What is fun is to watch my kids, now that they are getting older and more independent, going to the various stations and politely ordering their food and then bringing it back to the table. Very fun indeed.

Today we took it easy through the day because of our night time plans. We are going to the Night Safari at the Singapore zoo, and it runs late into the evening/night.

We swam for a few hours today, in the lovely sunshine and extreme heat. It’s 36 degrees and sunny, and actually much hotter feeling than Hong Kong because the air quality here is very good, so the sun is hot on your skin. Hong Kong definitely gets as hot, but between the extreme humidity and the smog there, you don’t feel the sun burn your skin like Singapore.

After swimming, we had a plan to go out to the shopping mall for a bit and find some lunch. That wasn’t our most successful outing. Both kids were a bit ratty, though I’m not sure why, and they ordered food and didn’t eat it. Believe it or not, we tried the food at Long John Silvers, the fish and chip place. Actually the kids tried it, I’m not a fan. Stephy ate all her fish and most of her chips, and Emily ate the fries, but hated the fish. Oh well.

As we walked through the mall, Stephy then saw an expensive ice cream shop, so I put $8 down to get two of the tiniest ice cream cones I’ve ever bought. Geez, this place is freaking expensive.

While the kids ate their frozen retirement funds, I found these weird pancake things….one with red bean paste in the middle and the other with pandan paste, that same green paste that the cake is made from that we love in Hong Kong. The pandan pan cake was ok, but the red bean one was yucky!!

We came back to the hotel, planning another quick swim before heading out to the Night Safari, but the little pumpkin fell asleep. Fast asleep. For an hour. Tired much?

I had to wake Stephy and get them up to grab a quick dinner before heading to Night Safari. I was working on the assumption (proven correct later) that the food at the zoo would be expensive and nasty. We went downstairs in our hotel, and for a small mortgage payment, had two little pizzas and three drinks. The pizza was just ok, but it filled our tummies and we had to keep moving to make it to Night Safari.

The bus for the tour picked us up right here at the hotel, so it was convenient. The Night Safari was about a35 min drive from the hotel, so it was dark by the time we arrived.

The first thing you do is line up and get on a tram. An open air tram, with no windows or doors, just an open sided vehicle. They drive you through the safari park, where the animals are roaming freely, not in cages. Seriously, NOT IN CAGES. They warn you not to use a flash on your camera, no food or beverage because it can attract the animals, no loud noises, etc. It was actually fairly scary. In fact, Stephanie had a total meltdown just before we left the station, scared that the lions were going to eat us. Although I was “brave mommy”, frankly I wasn’t so sure either. Safety in foreign countries, especially with animals, etc., isn’t always guaranteed. In fact, just as we’re getting there the guide tells us one of the elephants has been secluded from the others because it “killed it’s trainer”. Lovely. For real. Still on the safari, still able to get at us, but secluded from the other elephants. Irony anyone?

Actually, in spite of the fear factor, it was pretty freaking amazing to see so many large, scary animals, so close to us. The lion roared as we went past and it scared all of us, but it was still exciting.

After surviving the fear factor ride, we went to see the fire dancing by local natives. The dancing was awesome, and the fire breathing pretty cool. The kids really enjoyed it.

To cap off our night at the Night Safari, they have an attraction where you stick your feet into a water tank and thousands of little fish bite at your feet. Supposed to be good for your skin, naturally exfoliating or some damn thing. Needless to say, our feet stayed dry. Oh yeah, and people PAID for the experience.

Surprisingly both kids stayed awake on the bus ride back, as it was past 10:30 by the time we got back to the hotel. We’d had a really great time, and it was an experience the kids couldn’t have had elsewhere so that was neat.