Last night we did a night safari at about 9:30 PM. I think they do stuff at night cause it's just too darn hot to do in the day. You take a drive through dimly lit rainforest in an open-air tram. The thing is, many animals are allowed to roam free - like the many kinds of deer. So our tram was stopped several times and they had to shoo animals off the road. Then you see rhinos and tigers and hyenas and you assume there is something out there to keep them off the road, but you can't really see it because it's dark. There is a walking path too, so you're protected from the larger animals, but they do a good job of making it look good. It was interesting. Lots of great animals. (The tarantulas were not part of the exhibit though!) Got to bed around midnight. Here's a link if anyone wants to take a look... http://www.nightsafari.com.sg/index.html
Today was a little sad but a very wonderful day. I got up and did my Qigong and ended up crying my eyes out in the middle of it all because I missed Andy and the kids! And Mom and Mike sent me roses in Singapore which was so thoughtful and they smell beautiful! But, I got emotional over that too. I was just having one of those days where I guess I just was homesick - so I had a good cry. I can't wait to see everyone.
After that I was out of here by 10:00. Now, I know I've said enough about the weather here, but just a little more and you'll see why after you hear about my day... It was around 95 degrees with 96% humidity. So what do I do? Head outdoors for the day. But it was great because I was on my own. I turned down all offers to show me around and even turned down an offer for an extravagant dinner. I really needed some time to myself. So, I take a subway to the Chinese and Japanese gardens. First thing I do is promptly sit down on a bench and my entire left butt cheek was soaked. (There's a lot of rain here too.) It never did dry out the entire day, but it didn't really matter because I was soaked by the time I got home anyway. Here's my first stop.
Short story - I walked around the Chinese gardens. I walked through a park. I walked around the Japanese Gardens....
I walked around to find a bite to eat for lunch. I was hot. I did spend some time sitting by the Japanese garden waterfall. It was nice, but I didn't sweat less just sitting there. I did learn to slow my pace down though. I walk faster than most of my coworkers, especially in Singapore. I had to slow down and take it easy today - and buy water at almost every opportunity! So after lunch I grabbed a cab and headed a few miles to the Bukit Timah Nature Preserve. This is the tallest hill in Singapore and I the only piece of rain forest left on the island. I also heard you could see monkeys! So, I head toward the entrance, crossed this bridge, and I was in...
I thought it was a little odd, but the place was TINY. There was almost no walk and it wasn't to the top of the hill. There were a few little places to go but it was not what I expected. I walked around while and sat - keeping my eyes out for monkeys (and tarantulas). Nothing. I found a little reflexology path where they embedded rocks in an area and you walk barefoot over it. Why not? So I strip my shoes and socks off and walk around for a little while. All of a sudden I was startled by a huge lizard (OK, huge in my experiences) near my path. I wasn't sure what do do since I didn't know his temperament - plus I wasn't running far barefoot on bumpy stones. I watched him for a while and got a few pictures. His body was about 2 feet long and his tail was longer than his body. He was pretty mellow.
So I headed out of the park after a while. There were some loud groups coming in and I thought I was done. Then, I looked to my left and saw that I was not even in the actual park yet! I was just on what I would call the rainforest bunny hill! I had the whole thing to do... So, up I go. Now this was the real deal. Thick rainforest everywhere and deafening sounds at times. There were different varieties of cicadas, birds, and even a few monkeys that could be heard. I didn't see much though. There were also Malayan Colugo flying lemurs (no, I didn't see one of these) and little red cheeked flying squirrels. I DID see one of those come down and it was really cool. It was really light and graceful. I also think I saw a Crested Serpent Eagle flying overhead - very endangered. It was beautiful! So, I walked. Up. A lot. It was a pretty sharp incline. Very hot, dripping with sweat, and red-faced, I reached the summit. Took a picture of the rock. Headed back down.
There was actually more hiking that you can do there but I was done - or so I thought. On the way back down I decided to take the road less traveled and took "Rock Path". It was a bit more challenging and at times I wasn't sure I was still on the path.
I finally made it though. Total time spent outside today was about 6 hours. Total time in the rainforest was 3. The only thing was - I didn't see any monkeys! I did almost get bonked on the head by both a coconut and a lime that were falling out of the trees - aka Gilligan's Island. They missed me though. There were a lot of lizard sightings and some weird bugs. One big lizard startled me as it ran right across my path. Gotta keep your eyes open!So after that I got back to the hotel, peeled off my clothes and jumped into the shower. THAT felt very good! Then I headed down to the spa and got a Champi massage - an ancient Indian technique for the upper back, shoulders, face, and scalp. Very nice. Too short though. After that I headed up to my room and ordered a Caesar salad and a chocolate tart! I didn't realize how hungry I was after all that walking! Now I've got to take care of stuff - Skype with the kids, iron, check my agenda for tomorrow, etc. (I let that go all day so I need to attend to it now.) I want to thank everyone that's emailed me - I've really needed it! Love you all!
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