Art, history and ferreting about in the dark.

This morning was particularly steamy from the outset (my weather app described it as 33 degrees with the 'feels like' hovering above 40), so our plan to visit some museums and then the Zoo at night appeared to be a wise choice.

We caught the Downtown line to Marina Bay Sands at around 9am - a broad section of local business folk jumping the train at this time too (it looks like a commonly-followed business practice is to open at 10am). Team Martin rode the surge of well-tailored humanity out the ticket gates and into the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall. To describe the place as up-market would not do it justice, watches (sorry - chronographs) the price of homes, and clothing styles that defy trends abounded.

...but on the up-side, it's hideously expensive.

The ArtScience Museum was located just outside the ground level of Marina Bay Sands, and was still closed - naturally. Some workers were de-gooping the lily-ponds outside, with some supervisors hovering over them with clipboards. I was breaking a sweat just watching them - no, really.

The ArtScience Musuem

The one shop that was open nearby was a Gelato shop. Gelato just after 9am? Why I don't mind if I do.

One sparkly-fresh Lily-pond.

The kids were keen to see the Marvel exhibit, but were informed that it wouldn't be exhibiting until June. The nice lady was keen to promote a potential ticket discount for us if we wouldn't mind popping back....in a couple of months... We instead wandered about one of the permanent exhibits - Future World. In essence, it was an interactive, digital art gallery. The first piece - Crows, was by a Japanese artist, and depicted a three-legged crow from mythology. It involved a darkened room with projected brush strokes, creating the illusion of floating in space - and then leapt into a vertigo-inducing ride through the cosmos. A little staggery, we made out way on to the rest of the displays.

The glowing balls were a hit. No local kids were skittled
in the creation of this 

The next display consisted of symbols drifting downwards that would explode into animated images when interacted with. Josh was a fan.

Marina Bay Sands - because every mall
should have an interactive art installation.

...and a canal.

Descending a series of escalators, we made our way onto the MRT to Dhoby Ghaut Station.

The Martin kids striking the standard
Singaporean pose on the train.

As we emerged from the station, the heat slammed us with conviction, and we hurried over to the National Museum of Singapore (after grabbing a snack at an air-conditioned multi-national coffee store). The building itself was stunning, and inside told the history of Singapore. I had thought the UN-like blend of demographics had been a more recent thing, but it turns out Singapore has been a mixing pot of humanity for a long, long time.

Josh, clambering on a seat/prop in a cinema room.

The kids on a see-saw under a Banyan tree.

We had tickets to the Night Safari - adjacent to Singapore Zoo. Thinking to save time on our journey, we disembarked at Khatib - thinking we'd jump an express bus to the zoo. Turns out that bus did not accept our tourist passes, or cash. So we got back on the MRT, retreating a couple of stations, before jumping on the same, all-stops bus route we had on our first visit to the Zoo.

Fire twirlers at the entrance to the Night Safari,
because of course you do.

We attended the Creatures of the night show. full of nocturnal animals (and not undead thankfully), before we set off down a host of winding pathways in semi-darkness.

Suffice to say, trying to take photos of still-shy animals - in the dark, is not particularly fruitful.

Flying fox about to get into an argument
with his sibling.

A mouse-deer, although of the greater variety.
....not exactly sure how great this little guy is though.

As it was 9pm by the time we set out on the walking trails, we decided not to spend too long trying to discover critters not only hiding in the undergrowth, but critters hiding in the undergrowth in the dark. We made pretty good time around the park from that point on. We did see some animals that were a little more lively (hello Sloth Bears), but on the main - I'd recommend the main Singaporean Zoo if you had to choose.

We grabbed a Maxi-taxi on the way home, and the driver stuck with the profile of being highly-judgemental (albeit in a cheeky way), yet full of questions. The kids were in hysterics as he made a running commentary on our work (somehow - I managed to insult his wife) as well as car-choices, and even what our favourite colour was.

Tomorrow will see us depart our apartment, spend the day at Universal Studios before boarding our overnight flight back home. Will be quite the day.