Singapore: July 29: Chinatown, Botanical Gardens, and Night Safari

I took extensive pictures this day. Thus, this blog entry is correspondingly short.

Tired from my trip to Melaka, I slept in. When I arose, I grabbed a simple breakfast at my hotel and ventured out to explore Chinatown. I toured about half of Chinatown (including the impressive, richly decorated Thian Hock Keng Temple), then grabbed an extensive lunch in a food court. Oddly, though I wrote in my notes over lunch that Singapore's heat tends to make me less hungry, I seem to have eaten a lot. After lunch, I headed out to commune with nature. (Did you notice my entire trip thus far had been urban?)

I'd planned to go to the zoo after exploring some of Chinatown. However, I left one hour later than I hoped, and it was taking me longer than I expected to get there. While en route, I decided that I couldn't give the zoo the time it deserved before it would close for the night and instead backtracked via subway and bus to the National Orchid Garden. I alighted late from my bus and had to hike back one stop in the heat. Phew!

The Orchid Garden was very pleasant, perhaps perfect for what it was. The VIP section of the garden included orchids named after people. As you can tell from the pictures, some were pretty; some were not. In the end, however, I decided I'm not a great fan of orchids.

With dusk approaching, I explored the surrounding Singapore Botanic Gardens. Though I only saw a fraction of the botanical gardens, I wholeheartedly approve of their design and aesthetic. I saw waterfalls, lakes, the ginger garden, the bonsai pavilion, and the cactus garden (which I really liked).

As night fell, I made my way back to the bus stop. A bus, subway, and bus ride later, I made it to the location of my evening activity: the Night Safari. It's located near the zoo. Given my afternoon experience, I had a revised estimate of how long it would take to get there from the gardens, but it took even one hour longer than my guess.

The Night Safari is an opportunity to tour a zoo filled with nocturnal animals under gentle red lights that allow some visibility but don't disrupt the lives of these creatures. I thought it was neat, but I'm not especially endorsing it. Nevertheless, it really is one of those places you have to go to; the pictures don't do it justice. In between touring the safari, partly on foot and partly via tram, I stopped by the resort for dinner and caught part of a Bornean tribal performance. The dart gun component bored me, and I had trouble seeing due to the crowds, so I left and thus missed the fire tricks. Instead, I ate. Maybe what I missed was good, maybe not.

After touring the safari, I caught the last train back to the city... with three minutes to spare.