Singapore

Day 6. Tuesday, January 17, 2006. The Jurong Bird Park of Singapore is home to over 9000 birds of 600 species. A highlight was a parrot which sang and counted to 10 in both Chinese and English. It also sang happy birthday in English. What I found particularly entertaining was that this bird had a distinct accent. A large enclosure called the “Lory Loft” houses over 1000 “lory’s” of every possible colour and combination thereof. They will land within inches of you on a railing or branch looking for a sip of nectar that visitors can offer them. However, if something startles them, hundreds will fly at blinding speed around the enclosure, missing your head by only millimeters.
Next we visited the Asian Civilization Museum only to find it closed for renovations until 2008. Damn, now we will have to come back.
We dined on a marvelous selection of baby squid, lobsters and mussels at the Chin Wah Heng restaurant, outdoors and overlooking the beach. And for dessert we drove to a less affluent part of town for a taste of durian. It tasted better, …no, it tasted not as bad as I had imagined, nor did it smell as bad as I had imagined, except the smell just wouldn’t go away. Nearby was Singapore’s Red Light District. Rows of street level accommodations each displaying a large red street number, 28, 30, 32, etc. Some doors had an “open” sign, others, no sign. Maybe these meant “closed”, probably not. “Occupied” was more likely. Sorry, no pictures, they’re all over exposed.
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