Singapore — Week 2

7.8-7.11

Most of this period was spent in class; I had not yet started going out during the week.

Canteen meals cost around 7 SGD each, I think. The two dishes below are Chinese food from downstairs at Prince George’s Park, and honestly, they were quite good.

Western food at UTown.

And a diplomatic gift from Germany—a piece of the Berlin Wall.

The large lawn at UTown.

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7.12

I spent a delightful weekend exploring the wildlife parks for two days.

Mandai’s wildlife parks comprise five main attractions:

• Singapore Zoo

• River Wonder

• Bird Paradise

• Night Safari

• Rainforest Wild Asia

The pass I bought included only the first four. I heard that the final rainforest park was still under construction and not especially interesting at the time.

The bundle seemed to cost about half as much as buying four separate tickets.

Bird Paradise

There are all kinds of birds across several zones, and some can be seen from very close range inside the exhibits.

This one had an especially clear and innocent gaze.

River Wonders

This river-themed wildlife park mainly features aquatic and riverside animals, along with a giant panda.

A red panda hiding behind a tree, and a giant panda with its back to the visitors.

7.13

Singapore Zoo

The daytime zoo is a fairly comprehensive attraction with animals of all kinds:

otters, tigers, elephants, many kinds of monkeys, fennec foxes, zebras, giraffes, lions, roe deer, squirrels, poison dart frogs, turtles, and more…

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Night Safari

The Night Safari was the most impressive attraction here. Since it showcases nocturnal animals, it naturally opens in the evening. I had never imagined visiting a zoo at night before.

The visit is roughly divided into three parts:

1. Walking the trails and viewing the animals
2. The night tram
3. The show

Scenes from an after-dinner walk by the nearby reservoir while waiting for the park to open.

I will not include photos from the Night Safari because phone pictures taken in the dark turned out far too poorly.

An Anecdote

When I boarded the MRT on Sunday morning, I discovered that my phone suddenly had no internet access. After struggling with it for a while, I remembered that my data plan ran in 15-day periods. That day was exactly when I needed to change the SIM card, but I had forgotten.

Going back would have meant getting off at the next stop, taking the MRT in the opposite direction, and then waiting for the campus shuttle back to the dorm—a detour of many tens of minutes. Since I still remembered the route to the zoo from following navigation the day before, I decided not to turn back.

Everything went smoothly during the day, but things became trickier at night. I used the zoo’s Wi-Fi to plan my return route in advance, but it was already 10:30 p.m. when I left the Night Safari, and I had no idea which buses or MRT services were still running.

The first challenge was waiting for a bus. Fortunately, the first one to arrive was on my planned route. I rode it to an MRT interchange and followed the signs into the station.

The second challenge was finding my way back by MRT. This seemed easy enough: the station map clearly showed a route to Kent Ridge. Everything went smoothly until I reached the interchange… and discovered that the connecting service had stopped.

The third challenge was figuring out how to reach the dorm. After station staff confirmed that the MRT had stopped, I asked which bus could take me back to Kent Ridge. They suggested several routes that might already have ended for the night. Luckily, I found a taxi just outside the station. I did not know the postal code for Prince George’s Park Residences, but I used the driver’s phone to search for the destination and finally made it back.