Sorry for the quiet… I have both a lot to say and many divergent ideas on how to say it. So I guess I’ll just write.
2019-nCoV update: That’s the temporary name for the virus you are supposed to use… currently there are 30 confirmed cases in Singapore which I think makes us the largest outbreak outside of China. One of the cases currently was caught “in community” and doesn’t have any known links to a specific person from Wuhan. That’s concerning and what the government is trying to prevent. Hopefully they can figure out the link. Also a 6 month old baby has gotten the virus here from her parents who waited on someone from Wuhan. That makes me so sad. I hope the baby is ok. Right now Singapore is at code yellow on the DORSCON table
But… the schools are running more at an orange. The more disconcerting thing is that they’re prepping the kids to do their school work remotely. Liam has been bringing home all his work and his iPad all week and Ella today is practicing using a remote classroom on her laptop. The teachers are indicating that they believe a shutdown could happen as soon as Monday. If the mom gossip is to be believed, it could last for a MONTH. Yikes. Currently no groups larger than 40 are allowed. That means no assemblies, no field trips, no parent get togethers. The after school activities are still running as scheduled but we will see how that goes. Things change daily here so it’s hard to know where it’s headed or what we will do if the schools do decide to close. Most of that will depend on what businesses decide to do.
Onto more fun topics. Everyone living in terror of the virus has meant that nothing is crowded!yay for us! Last weekend we went to the Singapore zoo, which was truly amazing! We’re fairly regular Bronx zoo goers and have been to the national zoo in DC. This zoo blows them both away. From their animals to the layout, it is stunning. And we only did the regular zoo, not the night safari or the river safari. Of course we bought a membership for this too, so many more zoo outing for us! I’ll add pics and comment.
According to travel advisor.com, it’s a top 3 zoo in the world! I believe it!First animal… a white tiger (they are not albino, but a gene variant that is very rare). The cool history about this tiger is it’s ancestor was caught in India in the 1950s and given to a Maharaja. From this one, they have bred 35, all in captivity around the world. Miniature hippos! Fun fact. They actually cant swim, but “dance” along river beds. They were super cool!Juice break! These machines are all over Singapore and the kids are obsessed. Finally gave in. Fun to watch it squeeze the juice and it was delicious. I see many more i.Jooz’s in our future!Next up were Australian animals. Very fun kangaroos and wallaby’s. Baboons with red butts!!! Ella said she is still traumatized. The other funny quote is a mom was climbing to the top of a big rock and a “kid” sized baboon was following her. She shoved it totally off the rock to which Liam said “mom, kinda like you when we’re annoying you!” Yikes. Truth hurts. We happened upon the elephant show! These are Indonesian elephants. They were amazing and we now can’t wait to go to a sanctuary! Did you know they can eat coconuts and durians whole? That’s some serious stomach acid. It also brought up a good conversation with the kids. Having elephants in captivity is ethically dubious at best. However, the Singapore zoo raises a lot of money to help elephants in the wild. So does the keeping of the 6 elephants here make sense since they can help hundreds of others? I don’t know the answer either! You could feed them for $5 as well but since the line was long and we know seeing elephants is on our travel list, we moved along. Orangutans!!! The zoo is known for their orangutans. They have the ability to climb around a large part of the zoo. They are amazing. Another animal we are hoping to see in the wild as one of their few remaining habitats is only a short plane ride from Singapore!Avery really wanted to go to this rainforest live show. It meant we had to backtrack in the huge zoo. Liam and Ella were not pleased but Avery stuck in her heels on it. Good thing she did! It was a wonderful show! This is an albino peacock. We saw birds flying almost touching our heads, snakes, and many other critters! If you are ever at the Singapore zoo, go to as many shows as you can!
A parrot squabble. Watch till the end (but turn sound down!) when Ryan gets buzzed. We then had lunch. This was the best zoo or amusement park lunch i’ve ever had. I got Indian, Liam and Avery had ramen and Ella and Ryan stuck with western fare. Everyone left full and happy! Other fun fact… the restaurant is named for the zoos most famous resident, Ah Meng, an orangutan. When she died in 2008, she was so famous, 4,000 people came to her funeral! Salt water crocodiles. You can see these in the wild here if you hike in certain places. I had no clue how big they are! They can get up to 9meters!!! I think we might skip those hikes…Ryan couldn’t resist a selfie with it. I really wished it opened its mouth!!!The zoo also has an amazing “splash pad”. We took about an hour break. I only wish I had brought my swim suit!Bat selfie. These are called flying foxes but they are bats. We were so close to them! Crazy!White rhinos!
Since we bought a membership, we only planned to go for a couple of hours… 6 hours later we left! Many more zoo outing in our future, what a fun and exhausting day!
Hi Erin, We’ve been thinking about all of you. I’m with Ella about the baboons & I would be far away from the bats. The rest of the zoo looks awesome… very clean & the animals look healthy. We need those juice machines here. Be Safe! ♥️
Nutmeggers in Singapore 
Hi Erin, We’ve been thinking about all of you. I’m with Ella about the baboons & I would be far away from the bats. The rest of the zoo looks awesome… very clean & the animals look healthy. We need those juice machines here. Be Safe! ♥️
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