Singapore Zoo

Thursday 30 August 2018

We have been out for nearly twelve hours and are hoping to sleep well tonight.

Both Kate and I had a bit of awake time last night between 1am and 3am and then were fast asleep when the alarm went off. Ahh the joys of jetlag.

We have spent the day at Singapore Zoo (our third zoo in 6 weeks) followed by the River Safari Park.

We really enjoyed the zoo with the Orangutan and the White Tiger being my favourites. By total accident we keep arriving at enclosures when the show or feeding was on. We both got to feed our first White Rhino and a Capybara and to pat a Lemur.

The River Safari Park was much smaller and had two boat rides one of which we saw lots of animals including a cheetah and a cub. Sadly once again the Wolf was hiding although we could smell him. Kate was very pleased to see her first Manatee (actually there were six or maybe seven).

Dinner in the local shopping centre and an early night.

Hit the Ground Running Almost!

Wednesday 29 August 2018

We arrived at the hotel and found that we couldn't get into our room until 12pm so left the bags at concierge and went out for coffee to make a plan.

I have stayed at this hotel before so that is helping somewhat with orientation.  We have a Singapore Airlines stopover deal which includes a number of hop on hop off buses so we decided to head to the orchid garden at the Botanic Gardens.

We enjoyed the flowers and the weather isn't too hot or humid. Headed back to the hotel and had to settle for a king size bed if we wanted our room soon. Kate and I were starting to feel very tired and had a little afternoon nap before heading out to Chinatown .

Had a great dinner of deep fried wontons, followed by noodles with a real lime juice for Kate and a tiger beer for me.

Found the supermarket on the way home under the City Hall MRT station as suggested by mum and dad. Sourced food for breakfast tomorrow and I think we are all set to go.

Thirteen Hours

Tuesday 28 August 2018

Up at 5.15am to go to Heathrow for our flight to Singapore.

We asked to pool our luggage allowance as instructed by Alison at Singapore Airlines and it worked perfectly. The case and backpacks together weighed exactly 60kgs and the hand luggage was almost at the 7kg limit with a couple of kilos spare for shopping in Singapore.

Flight left on time and I slept fairly well and Kate got some sleep before arriving in Singapore at 7.30am.

Luggage storage which we had considered was expensive so all the  bags came with us in the taxi to the hotel.

Packing AGAIN!!!

Monday 27 August 2018

A bit of a sleep in this morning before checking in to our Singapore Airlines flight for tomorrow.

I sorted through my gear and we did a bit of a preliminary weighing of bags before Kate headed out to meet some of her work friends, from her first school, to watch a movie and have some lunch.

Apart from a stroll to the supermarket I have spent the day sorting photos and catching up on the blog. Amazing how the day just disappears.

Once Kate returned we repacked and weighed bags. We believe we are under the weight limit.  Let's hope Singapore Airline's scales agree with ours!!!

Next stop Singapore for a few days.

Colchester Zoo

Sunday 26 August 2018

Up early again. Seemed like we had only been asleep for minutes.

Today we went with Kate's English Family (Bev, Richard, George, Alfie and Archie) and Bev's parents (Paul and Jane) to Colchester Zoo.

We all like zoos and had been looking forward to this day since the beginning of the holidays.

Unfortunately the day was a bit cold and overcast with the rain starting about lunchtime and settling in for the rest of the day. Regardless of this, we were there as the gates opened and only left an hour before closing time. Colchester Zoo is huge and Bev's family had been there before so they knew how it worked. This meant we were first in line for the giraffe feeding and then moved straight on to the elephant feeding. I have never experienced an elephant's trunk taking a piece of carrot from my hand. It felt sort of leathery and very dexterous.

The rain worked in our favour because the animals retreated into their dens which at this zoo are all glass fronted for viewing so we got really close to animals like the tigers. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of photos because it was too wet to get the camera out.

In particular I enjoyed the otters, tigers, chimps, aardvark and flamingo. Unfortunately the wolves were hiding so I didn't get a chance to see them.

By the end of the day we were all damp and cold, despite wearing waterproofs and carrying an umbrella, so we returned to Bev and Richard's to wrap up in blankets and sit by the fire. Indian takeaway for dinner and then Kate said her final farewells (at least for the time being). A really enjoyable day.

London, London & London

Saturday 25 August 2018

A huge day in London!

Kate had booked us tickets for Harry Potter Studio with a 12pm entry followed by dinner at Jamie's Italian Restaurant and then the West End Show 'The Book of Mormon'.

We are staying in an Airbnb in Greenhithe so we are close to Kate's friends and of course her gear. Greenhithe is about an hour south of London's center and Harry Potter Studio is the same distance to the north so we were up early and on the 8.40am train into London. Train, tube and two buses later we finally arrived at 11am. Early lunch and discovered that they aren't very strict about the entry time so in we went.

The studio was everything we had hoped for and more. The whole display is the actual sets, costumes and models as used in the films with commentary and interesting behind the scenes facts on televisions and some interactive activities.

As you enter the first thing you see is the cupboard under the stairs, then you enter the Great Hall complete with a real flagstone floor and the Goblet of Fire before you are left to investigate the rest of the studio on your own. The special display at the moment is Book 4 so there was an emphasis on the Goblet of Fire.

We then saw the boy's bedroom,  the Griffindor common room, the Weasley's kitchen, Dumbledoor's office, the Potion's classroom, interactive broom flying, wand lessons, the Enchanted Forest complete with Aragog and much more before the halfway point where we sampled butterbeer.

We then went into the outside lot with the Dursley's house,  The Knight Bus and the Potter's house at Goddricks Hollow. Back into the second studio we saw Diagon Alley, the workshop for the animals and an amazing 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts which was used for the castle shots. We had an absolutely amazing visit and I would highly recommend it if you are in London.

We then backtracked in to London for dinner at Jamie's and a stroll around Trafalgar Square before going to The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theater. This was Kate's third time to the show and I can see why she loves it so much. I hadn't done a lot of research and the storyline is certainly unexpected and out of left field. It is very funny and definitely not PC with amazing singing and dancing.

Exhausted but satisfied and home and in bed by midnight.