Summer Adventures: The "break" in the Singapore Zoo

Before I go any further, I feel like I should also add in the fact that Emma and I talked a LOT before our trip. Emma is three times the world traveler than I am so I depended on her for a lot of advice. The one thing she guaranteed me was that at one point or another, we WILL break. Sobbing break down, angry-rage break down, whatever… “It just happens,” she shrugged “Just let me how to deal with you.” After the Phuket incident (where I was 90% sure that we were going to be sold into sex trafficking), I figured we were in the clear. THAT was the “breaking point” for BOTH of us. And we’re back in…

So the weather that day was the usual disgustingness of HOT HOT HOTTT. Not wanting any extra baggage, we left our jackets, ponchos, and umbrellas in the hostel. We arrived, waited through a horrendously long line, bought one of the most expensive tickets ever, and headed towards the first exhibit. While peering into a river moat of crocodiles and alligators, debating their differences and GINORMOUS size, it started to rain. We laughed, and looked for cover to wait for the rain to let up.

I’m sure you see where I’m going with this. It didn’t let up. Quite the opposite, in fact. It poured like I’ve never seen it pour. Some sort of dam in the sky broke and the rain came down in never ending buckets. I can honestly tell you I have never been so bone-soaking wet in my ENTIRE LIFE. It was like standing underneath a waterfall. I guess I should probably mention the other important fact- I decided to wear the lightest, most comfortable dress I had that day (I don’t even have to wear a bra with it, yippee!). Oh, and this dress? It’s white.

So there I was. Standing in a sea of Singapore rain water, basically naked… I broke. White hot rage filled my body as I waded (the water level had risen to my ankles), following Emma from one animal display to the next. I don’t know when Emma caught on that I was absolutely NOT happy, but I know she decided to switch tactics from laughing and cracking jokes to letting me sulk in my transparent dress. We finally found a sanctuary- a café jam packed with families who had the good luck to be eating right when the torrential downpour started. As we *squish* squished* down one aisle then the next, we gathered more and more stares… which only made me angrier. The only seats available were located at a table that had one corner jutted out into the rain… so we sat in the rain with my morale seemingly beyond recovery.

I can tell you the exact moment when I started to calm down. It was after we bought some fish and chips and scored a table at the inside diner (yes, food is always the answer). There were a few magical moments of calm, filled with glorious mouthfuls of crispy (yet tender) fish and chips... until the kid next to us started vomiting loudly. Yes Emma, I told you it was just chocolate ice cream but I lied. The rain had still not let up BUTTT we had paid an arm and a leg for the entrance fee. Feeling mildly re-charged, we tried to make the most of the day. We bought overpriced ponchos, and carried on with the trek/swim. 

 We eventually made it to an elephant show and managed to score some fantastic seats (weird, no one wanted to sit in an outdoor stadium during a downpour). About two minutes before the show started, the rain stopped just as quickly as it started. The sun came out, and started to bake us in our plastic ponchos and it was back to being HOT HOT HOTTT. 

The rest of the day was awesome!! The plus side to being in a super lightweight dress is that it dries realllyyy quickly. We saw so many animals and ALL their animal exhibits are "naturalistic", no cages or wire fences... just moats and hidden barriers. I hate to say this, being a Socal girl (from the land of the World Famous San Diego Zoo) buttttt it's the BEST Zoo I have ever been to. In fact, it was rated the BEST Zoo in the WORLD. You could pet elephants and orangutans, kangaroos, giraffes. Monkeys were literally running around through crowds, jumping above our heads on trees. It really felt like we were taking a walk through a wild jungle.

The only photo from that day of us with the ponchos

I saw a real life Kangaroo for the first time... those things are suppperrr weird. They don't hop around on two legs like I imagined, but rather hop like a ginormous, furry frog- two front legs, then two back. Sooo weird!

Just chillin' with a family of orangutans...

 The orangutans weren't chained to that branch or anything. If they wanted to swing away (or throw their poop at us), they had the complete freedom to do that. Plus, did you see the cute baby hanging onto this mom?!? SO adorable!!!

Cheetah. Marking his territory.

 After I took this photo, Emma turned to me and said "Real mature, Tango". :D  It's just the refined sense of humor that I have.

Taking a break at the snake pit

 Notice how shiny and sweaty we look? The weather changed from disgustingly humid to horrific downpour andd back to being disgustingly humid. Singapore has a better zoo, but San Diego has better weather.

We are stilllll carrying our ponchos. Just in case. #Paranoid

Funny thing about that photo. We politely asked a man to take our photo together. He took one look at us, gave Emma the stereotypical up-and-down look (she got those a LOT in Southeast Asia), sneered and said "NO." While Emma and I cracked up in laughter, he proceeded to linger awkwardly by the tortoise exhibit. We eventually got the photo... obvi.

Corn is better than fries. And it absolutely IS a vegetable

 We ended the day with an easy meal at McDonald's. Don't judge us, it was a rough day and we didn't feel like playing the "Mystery-food-and-how-will-this-effect-you-in-three-hours" game. At the McDonald's in Singapore, you can choose to get corn with your meal instead of fries! Score!

We crossed the border once more into Malaysia,but not without a stop over in Johor Bahru. It rained buckets again. And I was wearing white. Again. Since this time, I had the good sense to laugh and make the best of it, I took another video. **Something I'd like to note: This God awful place smelled like the graveyard of millions of fish rotting in their own feces. The stench of decaying fish bodies was enough to wake the dead fish from their slumber, at which the fish vomited all over themselves from the mephitis (look who's got a college degree!) and then proceeded to decompose some more in their own filth. Are you grossed out yet? Because that is just a little slice of what it actually felt like. ** We were more than happy when our bus finally showed up.

We set in for the journey back to Kuala Lumpur for a second (hopefully better) experience. However, the nice asian lady behind us had other plans. Her kid (sitting behind me) decided that the chair in front of him was much more entertaining as a kicking board. His mom (behind Emma) decided that Emma was not going to put her chair back AT ALL. Poor Emma sat the entire bus journey (six hours or something) at a 90 degree angle. Any time she put her chair back, the woman would say "Szzzt!!! Szzzztt!!!" and physically HIT Emma's chair. Real gems, these people. 

We tend to make really good friends on bus rides.