Trip to River Safari, Singapore

Red Panda

I was thrilled when the news reported about two years ago that Singapore was building River Safari- a river-themed wild life park that showcases river dwelling animals. The stars of the new park are the two Giant Pandas-Kai Kai and Jia Jia,loaned to Singapore from China for a period of 10 years. Other exotic creatures include the Red Pandas, Chinese Giant Salamanders, Sturgeons, Mekong Giant Catfish, Mississippi Paddlefish, Alligator Gars, Manatees and many others. The new park is an addition to the main Zoo (The Singapore Zoo) and The Night Safari which is great news for animals' enthusiasts like us. It is sometimes deem a wonder to think that such a small country like Singapore can house three Zoos at one time.

Elated children hugging "Kai Kai"

Rivers of the World signage

Alligator Gars

Courtesy of the free park entrance tickets from my Company, I brought my family to the River Safari. The route in the park is very orderly as it led us through Mississippi River-Congo River-River Nil--Ganges River-Mekong River-Murray River and Yangtze River where the Giant Pandas are housed in an air-conditioned enclosure. A long bridge across a river brought us to Wild Amazonia which includes the Amazon River Quest, Squirrel Monkey Forest and the Amazon Flooded Forest. The Amazon River Quest at Wild Amazonia was not ready at my time of visit. It is supposedly to bring visitors in a boat ride experience to the river-dwelling animals at their natural habitats and behavior. I was very much anticipating this ride and can't wait for it to be ready by end of the year.

Paddlefish

Mekong River with Giant Catfish Display

Lesser Adjutant Stork

Unlike many others, the highlight of my visit was not the Pandas. I have seen them many times at the Hong Kong Ocean Park. They are adorable but lazy and not very active. It was no surprise that you often saw the same Panda lazing at the same spot in the same position on different visits. What is not to be missed at the River Safari is surely the Amazon Flooded Forest. Here is where you can see the malicious man-eating Red-bellied Piranhas , dangerous high voltage Electric Eel and the industrial Giant Otters. It also housed the largest fresh water aquarium tank in the world. Manatees (aka Dugong or Sea Cows), Arapaimas (largest fresh water fish) and other exotic species are the residents of the big tank. We could never get tired of admiring the water creatures dancing and gliding gracefully in the enormous tank. Unless you dive into the Amazon River(and brave the hungry Piranhas), there is simply no chance in our life time that we can witness the underwater scene that beheld us at the Amazon Flooded Forest. 

Chinese Giant Salamander

Squirrel Monkey

Arapaima at Amazon Flooded Forest

Manatees

My family, young and elderly alike, has enjoyed our day at Singapore new attraction. We will be back when the Wild Amazonia's boat ride is ready. If you are interested, this is River Safari official website. 

Related Posts: The Singapore Zoo

Red-bellied Piranha

Lazing Panda-Kai Kai

Enjoying their visit. My daughter (1st from right) with cousins Amanda and Dave

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My Singapore Story

The Singapore Skyline

This year National Day's slogan is "Many stories. One Singapore". As a true blue Singaporean, I felt complied to contribute my own Singapore story for this year cause. Born in the 70's, I was one of those who was "evacuated" from our Kampong (local slang for village) and moved into the current concrete high rise buildings. Since then Singapore have never look back.

Haw Par Villa

I have witnessed Singapore's tremendous transformation over the past 40 years. In my early days, there were not much places of interest which our children have the privilege to enjoy today. The only places our parents could bring us were The Singapore Zoo (I have a blog on this), Haw Par Villa and the occasion fun fair grounds. This is the reason why I have such strong affiliation with The Singapore Zoo and Haw Par Villa. Perhaps those from my generation share similar thoughts too. 

The Singapore River

Marina Bay Sand

I remembered not enjoying the bus trip (there was no MRT then) to China town. The reason was that we needed to get past Singapore River. Whenever we got near the river (where the current Clark Quay resided), there was always a strong pungent smell in the air. It was so repulsive that at times I felt like vomiting. The hot and stuffy environment in the then non-air conditioned bus did not help the situation. Of course, the smell has long gone after the authority put in strong effort to clean up the river. The Singapore River has now become one of Singapore famous landmarks. Tourists visiting Singapore today consider touring the length of the Singapore River in the trademark bumper boat as a must do in their itineraries. The boat tours bring them to many Singapore famous icons like The Merlion, The Marina Bay Sand, The Esplanade, The Fullerton Hotel and The Singapore Flyer etc.

Resort World Sentosa

Universal Studio Singapore

Another destination comes to my mind is Sentosa. Sentosa of today has totally shed it's "abandoned island" image to become a Resort island. I recalled not many people want to visit the island as it was deemed a exiled prison for political criminals during my young days. All these have changed. Now, we have USS (Universal Studio Singapore), S.E.A Aquarium (World largest aquarium), Adventure Cove (Water theme Park) and the lists go on at Sentosa. Visitors coming to Singapore now will surely stay a day or two at Resort World Sentosa. Singaporeans, myself included would also consider Sentosa as a great retreat instead of visiting other countries during holidays.

S.E.A Aquarium

 We shall always remember that Singapore have achieved today first world status due to the hard work of everybody. Our children get to enjoy the fruits that were planted by our parents. We can be proud but shall never let complacency set in just because what we are today.

Happy belated birthday, Singapore!

Related Posts: The Singapore Zoo

The Merlion

After Thought: Visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia

"Cool" monk at Angkor Wat

This article was actually written in reply to my traveling companions-Bayee and Tet after they wrote to me and thanked me for planning and arranging such a meaningful trip for them. My cousin Bayee, an IT guru requested the wall reliefs photos from me. He was making an application that could create 3D effect of the wall relief photos. The money make would be contributed to the poor at Cambodia and I thought that was a really cool idea. This trip has triggered a lot of thoughts and I would like to share them in a replied mail format with all of you here.  

Hi Bayee & Tet,

no problem. I have looked forward to this trip for the longest time. I did not think I have the inspiration and motivation to overcome the "mountain temples" without your companionship.  It's not easy to find someone with the same interest to travel to Cambodia. Rest assured it is always my intention to bring my daughter (when she is bigger) to these kind of places to see how lucky we are. We cannot take for granted what we have today.

 
The ride through the hidden path where we saw those people living in "kampong" (slang for village in my dialect) has brought back many memories. I used to live in this kind of condition also. Life has been hard but I think I was most carefree on those days. We were happy and easily satisfied despite not enjoying what we have today. Cambodians have been thru hell and I think most of them are much happier than those days. But I felt the influence of the richer tourists (people like us) have in a way or another exposed them to the outside world which caused their greed level to go up and their satisfaction level with their current life to go down. Sadly, the monk with the sun glass and mobile phone at Angkor Wat has reinforced my belief that something is really going wrong with the external influence there. 

Much as I like to put up a brave front, the urge to give money to all the small children was actually very high. It's always more difficult to turn away and resist giving them some money than to give them some. Much as I like to help them, you and I know it's not possible to help each and everyone of them. In my younger days, I thought I could play god by giving them big fat tips or money so that I could make them happier. But as I grew older, I was also thinking about that whether I have corrupted them and make their greed level higher. My inclination to Buddhism has sometime make me wonder is Buddha putting a test on these people based on their past Karma. The Khmer Rouge period has killed many people. Is this a punishment to the Cambodians based on their past life and misdeeds? But the Cambodians have been strong before. The era of the grand Angkor Wat is a good reminder of their glorious past. What has caused all these to collapse?

Some may think I am being petty of bargaining with the locals on things that I could easily afford. I was wanting to blend into their culture where bargaining was a happy practice. You could see our happy faces after we struck a deal. I think that is the most important thing. In this way, I think their satisfaction level has gone up. I personally feel that being poor does not give you excuses that you do not need work hard and earn your keep. When you work hard and earn your due keep, you shall be a happier man.       

All of us have their own perspective of thoughts after this visit. I think it is a matter of acceptance of who we are. We may have the common belief that Cambodians are poor people and that makes them unhappy and without pride. Will money actually makes them happier, prouder or greedier? We are no god and really cannot judge on this.

Of cos, all these are my own opinions. No problem on the requested photos. Give me sometime to download and select the good ones. Let's hope we can do our bit to improve life for the Cambodians :-).

Thanks & Best Regards,
Paulo Tan

Simple old lady at a lesser temple

Related Posts: Prelude-Visit to Cambodia, Siem Reap, Temple Run at Siem Reap Cambodia

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