Day 98: Singapore, Singapore … Day 2

Friday, 14 April 2017
At Sea — Strait of Malacca

Stats @ Ship’s Time 7:00a (ICT — 15 April) … UTC 12:00a (15 April)
Temp: 82.8F (28.2C)
Position: 2.52.47N / 100.56.86E

What Is Man Without Beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
man would die from great loneliness of spirit,
For whatever happens to the beasts
also happens to man.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the Earth
befalls the sons of the Earth.
~ Chief Seattle of the Squamish & Duwamish, 1855 ~~

Not that it really matters to us RTWers, but today — our second day in Singapore — was the start of a new segment … Far East Radiance.  For us, it was the continuation of our RTW voyage and simply another milestone on our 180 day journey.  With the completion of this fourth segment, we have now added 5,818 NM since Bali, bringing our grand total since Miami to 25,822 NM.  While in miles this was our shortest segment, in number of days it was our longest … one day shy of a month.

We were set to disembark Insignia shortly before 7:30a this morning.  Up at 6:00a to get ready for the day, we didn’t have to worry about breakfast since we had a date to eat our morning meal with the free-ranging orangutans at the Singapore Zoo.

But before we could get there, we had to get off the ship.  An easy matter, one would think, since we were tied up at our berth overnight and immigration was open 24/7.  Not so.  Turns out that for some reason the ship’s lines had to be re-tightened this morning, so the gangway had been retracted.  It took a while for the gangway to be repositioned and opened.  And then we still had to go through immigration — luckily at a dedicated line for us cruise ship passengers.  There were only a few of us leaving the ship at that hour, so we went through the check point quickly.  By this time, however, there was no time left to use the MRT/bus combination to get to the zoo.  Instead, we made our way to the taxi stand.  Finally, we were on our way by 8:00a.  Nothing like starting our day with a sprint!

The drive to the zoo stretched from the quoted 35 minutes to more like 50 minutes.  Not because of traffic mind you.  Rather because our driver zoned out and took the wrong exit!  When it rains it pours, doesn’t it?  Anyway, it was closer to 9:00a than 8:30a when we queued up to get our zoo admission tickets — SGD $33/person.  In the rush to get to the Ah Meng Restaurant where the Jungle Breakfast was being held, we forgot to get a map.  Luckily there were enough signs to guide us there.  We arrived just before the start of the breakfast service.

At the restaurant, we paid the SGD $35/person for the breakfast and were shown to our table.  Since our reservation was made last minute — just two days ago with the assistance of Ricardo, the RTW Concierge, who placed a phone call on our behalf — we were seated at a two-top towards the back of the first section.  This was disappointing at first, as I felt we were not positioned well to take photos of the orangutans, but it worked out later.  Seated next to us were Aussie sisters visiting Singapore on a 5-day vacation.  We had a nice chat with them after serving ourselves from the breakfast buffet, which offered an extensive selection of dishes.  At 9:30a, the guests of honor showed up for their feeding and any thoughts of food on our part disappeared.

The orangutans came down from their free-range habitat by way of the “treeway,” and settled themselves on a high platform where the keepers gave them their breakfast.  The MC introduced each animal, but frankly I didn’t hear anything as I was focused on their antics.  All I really noticed was that three of them were teenagers, and an older female was carrying a tiny baby.

While they ate, those who wanted to have a photograph taken with them — SGD $25/per photo — queued up.  We joined them.  That the orangutans were more interested in eating than in posing is apparent in the resulting photos — but no complaints.  In addition to the hardcopy photo, we were given an online link from which Mui downloaded an electronic copy of the picture when we returned to the ship.  As well, the assistant photographer took photos with our camera so we have plenty of memory shots.

With most people leaving after the photo op, several seats opened up right by the platform.  We found ourselves a good spot from which to take photos and videos without any clutter.  The teenagers were very active, moving around to gather seeds, so I’m not sure if I got any decent photos of them, but I know I got some great shots of the baby and his mother … and as active as the orangutans were, I know Mui got some great video shots.

After breakfast, we made our way back to the entrance of the zoo to pick up a map to go exploring around the property.  At first I was disappointed — it was hot, hot, hot and I was sweating buckets … which makes me a bit disgruntled.  In the first exhibits we came to the animals were in the shade of the trees or they were behind glass in their enclosures … neither condition optimum for photography.  And the zoo was crowded to boot.  Sigh!  We wiped off the sweat, re-hydrated ourselves with the Gatorade we brought with us from the ship, and pressed on.

Slowly, my mood improved — seeing animals that were brand new to us helped greatly in that respect.  We saw signs indicating feeding times — there are 40 of them, each with its own photo op — but we would have wasted too much time waiting around.  Instead, after saying hi to the free-ranging cotton-top tamarins, we headed off on a meandering walk.  Along the way we stopped to see the Siamangs; the White Tiger … which was busy grooming itself; the Red River Hogs … very curious looking animals;  the kangaroos and wallabies; the Hamadryas Baboons of the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia … rightfully billed as a ‘star attraction’ … the troop was very active … especially the youngsters that were chasing each other and jumping into the pool to splash around; the Colobus Monkeys; the Sulawesi Crested Macaques; the Brown Capuchin Monkeys; the Black Howler Monkeys; the African Penguins; the Chimps; the Mandrills … the colorful male coming out of hiding to reward us for our patience with a great photo op; the Giraffes; the Zebras; and more.

Inside the Fragile Forest — a rainforest experience — we found ourselves in a free-flight aviary of sorts with Red Lories, Eclectus Parrots; Crowned Pigeons; Toucans; and a few other birds and some waterfowl wandering around.  But the highlight was the Two-Toed Sloth at the feeding station … keeping company with Malayan Fruit Bats, which were showing off their near-sheer wings when they weren’t napping or feeding.  This was a close-encounter experience that I really enjoyed.  When the White Faced Saki Monkeys showed up to walk the rail next to us and steal food from the bats and sloth, our day was made … especially when we spotted a baby sleeping on the back of the mama monkey.

There was a lot more to see but it started raining at this point.  We were prepared with our ponchos, so we could have continued our meanderings, but we were drained — even with rehydrating ourselves regularly.  Besides, it was 2:00p — time to think about returning to the ship … especially since we didn’t know how the pouring rain would affect the flow of traffic.

Near the zoo exit, we sat down to treat ourselves to a couple of gelato from one of the food outlets before heading to the taxi stand.  Whoa!  Did everyone decide to leave at the same time?  The queue was long and we were told the wait to get to the head of the line would be 30-45 minutes.  When we were then told that there was a limo service for SGD $50, we decided to take advantage of it.  Since the cab ride would have cost us SGD $40-45 anyway, to pay extra for the convenience of leaving immediately was priceless.

Despite the rain, the traffic flow was good.  By 3:30p we were getting off at the upper level entry at Harbourfront … much closer to the cruise ship embarkation lobby and the immigration checkpoint.  We took a few minutes at the gangway to use the wi-fi, but the speed wasn’t great, so we didn’t dally long.  It was 3:50p, and the Terrace Café was about to close, so we ran up there to grab a bite to eat — early dinner, if you will — before going to the cabin for a refreshing shower.  The rain that started soon after we returned to our cabin put paid to any plans I had to sit out on the veranda.  No matter … I used the time to download and cull out photos from today.

At 5:15p, we went down to the dining room for the 9th muster drill of our voyage.  Yes, we know how it all works very well now.  Because the decks were wet from the rain — which had stopped by this time — we were excused from going out to the lifeboats.

Returning to the cabin we got ourselves ready for the 6:00p scheduled sailaway.  Then we waited and we waited.  Announcements were made for some passengers to return their passports to the purser as the authorities needed to see them before they cleared us to leave.  In the end, it was 7:30p before the lines were let go.

We really enjoyed Singapore, and wouldn’t mind coming back to see more.  As close as it is to the Equator, however, there is no avoiding the heat and humidity.  The best we can do is to time it so that we are not here during the monsoon season.

Tomorrow is a day at sea … and we gain back the hour we lost due to Singapore adopting daylight saving time year round.  Double yay!

© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.