Cute little mousedeer?

Or not. Mousedeer are not cute, contrary to the opinions of some group members. Mousedeer are weird little things that look like genetic experiments gone wrong. The leaves are a realistic size, so this things is not even two feet long. Creepy, I tell you. It's seriously a mouse on stilts.



Now here's the next site: kangaroos. (Actually, we saw otters before this, but I can't put in everything. If you want a picture of a cute little otter, email me.) In the states, when we think of "kangaroo" we think of funny hopping rabbits the size of small deer, roughly. Except they aren't so cute around here, or more specifically in Australia. Every Australian I've talked to is like, "kangaroos? what's so great about them?" In fact, my SEAsian professor from Australia last semester said that kangaroos run around everywhere, similar to deer in the US. On trains and things when they used to be more populous he said that you could hear "pop pop pop BING" when the train or bus hits small rabbits and then hits a kangaroo. Except these things tend to jump up, so there's a chance in can go through your windshield. Not so cute anymore, eh?

So we saw some other animals, like tigers and lions and mongeese and TONS of baboons and other monkey-type-animals. In fact, Singapore Zoo is one of the nicest zoos in the world, plus it has the largest collection of primates of any zoo. Trust me, there were plenty.



Elephant rides! To tell you the truth, I missed the actual elephant exhibit somehow. I don't really know how that was possible, because it had to be a huge exhibit. Anyway, this was what I thought the elephant area was, but basically they just gave rides on two sad-looking elephants. And I've said elephants so many times in the past two sentences that it's making me type funny things. So that means time to move on to another animal!

Snakes galore! I just liked this picture because it looks like the most uncomfortable sleeping position I've ever seen. That, and I bet it's six feet long when it's stretched out. There was also a boa constrictor there that opened its mouth at a 180 degree angle while yawning. Even snakes yawn, apparently. Anyway, I nearly caught it on camera but the flash is hard behind glass.

Okay, I just thought the "When You Meet A Snake" sign was great. I mean, that snake looks like happy caterpillar on a diet with an overactive tongue. I really hope you can click on this picture and blow it up a bit so you can read some of its advice. My favorite part of the sign is the fact that it says that "should you encounter a snake, do not RUN." I mean, why put RUN in all caps? Put DO NOT RUN. The first time I read it I thought, that's odd. Then after reading about the "unfortunate" event of being bitten, I proceded to look at the snakes behind glass. THEN I came across these bolted but unlocked cages about half the size of my dorm. I'm thinking, well that's odd. Maybe it's storage? High security storage? Then I see another sign that reads: Gentle Reminder: The reptiles in this exhibit are allowed to free range. Please DO NOT TOUCH OR PICK them up, as they may bit. Thank you." No, Sign Number Two, thank you. Clearly these high security storage rooms are opportunities for me to follow the advice of the first sign. I kindly declined. I mean, snakes are cool I think, but I'm not about to go free range with them and step on one.

But hey, that's Singapore. Signs everywhere and ample opportunities to disobey them. Signs everywhere and no police. (Except for the two padlocked buses I saw with POLICE on the side last week. There were uniformed men standing around with huge guns. Strange.)

This zoo, I forgot to mention, really is a free range zoo. Well, that's not entirely true. It's just that the "cages" are really nonexistent. They have "natural barriers" instead of fences. Seriouly, there really wasn't anything between me and the rhinos I saw. Thankfully they just looked bored and hot. As for the cheetah, he was ready to pounce any second, I'm sure.

See what I mean? It was pacing back and forth and all that was between me and it was a ditch. I mean, these people know what they're doing by building these barriers, but I just look at this and think Jurassic Park. I really like this picture, though. This is the one I tried to send to you, Mom. I think he's just a cool animal.

And THEN, after all that walking around the hot but really cool zoo, we had tickets to the Night Safari. About six of us had been walking around the zoo together, then we met up with a couple more group members and ate at KFC for dinner. We were all pretty hungry and would have eaten just about anything, but everything else was really pricy. Ergo, KFC. The taste was similar but the serving sizes for the fries and drink were much smaller and there were no refills. Oh well, at least the price wasn't bad. Under S$5. Anyway, we ate and headed over to the (dun dun dun) Night Safari! After some Ben and Jerry's and a cooling off period, we got in line for the tram right as dark was settling in the jungle. Crickets chirped loudly all around us as we set out on our adventure. Then, suddenly, mountain goats appeared! Actually I don't think they are mountain goats at all, but I can't remember what they were called and they remind me of mountain goats. Anyway, they were there. And I tried to take a picture without flash (no flash allowed, as our tour guide repeated fifty times to the people in the third carriage), but with no success. All I got was a glob of black stuff with a fuzzy white thing in the middle. It looks like it could be anything from a muppet to a road sign, so there's not much to see.

The night safari had a lot of cool animals in it, so it's a shame I don't have any good pictures. I'd say my favorite animal to see in the tram ride was an anteater. Actually, there were two of them, and I'm not kidding, they're as long as my bed. Plus, they look like they are symmetrical. The mouths look like tails. Anyway, very humorous.

Then the best part of the walking trails was definitely the bat cage. You could walk inside (free range bats, of course) and walk right up to where the bats hang down. Then one stretched out its wings to about a three foot wingspan and took off in a dive. Fortunately I was towards the back of our six-person group, so no extreme fright, but I can't say the same for the few in the front. Then we stood around and watched them for a while, waiting to see if they would fight over food. They came close, but not quite.

We finished the trails and the tram by nine so we tried to see the animal show, but it was full. This place was extremely crowded. Our bus was leaving at 10 pm, so we decided to just walk and find a table to hang out. Eventually several other people from the group joined us because they couldn't get in either, so we just ended up sitting around and talking for a while.

As soon as I got back I checked email, put on pajamas, brushed my teeth, and fell asleep immediately. Zoos are exhausting! Ha. Then up this morning at 8-ish (yay for sleeping in) and off for some toast and orange drink at PGP. Now it's about 1:30 pm and I've been talking to people and writing in this blog all morning, so it's time to head out into the city. First lunch at the Deck, then exploring!