6/7th February 2009
No cake.
No lavish and calorie-laden, fat-riddled, sodium-swaddled, sugar-spiked dining.
This year, we did not helicopter over, “Where to go?”, “What to eat?”.
Cause we have 2 other people “celebrating” or rather “contributing” to my birthday ang bao.
What can 4 people do when they meet?
Mahjong, without a doubt.
On 7th Feb, I played MJ for almost the entire day and ended with some simple maid-cooked dinner. And that’s it.
How uninteresting? The most mundane birthday in my entire 20 something years. (See, me being very heedful and sensitive about numbers now.)
However, on the eve, my neighbouring family and we went on an excursion to the Night Safari. It was our 2nd time there and theirs first. I recalled that the first time Kevin and I went there was during one of my birthdays, about 5 years ago.
The aim of the trip was not to celebrate my day, but to let both kids (Ziv and Trisha) bond since both Daddies already have reasonable amount of bonding time daily and I repeat, “DAILY”.
Nothing much has changed or improved noticeably, or perhaps the tiger is 5 years older now and the elephant has gained a tonne. Well, there are more money-spinning eateries and alfresco dinning along the main entrance. And the tickets to the safari are unbelievable costly with the fact that the numbers of animals one can actually see in the dimly lit vicinity is somehow limited and the varieties of animals pale in comparison with the Mandai Zoo, even travelling on the tram cost $10 per person and for about 20 to 30 minutes. And by the way, it was free back then.
To make our tickets worth, we bought the 2 in 1 package that includes entrance to the Zoo (within a month) and a family of 3 including an 18-month kid cost $80. Not mentioning about being hard sell for your own picture taken on the tram that costs $20, easily, an innocent excursion can fritter away $100 from your already tight wallet.
Never mind about the moolah, let’s move on.
I remembered vividly that we did not managed to catch the animal show 5 years ago and that day, I came with a mission. That is, to catch the animals show by hook or by crook. When we reached there about 830pm, the show was full and hence we went on the tram first. The tram ride was interesting, not because of the animals, the commentator on the tram but my neighbour. He was exaggerated his fear of the animals that would suddenly went berserk, escaped from the boundaries and attacked him. He went on narrating what he would do if such thing happened and so on. His humour is indeed entertaining during the boring tram ride. All animals seemed to turn away from us, perhaps they have seen many of us tourist and immune to us. During the tram ride something hilarious happened, the mischievous elephant blew water on us and luckily we weren’t drench. Kevin blocked the water for me and Ziv.
The animals show was pretty interesting for first time viewer like us, however, a revisit to the show is definitely not recommended. The animals appearing on the show were not big, fierce animals, mainly those monkey-like, furry animals which I have no idea what they are called.
The trip ended with an over-priced 2-scope ice-cream cone from Bens and Jerry’s costing $9.50.
Verdict for the Night Safari?
Visit it once and there is no need for a revisit. Just in case your foreign friend asks you how is it, you can at least reply to him/her.
Some pictures taken…
Even picture taking is a chore, because the lighting is just so dim!
No lavish and calorie-laden, fat-riddled, sodium-swaddled, sugar-spiked dining.
This year, we did not helicopter over, “Where to go?”, “What to eat?”.
Cause we have 2 other people “celebrating” or rather “contributing” to my birthday ang bao.
What can 4 people do when they meet?
Mahjong, without a doubt.
On 7th Feb, I played MJ for almost the entire day and ended with some simple maid-cooked dinner. And that’s it.
How uninteresting? The most mundane birthday in my entire 20 something years. (See, me being very heedful and sensitive about numbers now.)
However, on the eve, my neighbouring family and we went on an excursion to the Night Safari. It was our 2nd time there and theirs first. I recalled that the first time Kevin and I went there was during one of my birthdays, about 5 years ago.
The aim of the trip was not to celebrate my day, but to let both kids (Ziv and Trisha) bond since both Daddies already have reasonable amount of bonding time daily and I repeat, “DAILY”.
Nothing much has changed or improved noticeably, or perhaps the tiger is 5 years older now and the elephant has gained a tonne. Well, there are more money-spinning eateries and alfresco dinning along the main entrance. And the tickets to the safari are unbelievable costly with the fact that the numbers of animals one can actually see in the dimly lit vicinity is somehow limited and the varieties of animals pale in comparison with the Mandai Zoo, even travelling on the tram cost $10 per person and for about 20 to 30 minutes. And by the way, it was free back then.
To make our tickets worth, we bought the 2 in 1 package that includes entrance to the Zoo (within a month) and a family of 3 including an 18-month kid cost $80. Not mentioning about being hard sell for your own picture taken on the tram that costs $20, easily, an innocent excursion can fritter away $100 from your already tight wallet.
Never mind about the moolah, let’s move on.
I remembered vividly that we did not managed to catch the animal show 5 years ago and that day, I came with a mission. That is, to catch the animals show by hook or by crook. When we reached there about 830pm, the show was full and hence we went on the tram first. The tram ride was interesting, not because of the animals, the commentator on the tram but my neighbour. He was exaggerated his fear of the animals that would suddenly went berserk, escaped from the boundaries and attacked him. He went on narrating what he would do if such thing happened and so on. His humour is indeed entertaining during the boring tram ride. All animals seemed to turn away from us, perhaps they have seen many of us tourist and immune to us. During the tram ride something hilarious happened, the mischievous elephant blew water on us and luckily we weren’t drench. Kevin blocked the water for me and Ziv.
The animals show was pretty interesting for first time viewer like us, however, a revisit to the show is definitely not recommended. The animals appearing on the show were not big, fierce animals, mainly those monkey-like, furry animals which I have no idea what they are called.
The trip ended with an over-priced 2-scope ice-cream cone from Bens and Jerry’s costing $9.50.
Verdict for the Night Safari?
Visit it once and there is no need for a revisit. Just in case your foreign friend asks you how is it, you can at least reply to him/her.
Some pictures taken…
Even picture taking is a chore, because the lighting is just so dim!
posted by Cel at
2/11/2009 08:01:00 PM
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