The Merlion...

is the official symbol of Singapore.
It is a half lion and half mermaid. And the statue spit water.
Come on, you gotta love that.

Well, before we head to the airport, I have a few minutes to kill, so I thought I'd give a few final thoughts and updates about my Singapore adventures.

Yesterday, after a rainy morning, it turned out to be a glorious day. Less hot, and a little breezy even! Found a really cute cafe, called "Food for Thought" and had a deliciously fresh salad with chicken. Healthy food, yes!

Then, I wandered around tons in the city. I saw the famous Merlion statue, the Esplanade (a theater on the harbor with really awesome, modern architecture-think Epcot Ball meets Sydney Opera House), and lots and lots of Catholic churches of all different shapes, sizes and styles. Then, I stopped in a coffee shop to g chill for a minute and gear up for the highly praised, Singapore Night Safari!

Side note: While in the cafe, I happened upon an article about Aung San Suu Kyi, who I really didn't know very much about at all. She is definitely a really inspiring woman and human rights leader, and it was particularly cool to read about her while being so close to the Myanmar border. Then, the news about the shift in US policy came out today...what timing.

Anyway, around 7:30pm, after finally eating a chicken pau for dinner (these white puff ball things that look like mounds of raw dough, but are cooked...I have NO clue what they are, but I had been debating about trying one since about day 2 of travel in Thailand. Verdict: really tasty!), I got on board a bus to the Singapore Zoo for this highly acclaimed Night Safari.

Upon arrival, I was grabbed by some tribal dancers putting on a drum/dance show for the crowds, and, needless to say, it took a while before I could break free. Oh man. When I did get loose, I boarded the tram that went around the park, and the guide (with a very intense British accent) drew our attention to all the animals around us.

The idea of this Night Safari is that most of the animals that are in zoos are nocturnal, so when we usually observe them they are sleeping and pretty boring to watch. BUT, at night, the nocturnal animals are active and exciting! So, the Singapore Zoo created this huge area with environments to represent all corners of the Earth (South America, Africa, SE Asia, etc.) and a safari ride that is in the dark of night with only a few lights to see the animals. All I can say is the images of these beasts are forever ingrained in my mind. And there were no cages.

Some of my absolute favorites:
- the enormous Asian rhino eating leaves by the tram
- the 8 yr. old baby boy elephant
- the bearded pigs (yes, male, female, and piglets all have beards)
- the hyenas (straight out of the Lion King, I'm telling you)
- the tapir, just chillin' RIGHT next to the tram
- the leopards

So, that was an awesome night for sure. Then today, Arati and I did our last "must see" in Singapore and went to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). There was some really cool modern art there by artists primarily from SE Asia. Also, one favorite thing: statues of modern Buddhas in all different sizes, positions and locations around the museum grounds. They were made by the artist Li Chen, and they just can't help but make you smile. It's hard to describe what they look like, but think really fat flying babies (or look up pictures online to see what you think they're really like!).

On that note,
we leave for the airport in an hour.
I really liked our little stopover here in Singapore, and I'm sure I'm going to be dreaming about this place...particularly in 2 days when the grime has started to re-accumulate and I want to eat some raw veggies. However, another part of me is ready to get out of the utopic bubble and back to the nitty gritty travel.

Next stop: Indonesia