Singapore: Flyer and Night Safari

On July 7th, our 2nd day in Singapore, we set out first thing in the morning to see the Singapore Flyer: the world’s largest observation wheel.

It’s basically an enormous ferris wheel with a diameter of 150 meters. The wheel contains 1970 tonnes of steelwork (which is equivalent to about 438 adult elephants). On a clear day you can see 45 km into the distance spanning into parts of Malaysia and Indonesia.

Before going up onto the flyer, we walked through a cool museum about the history and construction of the flyer, and an interesting art exhibit:

Going up into the flyer was pretty awesome!

The view of the city was amazing!

I just love the architecture in Singapore! Each building has a unique touch to it, and you can really see the attention to detail that is placed in each and every construction project.

From there we walked to the Helix Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge built in 2010.

We then checked out the Merlion statue on Marina Bay. The Merlion is a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. It is used as Singapore’s mascot to represent Singapore’s origins as a fishing town, and combining it with Singapore’s original name (Singapura) which means “lion city”.

After visiting the Merlion I had some business to take care of. While on my trip I received a letter from the courts in Toronto summoning me to Jury Duty at the end of July (while I would still be away). My dad opened the letter (sent to my address in Toronto) and emailed me a pdf version of my summoning notice. Since I would be missing jury duty due to my travels I needed to write a letter to the courts asking to be exempt from jury duty explaining my situation and providing them proof that I was out of the country. My dad tried doing it for me but they insisted it needed to be done by me no matter where I was in the world. So Mads and I used the printer at the hostel and I printed off my flight information and some additional proof, in addition to a letter written and signed by me. We then found a post office and had it shipped to the courts in Toronto.

The summoning notice said there would be penalties if I didn’t show up on the day I was summoned (unless I wrote a letter with proof etc), but what if my dad didn’t open my mail? Would I have come home from vacation in August and been faced with harsh penalties? It seems a bit unreasonable… What happens to vacationers who don’t have amazing parents who filter through their mail while they are away? Either way I’m glad I dealt with it and hopefully all will work out!

To get to the post office we decided to brave the Singapore Subway system (also called the MRT - Mass Rapid Transit). The transit in Singapore is amazing! It doesn’t even compare to Toronto’s subway system! They have very easy-to-use automated machines to purchase tickets from, and you can buy refillable cards. You swipe your ticket when you enter and exit the station and the money just decreases with each ride. We bought single ride tickets, which are reusable cards that (once used) could be returned for a deposit. We paid S$2 for a single ride, and received S$1 back when we returned the card. If only Toronto could put in a payment system like that! Super quick, easy and efficient!

Another interesting thing about the subways in Singapore are the platforms: they have floor to ceiling barriers between the platforms and the tracks, with sliding doors that align with the doors of the train. This is to prevent people from jumping or falling onto the tracks. I also saw this when I was traveling through Japan a few years ago.

Later that evening we decided to check out the Night Safari: the world’s first wildlife night park. It is located at the Singapore Zoo, but only opens once night falls. Many animals are nocturnal, so when you visit them at a zoo during the day they are generally very groggy and tired, so you don’t really see them in action. This zoo is dedicated to giving people the opportunity to see nocturnal animals at night in their natural habitat doing their daily frolicking, grazing and hunting.

We started off going on a 45 minute tram ride through the park where we watched lions, foxes, flamingos, hyenas, bears, buffalos, hippopotamuses, elephants, pigs, water buffalos, wolves, deers, rhinoceroses and many more animals graze naturally. The pathway is lit up dimly enough to see but not bright enough to disturb the animals. We were told to turn off the flash on our cameras so we would not harm the animals with the bright lights.

After the tram ride we were able to explore the park on foot and get a closer look at the animals. We really enjoyed walking through the park, and it was nice to see animals outside of their cages. They are just roaming free and not caged up, and it was really cool walking through the dark paths watching and observing them.

I had never seen most of these animals this close, and especially not this awake and full of energy! We watched Hyenas walk around and roll around on their backs, flying squirrels perched on branches and flying around in the trees, leopards roaming around and hanging out with each other, hippos chilling out in the water and porcupines walking around scoping out their territory. It was incredible!

It was very difficult (if not absolutely impossible) to get a decent photo of the animals in the dark. I tried my best but soon gave up and decided to just take in the experience without worrying about fumbling with my camera. Here are some of the photos I was able to get:

The Flamingos:

A Pelican:

A Striped Hyena:

We really enjoyed the night safari, and it was a very unique and memorable way to see the animals. This was our last day in the city of Singapore as we would be spending the following day on the Singapore island of Sentosa!