Singapore Zoological Gardens

We are really not "outdoor" sort of people but we do not want to deprive Sophie from experiencing nature and learning about animals from first-hand encounters. So, we took the plunge and went to the zoo today. Our domestic helpher came with us and she was more excited than Sophie because the last time she visited the zoo in her own homeland was at least 20 years ago. And since her birthday is coming soon, she treated this trip as a present.

We were pleasantly surprised that the zoo was not as bad as we had feared, especially in the early morning. Although some of the animals were still sleeping, we still got to see quite a few animals in their enclosures before our boat ride.



Sophie was clearly fascinated by the white tigers. She stared at them and kept saying they were huge. In fact, we almost always underestimated the actual size of wild animals since we only get to see them on television. To Sophie, it must haave been amazing to see tigers swim in water as well.



Elephants are one of Sophie's favourite animals. We were not comfortable to let her ride on one though. I wish I could tell what she thought of the real animals as compared to the ones she saw in illustrations or cartoons.

Next, we took the boat ride. We were told to take it before it rained or it might be cancelled. So we did. I was quite happy after reading the information about the boat ride, hoping to see some interesting scenery or wildlife along Seletar reservoir. Nothing.



Well, at least Sophie was excited to ride a boat. We ended up in KidzWorld after the ride. It was a place designed to excite kids and burn adults' pockets. Of course, we were no exception. We bought a bundle ticket for a carousel ride, a pony ride and a horse carriage ride.



Uncle Simon has a Lego carousel at home so Sophie knew what it is. However, she had never seen a real one with so many different animal rides. She was overwhelmed and could not make up her mind which animal to ride on. Finally, we settled for the "Elephant".



After the pony ride at HorseCity, Sophie loves horses. She was quite happy to take a pony ride but the guy frightened her a little. He was not very "kids trained" unfortunately. She was reluctant to be held by him although she knew she had little choice. If you ask me, I prefer the pony ride at HorseCity - safer and longer ride.



Alright, this was a letdown. Papa said they could not see the horse in front and the ride was short and a little boring. Sophie sat in there without a word. I thought maybe she was a little tired and ready for her nap, but her energy came back when she saw the goats.



Papa bought a bucket of vegetable scraps and Sophie had a great time feeding the hungry goats. She chose to feed the smallest kids and we tried to chase the bigger ones away for her to do that. We found out that the goats were very smart, they would eat the carrots and beans but spit out leaves - fussy eaters. By the time Sophie was done, she was very tired. Thus, we quickly feed her at KFC before letting her nap on her stroller.



The rest of us had lunch while she slept. After a shorter than usual nap, she was ready to watch "The Rainforest Fights Back". I let her munch a little while we waited to keep her occupied and engaged. The performance was alright although she was not always very interested.

After the show, we decided to head home (around 2pm). Unfortunately, it started to rain when we were less than 500m from the exit. We took shelter and waited for the rain to become a drizzle before making a dash for the exit. All in all, we were happy that Sophie enjoyed herself despite the rain and the fact that we did not see all the animals. I suppose we would eventually become "Friends of the Zoo" when she hits 3 years old.