Whilst looking for places to visit when it rained in Singapore, Lesley came across the Chinatown Heritage Centre in Pagoda Street. It looked interesting so after a leisurely breakfast we took a cab ride, it is very cheap in Singapore, then the MRT to Chinatown. Being Sunday, it was very busy with hordes of people travelling on the MRT and milling about in the malls and streets.
The Heritage Centre is based in 3 former shop dwellings ranged over 4 floors and tells the story of Chinese migration to Singapore from the early 19thC when it was mainly the rich merchants through the huge influx of the poor looking for better lives having escaped the harsh regimes, famine and war in their homelands to the post war prosperity.
There were lots of photographs, artefacts, video and film clips, displays and quotes taken from interviews with members of the community over many decades. It was a fascinating story revealing the lives of a number of Chinese as well as the community as a whole and provided some insights into living conditions and customs. We spent a couple of hours browsing the exhibits and on leaving were able to talk with one of the guides about contemporary life in Singapore.
We enjoyed a freshly blended fruit and vegetable juice at one of the many street cafés, did some shopping and ate some lunch which included crispy fried carrot cake! Yes, you read that correctly but the carrot in question was actually mouli and it was more of an omelette than a cake.
Returning to the hotel we had a short rest and freshened up in time for our pick up for the night time safari at the Singapore Zoo. As. I have said before, Lesley and I are not generally lovers of zoos but this experience apparently was one not to be missed whilst in Singapore and allowed one to gain a nocturnal view of animals in 'natural' habitats.
Our tour guide was chatty and precise. We ate a buffet dinner at the Uli Uli Restaurant at the Zoo then made our way to the electric 'trams' that fairly silently wove their way around the zoo with a commentary on the various habitats and their inhabitants. The natural moonlight was augmented by artificial lights that provided an eerie glow. The animals in the most part seemed oblivious to our presence and were not bothered by the sounds of human voices, though most people spoke in hushed tones.
We got off at the first stop to allow us to take a 30 minute walk along the Leopard Trail with the hope of spotting the Cloud Leopard and we were not disappointed. He was beautiful, stretched out on a branch but quite alert. We also encountered fruit bats in the mangrove walk, a variety of possum like creatures and then reboarded the tram for the rest of the tour.
We passed a huge range if animals in such a relatively small area. Each habitat had been designed to closely resemble the natural environment of the animals and seeing them in the 'moonlight' provided an added dimension to the experience. There were wolves, actually howling, elephants grazing and snoozing quietly, a couple of rhino wallowing in the mud, a wide range of deer, and then, when spotted, Lesley exclaimed, "Oh wow!" A Bengal Tiger was padding through a jungle area in plain view and not too far from the tram.
On returning to the tram station we set off on a shorter walk as time was running out and encountered small otters, mouse deer, more possums and a beautiful Fishing Cat, doing just that!
Meeting up with the tour guide at the entrance to the zoo we were ushered back on board the coach and returned to our respectve hotels. It had been a long day and after some photo uploading and blogging we went to bed.
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