Bukit Timah Bookin' Time

We booked it up to the summit at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve our second morning in Singapore. It was a hot and steamy climb and on the way we saw monkeys, large lizards, and brilliant dragonflies. We were glad to get to the top and glad for the downhill return. From there, we ate at Crystal Jade a delicious Chinese restaurant with soup dumplings. The boys enjoyed biting a tiny hole in the top and sucking out the delicious chicken soup. Sesame bread, chicken with red chilies, dumplings of all shapes and sizes. From lunch, we took a cool taxi to the "world class" Singapore zoo. It was small but very nice with many "free ranging" (almost or, rather, all-moat) animals including large orangutans. One of the orangutans was sitting on a tree branch high above a walkway and was having a great time plucking off branches and dropping them on the pedestrians below. We took a ride on an elephant at the zoo and headed from there to the Night Safari. The first of its kind, Night Safari, takes visitors on a tram ride through a wildlife environment after dark. Some of the animals range freely separated from each other only by the cow crossing grates in the road while others are separated from the tram only by virtually invisible moats. Because most of the animals are nocturnal, we saw many moving lions, tigers and bears (also possums, leopards, giant four foot fruit bats flying about our heads, and beasts whose names I cannot pronounce or remember). At the end of the Night Safari, we went to a Wild Animal Show. Darkness of night surrounded us as we filed into the arena. The stage in front was formed by a natural rain forest. A lovely setting. I was so exhausted I slid down onto the concrete in front of my seat and, using the bench as a backrest, promptly fell asleep as I awaited the show. That is, until the security guard poked me awake. "I sorry, you no can sleep there." Well, fine. The game warden ran a very funny show about the endangered animals, poachers, how to save the wildlife and asked for a volunteer. Up popped our kids' hands, and the middle one was picked to come down and demonstrate the skills of one of the many animals saved from extinction. The irony of this selection became immediately apparent to all when she asked the little blond boy, "What is your name?" When he answered, a collective gasp rose from the Thai, Sing, Chinese, Malay, Japanese and occasional European audience. The crowd laughed loudly and seconds later the boy, having missed the irony the first go round, blushed the color of a dragon fruit (which we had for breakfast). "No worry, that is common where you are from, right little boy?"