Jurong Bird Park

The bird park has been somewhere I've always wanted to go, after hearing mum talking about how much she enjoyed it when they visited Singapore (back in the day!). Although I was thinking of going on my own or with a friend, we ended up joining up with another group of exchange students who were planning on going the same day as us. A lack of introduction and the close knit nature of their groups meant that I didn't end up speaking to many people, other than the girls I already knew.

Watching the lion dance during the new year is supposed to bring you luck...maybe my luck got lost in the mail?

Penguins seem to like their side stroke!

While the exhibits themselves are nice to look at and wander around it, it's the shows that are really impressive. I only partly saw the High Flyers Show as I had poor timing and had to try and stand on my toes to see anything. My other friends that could see more clearly really enjoyed it though. We also saw Kings of the Skies, a falconry show.

I felt so sorry for this guy - it was so hot at this point, especially wearing those clothes!

 

This has got to be the ugliest bird I've ever seen. 

We went on Saturday and so it was quite busy with families celebrating Chinese New Year as well as those just enjoying their weekend. To be honest, I'd had enough of people and crowds at this point. The words 'excuse me' don't seem to exist or get used here - they go by the more common method of just barging past. Sometimes if you're really lucky, they'll run over your feet with their prams. So you can see why, when combining this with the exhausting heat, I was happy to leave after just a couple of hours. I'd definitely go back - in the middle of the week, when 90% of people are at work. 

To get to the bird park, exit the MRT at Boon Lay and transfer to the bus interchange where you can board the 251. The bird park stop is easily recognised, particularly as its the first stop on the route. To return to Jurong Point Shopping centre (where the boon lay MRT stop is located) you can get the 194 which is a direct bus. If you're planning on visiting either the bird park, night safari, river safari and/or the zoo, it might be a good idea to consider passes which enable you to enter multiple attractions. These passes save you money, but more importantly in my opinion, they let you skip the line. For more information you can visit this website here. 

The Year of the Horse

Unless you live under a rock, you'll know that the Chinese New Year recently passed, with 2014 becoming the Year of the Horse. I missed my Australia Day public holiday so I was happy to find out that I had a five day weekend! Nerdy though I may be, I didn't want to spend the entire time studying so I visited a few events, namely the river hong bao festival at Marina Bay as well as the special exhibitions at Sentosa Island. 

Saloni and I went to the festival on its opening night (29th January). Running until the 8th February, this festival has plenty of street food, entertainment and Chinese fortunes to keep you entertained until the fireworks at midnight. After alighting at Bayfront MRT we crossed the helix bridge before I heard a familiar sound - there was a man (supposedly Aboriginal) playing the didgeridoo, mixed with techno music. My Canadian friend thought it was great while I on the other hand wondered why I'd left Australia if I still had to listen to that stuff here as well!

This system works well in theory: in practice, not so much! 

Fun fact: the hotel behind me is the first thing I saw in Singapore (I could see it from my window seat on the plane!)

I don't understand why this cart is pulling a massive bunch of, what seems to be, bok choy?  

Chinese zodiac: tiger. It's so cute - it reminds me of tigger! 

While I was waiting for the fireworks, I had sticky rice with mango and coconut milk - it was pretty good!

After eating really nice street food, we wandered over to watch the fireworks and headed back once they were over. I'm not sure why, but dealing with the crowds can be pretty tiring! Part 2 of our Chinese new year celebrations happened the following evening when we travelled to Sentosa Island. I haven't explored Sentosa much so I'd definitely like to go back, however what we did see was spectacular. After heading off in the afternoon, we were quite hungry once we arrived so we stopped for a snack. After exploring, the main part of the island for about an hour before sitting down to watch the fire-twirling performance by the 'Flaming Matrix', and aerial acrobatics from the Zhengzhou Star Acrobatics Troupe.

Coffee flavoured ice-cream

I'd like this much chocolate please!

This girl is spinning by her neck! Incredible. 

Apparently these girls started training for this at 6 or 7. 

Saw the dragon dance for good luck

If you'd like to see a video of the acrobats performing, you can head over to Saloni's blog here. You can also see the durian ice cream that we tried - it was horrible! It tasted the same as it smelt and if you've ever seen durian, you'll know what I mean. No wonder its illegal to carry durians on public transport!  I hope that you all have a happy and prosperous lunar new year. I'm not really a believer in the power of the new year, but I'll try most things once...