The Bub in the Belly

Friday was a public holiday in Singapore on account of Deepavali and we decided to make the most of it by starting the morning at the zoo.

On our previous attempt at a visit to the zoo (also on a public holiday), we drove there in the mid-morning only to discover that the car park was full and cars were parked all along the slip road leading to the zoo which, according to the signage was more than 1.5 km long! I know you have to be prepared for a long walk through the zoo, but this is 1.5 km before you even see the ticket counter! Anyway, even if we were up to it, there was just no space left for the car so we promptly made a U-turn and left.

This time I was determined to make it happen so at 7.30 am I woke up (Richard said that I leapt out of bed) and got us all packed up and ready to go. We reached the zoo about 8.20 am (just before the ticket counters opened at 8.30 am). We were certainly not the first ones there, the restaurants and cafeterias near the main entrance were already full of people. We had a good breakfast, some fuel for the exercise ahead and then into the zoo we went!

I suppose everyone takes a souvenir photo with this fella

It had just rained and the weather was cool and light. I didn't take a lot of photos of the animals but the animals were awake and lively and we had a good time checking them out. I do think however that there were too many monkeys. After we saw what must have been the 20th type of monkey, Ryan was just no longer impressed. Still there was plenty else that held his attention, including the magnificent white tigers.

Pygmy hippo. Too heavy to float. It just walks to and fro in the water.

An emu at the Australian outback compound

Watching the Splash Safari show. By this time it was getting a little humid hence my sexy lil beast.

We managed to catch two shows - the Splash Safari show (showcasing an adorable sealion called Stan) and the Animal Friends Show (with mice, cats and dogs) and I think Ryan enjoyed both of them. After the two shows, it was time for waterplay at Rainforest Kidsworld! This is actually a big reason and pull factor for us to make a trip to the zoo - Ryan absolutely loves the water play here and it is the undisputed highlight of the outing. Sorry, I don't have pictures - I was enjoying myself in the water too! There are some photos of our previous outing here in June in this post if you want to see what it looks like.

We spent more than an hour at water play and after that, it was time for Ryan to take his nap so we took a slow and leisurely boat ride back to the main entrance.

Looking pensive on the boat (actually a little tired and ready for his nap)