Singapore Zoo: the post-birthday

I remember telling cousin Su that I don't want my birthday celebrated, not especially this year because I am turning 28, and that 28 is an age not very young anymore for any kind of birthday celebration. Yet, I had one of the most eventful week pre- and post-birthday in my life ever this year. Though neither on nor specifically for my birthday, all the outings last week seemed to be in conjunction with my birthday to me, and the happiness that I felt seemed good enough for me to acknowledge that my birthday has already been and was being celebrated.

To friends like Sarah (Halim), Azlina, Shikin Aziz, Mar, cousin Soapy, Azean (Jumahat), Nurul (Darul), my student Jumaliyah, mum, dad and the little boys, I thank you all for your effort and time for the birthday wishes. My ‘thank-you’s also go out to Kenji for the great time spent, Murni and Nunun for the long distance call, and Joel, Ghee Wei and Sam for the email messages! Thank you so much, guys.

Currently I am still working on my reply notes to all who have sent me emails and messages through Friendster, but I am very sorry to say that I have stopped writing for a while because I realized I wasn't making much sense in my reply notes. So hopefully my brains will get re-energized sometime this week, and I can get 'everything' done before Friday as I will be leaving for Bintan for the weekend by then. In the meantime, here's my latest post on my visit to the Singapore Zoo with an old friend a day after my birthday.

PS. I got a bit lazy to write captions for the pictures actually, so the pictures are left un-described for the time being and I am sorry about that. On a more positive note however, I have added 3 more pictures to this post so do check them out!

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On the 27th June, I was at the zoo with Marliza (5th pic from bottom). We were there for a couple of reasons actually but mainly it was to 'glorify' (sort of) my birth date. I spent my birthday at home clearing some old, unwanted footwear as tired Kenji slept throughout the day after coming back home from a night shift. I didn't really mind not celebrating my birthday like I have mentioned above, but Mar strongly thought I should be "doing something, going somewhere" since it was my birthday.

Plans surfaced when Marliza called me up for some yearly birthday greet on the 26th and subsequently told me she was having 2 days MC. Instead of expressing some sympathy for her for falling sick on my birthday, I was overjoyed to know that I will be having company for the next day, at least. Haha. I know I make one of the worst friends in this world, ever... :) But the 2-day MC on my birthday seemed all too coincidental that I thought I knew Mar wanted to spend some time with me :)

So Marliza and I brainstormed on a destination for the next day. Surprisingly it did not take us long to think of a place to go. Well, for that, I must say, we must be either easy-going people, really good old friends or there are just not ‘that’ many places to go in this tiny island of Singapore.

Mar and I decided on a visit to the zoo. It seemed that we both loved the Singapore Zoo pretty much. I don’t know if it is just us or what, but the zoo has always been a great place to visit. Not only are there so much to see and learn, but also the zoo seems to be a place to get all re-energized once again even though it may make us all feel exhausted and sweaty at the end of each visit at the zoo.

The great contrasts of wilderness and nature VS. the organized and urban world of Singapore makes the entire Singapore Zoo a great place for a brief getaway. But for Marliza and I, the zoo is probably more than just that. It is the greatest place for us, people who fear animals, to see living animals without fear :)

I love zoos, especially. I usually try my best to visit other zoos whenever I go places. Unfortunately I only get to see Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Taronga Zoo was awesome. Its shore-location, the need to ferry to the shore and the slopes around the giraffe's habitat that made Sydney's waterfront appear like its background were all very unique. Other than Taronga Zoo, I don't remember going to other zoos in the countries I have visited, perhaps except for some wildlife parks or farms.

But I remember thinking of going to a zoo in Shanghai, but changed my mind afterwards after hearing some odd zoo stories from some course mates who went there earlier. Also following their stories was an article in the Shanghai newspaper I came across whilst onboard a Shanghai train, about some visitors getting hurt at the zoo after some tigers jumped on them. That then totally prevented me from thinking about visiting any zoo in or around Shanghai at all.

As for the Singapore Zoo, well, it is one place of interest quite commonly visited by locals. As I have said, the zoo is not just a place of interest but also a place where there is so much to learn. What’s more, it serves as a great, short getaway from the rest of urban Singapore.

Marliza and I were very lucky to have a good day throughout our trip at the zoo. The past few weeks have not been an all non-monsoon season throughout though. So we still get heavy rain with lightning and thunderstorms here sometimes despite the monsoon season long over.

And the Singapore Zoo being so massive and mostly outdoors, it definitely needs a good day to check out the many sections and see lots of its well taken care animals. Speaking of which, Mar and I got ourselves the zoo's "unlimited tram rides" ticket. So we hopped on a tram each time we got a bit tired and decided to be entertained in a slightly different way.

Also, it was a good thing to have gone to the Singapore Zoo during the 'off-peak season'. Well, that is what my birthday is about. My birthday falls around the time when school vacation has either come to an end or school has just re-opened, depending on the Gregorian calendar of each year. So because schools re-opened on the 25th, there were not 'that' many visitors at the zoo that day.

But there were still plenty of pre-school children in school uniform going to places in groups with their teachers. The children and their teachers seem to enjoy themselves a lot at the zoo, perhaps also because there were lesser visitors there. But one thing for sure, groups of children were 'everywhere' in the zoo, attending almost all of the animal shows available that day and taking up quite a lot of the available seats at the zoo's amphitheatres!

But just like those children, I, too, enjoy the Singapore Zoo though every single bit of it. I love the animals, the shows, the feeding times, the architecture, the flora and fauna, the wild-like atmosphere, the zoo-themed things and even the toilets. You can see a picture of one of the zoo's female toilets below. The toilet is an 'open toilet' (sort of), with water falling at one side of the toilet as decoration. I find the entire toilet structure and architecture really cool and so took some pictures of it.

Overall, our trip at the zoo was good. We spent about 4 solid hours at the zoo, checking out so many animal habitats. But because the Singapore Zoo was massive, there were some areas we had to miss out on all because we were too tired and I was very drenched with my own perspiration by then. To Mar, thank you for the great, great company and the time well spent. I look forward to hanging out with you again someday. Err, which also probably means "get more MCs if you can" :)


Below are some pictures taken at the Singapore Zoo on 27th June 2007: -