Sungei Buloh

On the northwest shore of the island of Singapore is a protected mangrove-wetlands-estuary-swamp rich in migratory birds (in season from as far away as Siberia), as well as reptiles, fish and crustaceans.

We sighted colorful Kingfishers:

and Storks

 Cute and colorful little snakes on the boarwalk:

 Big monitor lizards in the water:                            

                     and also on the path:    

The monitor lizards are really big but not scary. These probably weighed 100lbs. We saw another half dozen or so little monitors too.

This looks like a forest from the air. It is just the mangrove 'knees' (breathing roots) sticking up out of the muck and moss growing around them. Each of those 'tree trunks' are only 6-10 inches tall and the mossy clumps 3-5 inches.

  

The facilities are clean and inviting

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Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Bukit (hill, in Malay language) Timah is Singapore's tallest  hill (164 meters) and contains Singapore's last remaining pocket of primary rain forest. It is not a very big area but a nice nature get-away from the city high-rise living.

 It is hard to capture the steaminess of the forest, the density of the undergrowth and the steepness of some of the trails. But it is all that.

So many different plants competing for light and nutrients. Vines twist and shoot up the trees in their rush to the top. Some of them you don't want to mess with!

At the 'summit' the height is measured to the centimeter! I was supposed to be pointing that out but I am instead pointing to the latitude, oops.

As usual, there is a warning to not feed the monkeys. (We didn't see any, probably because since folks don't feed them, they don't show up.)

Hungry at the end of our hike, we walked over to a restaurant that had Indian, Malay, and Chinese food aplenty. The menu was in a 12 page double-sided binder, or if you prefered, printed all over the walls, floor to ceiling. See Bill reading the selections across the room.

And I am enjoying an ice cold coconut water while we wait for our food.

Little India

You don't have to travel very far to get to India when you are in Singapore. It's only a few stops on the MRT (metro) and you are there.  Ok, not the real India but a part of town where if you were from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, you'd feel right at home.

You could buy garlands for temple offerings.

You can shop for the spices you need to cook a hot curry.

 And you can chose to cook fish for dinner,

Or stick with fruit.







And then head home through one of the most colorful parts of town ever.

The Singapore Zoo

On Sunday I took Bill to the Zoo. It's a pretty amazing place because of all the zoos I've ever visited, the animals seem the happiest. Clearly the weather suits them (except for maybe the polar bear), and walking through the zoo is like walking through a tropical jungle.

Let's start with a cute little warthog:

Then a white-handed gibbon:

The polar bear:

The beautiful pair of white bengal tigers:

And the two best un-enclosed enclosures of all, that of the hamadryas baboon:

And the free-ranging orangutans.