freestyle, but then heading close back to mum.  Gentle happy creatures, and I so hope man stops invading their homelands and hurting them and endangering them.  I was surprised how big some of them were, not sure if they were bulls?  They were grossly obese and reminded us of big sea elephants.  Overall I do not get the mermaid connection LOL.

Near the Manatees were red piranha, and (both separately housed) giant river otters – the latter being very cute.  Further along was a squirrel monkey forest, which also had black howler monkeys, Azara Agouti and Patagonian Mara.  The Mara look like rabbits crossed with kangaroo and tiny deer, and the Agouti like big guinea pigs and are so glossy as if they are groomed and oiled for a show.  The monkeys were cute and happy in their big enclosure of trees which we could walk through and get really close.  There were quite a few highlights the rest of the morning – one part you get to go as a paid extra side trip on a little river cruise. We saw on this cruise a giant anteater.  What a HUGE and weird creature!  Ugly and fascinating and wonderful!  Its big as a racehorse, hairy, colorful with greys, white, black, and a bit of reddy orange. But the weirdest part is its silly by proportion long skinny face.  As we were on a moving boat I was unable to get a good picture of it, but that will be added to a bucket list to see more of!  Other exotics were the Tapir and capybara; both we saw in San Diego zoo, and got better pictures but felt sorry for them – here they have a nice habitat but you don’t get to see them very close on a moving boat!  I can honestly say I would rather the latter.

There are two Panda bears at the park, but only one was visible and fast asleep. That was a bummer but that’s Panda for you.  We walked all around and enjoyed the areas which had a strong conservataion focus.  A lot of it is covered over walk ways, and a natural big river runs through the middle of the park so we weren’t fully in the outside elements. The inside displays were all air conditioned which was a nice respite indeed. But by the time we were finished we were pretty sweaty and well into the swing of downing water – but its hard to keep hydrated when you are not used to walking around in a sauna.  At the exit they had panda steam buns filled with chocolate custard for $2.20 and it was mighty tasty.  We got a cab back to the hotel and had planned a swim but realized that the time had romped on, and we would be pushing to get around the gardens – let alone make it to China town.  We were cool with that as the River Safari was a real pleasure and we had enjoyed the time there.  The reviews on TripAdvisor were mixed about it so we were not expecting too much, and accordingly were pleasantly surprised.

It was about a 15 minute walk to the gardens so we headed off into the hot humid afternoon taking time to enjoy the views along the way.  The big hotel with the boat on top – Marina Bay Sands is huge, you don’t realize how big until you get closer and have to lean right back to see the top.  You get to walk through it to get to the Gardens, and inside is not as appealing as the outside architecture – well compared to our hotel I do not think so.  Its pretty baron, and is split inside with nothing of interest in the middle – see photo.  In contrast our hotel has little huts, water features, orchid displays and lighting and inside lifts.   Back to the walk to the gardens – we felt the heat, but focused on the task at hand – the first being to get to the sky walk around the big trees which was closing early due to maintenance.  We go there just in time – 5:15pm and were able to walk the plank I mean admire the views from the ‘tree tops’.  By now, pretty much no dry places on the body – yuk.

Next stop was the cloud and flower domes.  These are paid entries $10 each, and air conditioned (yay).  The flower dome has planting of different countries such as Australia, South Africa, Mediterranean and more. They include art and sculpture to compliment the story and experience.  Our clear favorite was the cactus garden which had an amazing selection of plants and species from little succulents to huge spiny trees including boab from Africa and other arid regions.  The cacti were amazing and we were fascinated with the sizes, colors and forms.  Spiny, fluffy, spotty, hairy, ribbed, spiral, thorny, round, tall, they had them all.  Cactus wall displays and topiary mosaic make for great ideas.

The Cloud dome has a huge waterfall strucuture that you go up and enter a ‘lost world’ of sublime plantings inspired by rainforests from around the world. The size of the place is hard to express, and the mind boggles on how much money and work to produce something like these gardens.  Engineering and architecture that is truely artistic.  We enjoyed both displays with the exception of all the other tourists which were predominantly Indian and Asian families with grandparents, down to a couple at most spoilt horrid free rangers (aka spoilt children). (Note the comment is not about ethnicity but about the inconsiderate manner of them to other people at the venue.) Got to the point where I said to Vern, “cant take this anymore its killing the experience for me, I need to get away from children at least – if not to escape to somewhere quiet – the later being impossible when you are at a tourist attraction). I adore my children, my nieces, and nephews etc and generally range from having tolerance to great liking for others outside my wider family unit. Spoilt undisciplined children I have a very low tolerance level for. There said and done. Grrr.  The other emerging problem was the close proximity to sweaty non deodorant wearing bodies on all those walk ways and croweded areas.  Not nice and was beginning to make me nauseous. We were hardly shower fresh, but there is a difference to those that wear a bacteria killing deodorant, and those that go eau natural. Enough said on that one too.

Keeping up with our eat local rule we followed the sign for ‘Satay at the Bay’.  It was quite a walk further up the gardens and when we got there, it was not an airconditioned restaurant like I thought,  but an open street style collection of eateries.  No worries, we shared a small couples platter and a Tiger beer.  The satay mutton and chicken was delicious and fresh, served with yummy sauce, raw onions and cucumber on the side $14 all up for that, and the beer $7.50 a bottle….. we shared both dishes and headed back in the dark towards the harbour for the night photography.

Having finally sat down for a bit, our legs and feet protested loudly at having to get going again. The hot humid day had not changed much with its night cloak on, in fact it seemed to have intensified in humidity with no decreases in temperature. We were slick with sweat again after 5 minutes walking.  Despite the pain in our feet and the close, moist still air  – it was lovely walking in the park amongst the plantings and  lit up statues. As we got to the clearing with the first big trees we came across a little light show.  I hurried to set the tripod up but was not successful to the level I would have liked, and we forgot to pack a torch (you need one for night work, and time to set up).  Leaning over and trying to get it all going my eyes started to sting as the increasing stream of perspiration ran down my face. This was not the fun part!  With lots of grumbles I got a couple of shots, and we continued back over the road, through the Marina Bay Sands and committed to the decent walk around the marina to the Merlion.

As a guide its 1.5km from our hotel to the entrance to the gardens, the garden section we walked probably another 5 km including dinner, then about 2km around the bay to the Merlion, then another 1.4km to the hotel from there.  I may have eaten a weeks worth of food last night, but think I have redeemed myself today (also add on 3 hours on our feet at the river safari).  OBTW its not all flat and escalators either – did some good stair work and slopes too.  I got a few more night shots, with Verns patient help swapping lenses but it looked as though my new tripod was broken as it would not lock still.  Gutted, but then had to remind myself that this should not be just about photos – here we were, actually IN Singapore – healthy and well and living our dreams.  It is a beautiful city with a beautiful harbour area on a very balmy night.  We paused, rechecked and best we could over and above our tired, sticky and sore bodies, drunk in the atmosphere of the evening, experience and ‘now’. We agreed to watch ourselves in our busyness of wanting to see and do things to not forget to just spend time being in the moment and trying to freeze that time and place in our memories.

Smiles on our faces we left the activity of the various combinations of people all trying to record their story – a group shot, selfie stick singles, girls giggling trying to line up the shot to get the water spout coming out of their mouths, to lovers quietly in the shadows. We paused at an icecream stand making the ‘best local icecream from world famous melon and creamy cows’ . The melon float was yummy, but Verns plain soft serve was no more special than McD.  All good, new experience to try local Singapore milk products :-). It was 10:45 by the time we made it home, and we had yet to use a voucher for two free drinks.  Couldn’t let that go to waste so it was wine, beer and complimentary crisps and nuts before a devine long shower and bed.

View out room window

Lunch at River Safari

Giant Otters

Photo bombers at back

Giant Anteater

Steam bun – Asian pose

Thirsty work

Manatee

Red Pirahna

Spider monkey

Big Pirahana

Our hotel lobby

Marina Bay Sands

Big hotel

Gardens at the Bay

Sky walk

Flower dome

Sculpture – cool

Cactus garden

It was huge

Neat planting

Cactus wall

Cloud garden

Cloud garden

Lost world

Satay street eat

Light show

Walk back, Singapore Flyer

Harbour

Harbour