Singapore National Zoo

My awe for Singapore Airport is not just due to the grandeur, the facilities here are equally overwhelming too. We could easiy check-in into a hotel from the Airport and we took a cab (The cabs are far cheaper than they are in US and much more comfortable.) to our Hotel from there.

The very first thing that dawned on me once i entered Singapore is the climate. Its TORRID. Coming from the onslaught of the not so welcome rains and chill weather at the Bay Area in California this was a blow. It did not take much time for me to realise that the worst thing about Singapore is the climate and also it did not take long for me to realise theirs defense against this nature's bane. They have Air Conditioned almost the entire island. From Cabs to Hotel Lounges to Shopping complexes the whole place runs on Air Conditioning. Even the Singapore National Zoo had certain "Cool Zone" rooms that are Air Conditioned and where you can tend your scorched skin.

We had to choose between the Jurong's Bird Park and the zoo for the day. Though i was not very interested in wild-life we had to zero on the zoo as it had a Night Safari attached to it. Going to the Zoo awas after all was not a bad idea but for our moaning muscles from a 19 hour flight journey and not to mention the weather. We got to see whole lot of tigers, Kangroos and variety of birds.

After the Zoo we went to have snacks and not much to my dismay there was no vegetarian food around and the lady at the KFC counter looked at me with all the pity in the world when she came to know i was looking for vegetarian food. The whipped potato and French Fries too were made from Animal oil. I had to settle for an overly priced Pizza which neither looked nor tasted like one.

We went to the Night Safari next. We were put in a tram and by the time it was around 7.30 in the night. The safari took us around miniature Rain, Amazon, Himalayan and Indo-Malayan forests with the corresponding wild-life. It was an awesome experience. We could not take a lot of walking trails that could have exposed us more to the forest ambience due to our already squealing limbs. Flash Photography is a strict No in the Safari.