hand in glove

deery-lou.
the new zoo revue
saturday, october 7
i awoke feeling completely exhausted. even with all the sleep i've had. my body was telling me its "time to go home". i felt drained. however, i still had one more full day left. my brain was in overdrive. not sure i could fit anymore sightseeing into it. we hung out in the room until check out. during that time i made several attempts to call korean airlines to see about getting on the sunday 1 am flight. no answer. lunch was had at another hawker. this one specializing in local indian cuisine. i sat at the table while don selected the goodies. what we got were some tofu, hot dogs, and some kind of bread things all mixed with a salad. on the side was a curry sauce for dipping. i know i sound like a broken record but what can i say—the food was fantastic. the bread dipped in the sauce was soo yummy. i couldn't stop eating it. we also had some kind of fried banana pancake which rocked too. i don't think i had one bad meal here. with full tummies we headed off for the zoo. we spent the next three hours or so walking around the zoo. of all the zoos i've been to this has got to be one of the best. i'm sure the natural environment of the jungle has something to do with it. all the animals looked healthy and happy,too. well as happy as one can be in a confined area. although they weren't in cages. their space was very open. most of the animals on this particular day had a case of the lazies. could it be the heat? the baboons actually looked bored.

bored baboons

i love monkeys. there were many different types of them. i could sit and watch them for hours. always entertaining. perhaps it would be fun to be a monkey. maybe in another life i'll find out. we had just missed most of the feeding times which meant the animals were either sleeping or just sitting there. we did manage to catch the elephant show. it was pretty entertaining. elephants are cute in their own ugly way. i wanted to see the otters swim but both times we stopped by they weren't doinganythingg. i wanted to poke them with a stick to get them moving but thought it best not to. inside the butterfly house a butterfly actually landed on my leg. he stayed for awhile. i was so happy to have made a new friend.

butterfly friend

it was really nice to spend the day there. you can tell they actually take care of the place. i remembergoingg to the sanford zoo in florida and being completely depressed. the animals there looked like they were on death row. ever since then i'm usuallyapprehensivee about going to a zoo. it often leaves me depressed. the singapore zoo was a positive experience. it actually restored some of my faith in zoos. another thing i liked about this zoo was that you felt pretty close to the animals. it wasn't like they were out into the distance. you could almost touch them. kudos to the zoo.

random building

after the zoo we went to a mini mall. there was one giant store which resembled a costplus and then several little stores nearby. i found a few pictures to buy. we also stumbled upon a store that sold my watch. earlier in the week i noticed that my band was starting to rip so i wanted to get a new one. he didn't have any white bands but told me of a store on orchard road that did. don ended up buying a gray watch like mine. it has a different saying though. we headed over to the odm store on orchard road. it was on the 9th floor in a one of the tall mall buildings. it was the same floor as the gaming center. not sure how anyone would know that the store existed up there without being told. i really wanted to buy a new one. they had one with silver studs on it. but i didn't. instead i bought two new bands. a black one and a white one. i asked about the studded band but they only sold the solid ones. oh well. with purchases in hand we left. we walked around the first level. i went into a couple of shops. i tried on a few button down shirts but they were a little snug. its korea all over again. we were going to grab some food but it was mobbed so we left to go elsewhere. dinner was had at a pizza joint. it was actually nice to have pizza that tastes like i remember it did back in the states. we went back to don's office to chill out. i bought some a pound of minced pork to take back with me. around 11 pm we went to the airport. i wanted to check about getting on the flight that night/morning. when i got there the guy basically laughed saying there was no chance to get on the flight. defeated we headed back to chinatown so i could get a room for the night. found one at the tropical which was right near the royal peacock. it wasn't as nice as the peacock but it had a balcony with a killer view of the coffee shop. posted one either side of the elevator were two signs. one said "no guests aftermidnightt" the other "no durians". durians are some sort of smelly fruit that i didn't try.

coffee shop

sunday, october 8
we went for coffee at the coffee shop. OMG!! this was the best coffee i've ever had. why didn't i discover that magical coffee sooner. it is only right across the street from the peacock. oh well. perhaps it's for the best. wouldn't want to have overdosed on the stuff. not sure what makes it so damn good. maybe its the spoonful of condensed milk they put in it. whatever the magical ingredient is, its one damn fine cup of coffee. for some strange reason i was struck with the shopping bug. we decided to head over to orchard road. we stopped for lunch at a vietnamese restaurant. verytastyy. on the way to orchard road we passed a skate boarding park. i love this place more and more every day. as we walked by i checked out the skaters. good times. the rest of the day was spent shopping and walking. i found a few shirts but none really fit. those that did, didn't look good on. i did buy a new shoulder bag and trendy sports jacket. i know!! me in a sport jacket type thing. who would have guessed. the jacket is quite cool. its atailoredd black jacket with blue and white stitching around it. it looks good with jeans. i figured it was time to add something new to my wardrobe. plus all the k-boys seem to be wearing them these days. i also managed to get to the toys r us. this time it was opened. i didn't buy anything for myself. just browsed. i love toy stores. don bought me a book. how sweet. its essays about an ex-pats experience in singapore. i read a few. they are quite entertaining. eventually we got bored of going into malls. there's only so much power shopping one can do in a day. before heading back to don's office we stopped for a drink. not really sure what i got but it was called chen dol and looked like this:

chen dol

i think it was coconut juice with red beans, assorted jellies, and some kind of sweetener. it was actually quite tastey. back at don's office i fell asleep on the couch. it was a much needed rest. we went for some porridge nearby. i got the pork ball porridge. yummy. we also got something called yam tan. it was filled with meat. again yum. i wanted an egg custard but they told me there were no more. sadness. my quest for egg custard tarts had failed. oh well there's always next time. we got to the airport around 11pm. i checked in then don and i walked around taking pictures of us.

at the airport

finally it was time to head in. don and i said goodbye. i proceeded to head through immigration. i cashed in my last 70 singapore dollars only to get 32,000 won. not a very good exchange. got some drinks then waited for the gate to open. in singapore you don't actually go throughsecurityy/x-ray until you're at the gate. interesting. the flight back was pretty uneventful. i slept most of the way. when them came by with food the flightattendantt asked if i wanted the korean or egg. i said the bibimbap. she looked surprised and then asked me if i knew how to eat it. we got to incheon around 8am. luckily my bus was at 8:20 and i made it home by 11 am. i had a few hours to rest before going to class. all i really wanted to do was sleep. i had been up now for almost an entire day. my vacation was officially. it was now time to enter reality.

photo albums
singapore zoo
singapore part 2

be well...