Kids in Penang: Photos from the Past

I am trying to scan in some old negatives from our trip to Penang in with the kids who were just really babies back in 2005. The scanning is slow going but the results are a real treat. Here are a few of some of my favorites.

Sunset on Batu Ferrenghi

Downtown Georgetown

Batu Ferringhi

Penang Peranakan Museum

Sarawak Malaysia with Kids: Visiting the Orangutans

We had left the hotel at 7 am in order to be at the Semengoh Reserve by 8:30 to see the morning feedings and we were ready to head back to Kuching and Damai Beach to get some lunch. The walk into the forest to see the Orangutans had been good, but the kids were tired and starting to get hungry. We were on a group tour, so we had to wait for one more couple who had not yet returned to the van, when we heard some sounds in the distance. A bit of brush rustling and shifting and we saw her. She came out alone at first and gave us the once over. She looked back into the woods and out came her young child.



Seeing a wild Orangutan up this close was a rare treat, but we were also a bit unnerved. The guide recognized this Orangutan and said she had a habit of being a bit protective of her young children and that we should remain calm and non-threatening. Okay I thought, I am able to do that. Jeff, on the other hand started to call our kids, who were very interested in seeing her up close back to a safe distance.



She kind of hung out for a while, not doing much or going anywhere, just looking at us. After about 15 minutes she piled her babe up onto her back and she walked down the hill. It was about this time the last members of our group started to walk back up to the van, ironically, they had walked further into the woods in an attempt to catch the apes up close and we had stayed back because of the kids.

The Semengoh Orangutan Reserve is about a 45 minute drive from Kuching on the island of Borneo and is open most days with a long lunch on Fridays. It is a great opportunity to see some of Asia's native aninmals in the wild and in a protected environment. It is a fun and safe day trip from your hotel and a great way to show the kids some of the attempts to save this majestic creature.

Getting there: You can travel by taxi or hire a “guide” through your local hotel. We did the latter and included a stop at a Crocodile Farm (a post for another day for sure!) From what we have heard, Semengoh is much smaller than the Sepilok Reserve and the chances of seeing Orangutans tends to be less in Semengoh, but we lucked out that day.

Would we go back, you bet, now it is just a matter of planning the next trip!

This post is part of Photo Friday over at Delicious Baby. For more great photos check them out here.

Hotel Review-Westin Kuala Lumpur

(Photo from SPG.Com)

The other day I met some younger travelers while they were here in Singapore and we started discussing travel around the region and one of the topics was hotels. Traveling with a family has meant, in many cases, no more hostels or super cheap budget digs. Now we find ourselves looking at hotels and balancing the cost between high end and practical. While I love me a 5 star hotel, often we can do with a little less flash and save some money, but sometimes when you have points (like I do with SPG) or if you can work side trips while traveling for business, you can have the 5 star hotel for a reduced rate. My main criteria for a hotel is it must be clean, service must be good and it must be family friendly. If the pool is good, that is a bonus.

The Westin KL meets all of those needs. Really the only downside to the Westin KL is that the cost is commensurate with the location and the name brand. I admit, I am a regular at the KL Westin, it is my hotel of choice now when I travel for work and it is one of my "preferred" hotels for corporate rates. What I love about the hotel is the fact that the staff is friendly, recognize me and ask about my kids and when they are coming the next trip. Most of the staff remember my name (well after 40+ nights this year I would hope they recognized me!) and they often assist us with upgrades if room is available.

(Photo from SPG.Com)

The pros of this hotel are the location. Just off Bukit Bintang, you can walk to most of the shopping areas and the high end Pavillion Mall (with a good food court) is just across the street. The hotel is within walking distance to Jalan Alor as well as the Kraf Kompleks. The hotel pool is big, but chilly in the afternoon due to shade, so morning swims are the ticket. The Westin Workout Gym is exceptional and the Kids Club is a welcome spot for kids so mom and dad can enjoy a few minutes to themselves.

View of the Kitchenette in the Residence Rooms

The cons for this hotel are as I mentioned before the price, this hotel is five star and you pay for it. The breakfast buffet is huge with stations spreading far and wide, but at 68RM it is not a cheap eat. The kids club tends to be better for young kids (under 5) and as mentioned the pool is chilly in the afternoons. My only other complaint is that there is not a "spa" so I go next door to the Marriott for my massage when it is needed.

(My suite from my last upgrade...how cool is that!)









All in all, I do like the Westin, it is one of my favorite hotels in Kuala Lumpur. If you can score an upgrade try to get into the residences where the rooms feature a kitchenette, separate bedroom and an office. Otherwise standard rooms are what you expect, clean and roomy with the Westin Heavenly Bed as a bonus.

Eating in Singapore with Kids: Hawker Centres

Asia is an amazing place if you are a foodie. Singapore, in particular, has a great reputation as being a city filled with great local and exotic cuisine. Singapore has a huge food blog scene (Some blogs are great -like one of my favorites I Eat I Shoot I Post while others have recently raised a ruckus for failing to disclose the fact they don’t pay for meals.

Anyway, I was reading today in the Singapore Expat Living magazine (where VagabondDad just had an article published by the way (Skip to page 244 on the flipbook here) and I noticed that in 4 reviews of places to travel, few if any ventured beyond the hotel to eat. What a waste! Why travel to places if you are not going to try to eat local dishes, and no I am not maligning the hotel restaurants, they probably do a mean Laksa, but at three times the cost. BUT, what about the kids? You know those little ones that are traveling along with you. Not an adventurous bunch? Mac and Cheese the extent of the culinary range? Well, fear not, Singapore’s got that covered too - you can hit the Chili’s if you need to, but our first stop is the hawker center for some Local Food. Here are a few favorites dishes that grown ups and kids will enjoy and they won’t break the bank.




Chicken Rice

Seriously, my daughter would eat this dish (and Ramen noodles) for a week straight if I let her. Chicken Rice is a simple meal with either Roasted or Steamed Chicken, a bowl of chicken broth and rice cooked in chicken stock for extra flavor. Served with soy sauce, chopped garlic and chili sauce (for the brave) all on the side.


Source Here

Roti Prata

Grilled flour based “pancakes” served in Indian food stalls. Dipped in curry, if you want, a simple and delicious snack.



Satay

Grilled chicken, beef or lamb (not pork) grilled over a fire on sticks. Who doesn’t like BBQ meat on a stick! Served with cucumber slices and rice formed into cubes. Also, served with a Peanut dipping sauce.




Photo Source

Ice Kacang or Cendol

Basically two versions of the same dish. Cendol is shaved ice with a brown sugar topping and coconut milk and Ice Kacang has additional toppings, a red syrup and can include corn and beans (yes really) and it is delicious. But they are both great for a desert in the warm tropical business!





Cooking up some Satay



Note: I am in the process of reorganizing my pictures so I was able to grab images from Flickr to round out this post. All images that are not my own have been credited.

Going Native: Travel Like the Locals Do

One of the best evenings we had this trip back to the US was an evening being local. There were no amusement parks, no hotels, no fancy restaurants or reservations of any sort. We didn't really plan it out, there was not a tourist map in sight. No guidebooks or pre-scheduled activities. It was just a group of great people, a field, fresh fruit and good music and one amazing night.







Summer in the Pacific Northwest is magical. Long days with evenings that cool off, twilight lingers until 10pm and you have the amazing sense of peace and wonderment around you. What a tourist might do in Portland is to head downtown and check out one of the amazing clubs. Kids with families will hit the zoo, Omsi and walk down waterfront park. Tourists might escape to the beach, or drive up to the mountains. They might hit Oaks Park or do a fair, but there is lots-lots-more. Those hidden gems that every city has and the locals know them all.

Tourists and locals alike will stroll the aisles late into the night of the best independent bookstore in the world (Powell’s). Tourists and locals hit the farmers markets and Saturday Market. Tourists marvel at the late evening sun, but locals, those smart locals know that summer is fleeting. Summer passes far too fast, summer is something to be savored, sucked dry for every single second wasting none of it, summer is to be enjoyed now!


Listening to the tunes




Locals in Portland have a secret. One of the best ways to enjoy one of those summer nights is the Thursday evening concerts at Kruger’s farm on Sauvies’ Island. I first read about Kruger’s concerts long after I left Oregon by following Alicia Paulson’s Blog Pozy Gets Cozy. Alicia, a new Oregonian (which by my definition is someone not born there) had found what natives knew all along, it is about the company you keep, the local food and the local music scene that make Portland special. Her posts about Kruger's make me hunger for that local scene.

Having tried to go to Kruger’s on our last trip home, but unable to find the time, this summer I was determined to go. I had never heard of the singer, but when you tell the kids it is time for a concert and oh yeah you can pick blueberries…they were in. We set off, picnic foods in hand, met my sister and her family as well as our “Taiwan friends” Peter and Blythe and their family for an evening of music food and fun.

Sadie and her watermelon

What makes travel exciting is the unexpected finds, the spots that you see and know are special, these spots are often those loved more by the locals than the tourist. The local bakery down a side street that no tour bus has ever traveled. The local brewpub, up far in the hills that is filled with regulars who know the name of the barkeep as well as the tavern cat. The local scene is filled with a comfortable feeling of "I have been here, this is good and I will return". A tourist is often more interested in capturing the shot for the photo album (yes I am guilty of this) but slowing down and seeing things with a native gives such a deeper appreciation.

I still consider myself a native Oregonian (although I have taken a 12 year vacation from my home state) and I also consider myself a local Singaporean. My goal is to impress upon my children the joys of seeing things from a local perspective, speaking with and connecting with the citizens of those places we travel rather than simply taking a picture. Exploring deeper, stepping down the side alley, being native and when we stop traveling we can say we went native.

How I spent my summer vacation aka back in the USA

So how did you spend your summer?

Ours was jammed into a three week trip back to the States...

family goofballs

Visits in California included Disney, American Girl, Legoland, La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum, Hollywood and the Santa Monica Pier, and then stops at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, getting lost in the Rancho Santa Margarita hills....kids in hot tubs and visits with the OC family.

Visits in Oregon, including McMinnville and the Evergreen Air and Space Museum, a drive through Salem to see the State Capital and Willamette University, the Enchanted Forest in Turner (South Salem), OMSI in Portland, Thursday Music @ Kruegers Farm in Sauvie's Island, Fort Clatsop, Fort Stevens, and Seaside with a stop at Tillamook Creamery for Ice Cream. Kids running through sprinklers and enjoying summer evenings in the twilight.

Washington State visits included Mt. St. Helens (the long way) Fort Vancouver and ice cream in old town Vancouver.

Summer Fun!

Add in visits with family and friends, a family reunion in Oregon, too much food and wine and great conviviality. Great people great summer. No time to blog. But, come back to Singapore and this is what happened.

Kiera's broken arm.

She is recovering well but will be attending second grade with a new cast on her right arm. I am back on the road in Kuala Lumpur and will be back on Flickr, Twitter and blogging regularly now that things are slowly returning to normal.

I hope your summer is perhaps less eventful than ours :-)

Disney and Legoland and Los Angeles

A few pictures to keep you all entertained while the Vagabondkids are traveling around the PNW.




Highlights



Disneyland. It is still my favorite park. It is awesome. Couldn't see the World of Color this time, maybe next year. Watching the fireworks while riding Big Thunder Mountain was a great time.

Mission San Juan Capistrano. A whole post is coming on this.
Character Meals at Goofy's Kitchen and the Grand Californian Hotel.
Drives through the Hollywood Hills.
LaBrea Tar Pits

Lowlights
90% of Legoland
LA Traffic
Freezing Cold Temps.
Not Enough Time with our Southern California Family.

We are off today to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinnville with old friends. Can't wait1

Legoland California-Review

Legoland-not my cup of tea

Okay, I will admit that I am a Disney fan. I think Disney rocks. But with an 8 year old boy who was just itching to go to Legoland in California, we did a trek down to California’s Legoland. Okay, second confession, the kids did enjoy themselves. It was the adults that pretty much thought Legoland stunk.

First, it was the weather. Now, that is not like Legoland had any control over the freakishly cold weather, but it just didn’t help. Second, 12 bucks to park. Third, admission fees of nearly 400 for a family of 4. That was just to get into the park. Once in the park a number of the activities had “additional” payments required. In my opinion that really sunk the whole experience for me and we had passed purgatory and moved directly into the 7 levels of hell.

My specific pet peeves were, single loading rides. Nearly all of them. This created long lines of up to 60 minutes for a half a minute not really exciting ride. Additional charges for specific activities. The fact that I felt the whole park was just a giant store for Lego, and the to top it off, when you try to use your Lego VIP card… you are told that this is not a Lego store and the cards don’t work.

The kids (and I did too) enjoyed mini-land. But many of the lego structures looked worse for wear, needed “re-touching” and frankly a good old fashion cleaning. Next time, I will skip Legoland and just give the kids 200 bucks in a lego store.

Kids in KL: Petrosains Science Center

One of the greatest kids activities in Kuala Lumpur has to be the Petrosains Discovery Centre. Now one thing to keep in mind, as if it is not obviously noticeable by the first few exhibits, the center is run by the Malaysian oil company Petronas and is largely “oil” friendly. Many of the exhibits feature sciences that are petrochemical in nature, but ignoring the elephant in the room there are lots of fun activities for kids. Compare this with the Singapore Science Center.

Some of the highlights are the Dark Ride, when you first enter the center it is by way of a chair ride through a dark introduction. I am not quite sure why the kids thought it was so cool, but they did. Similar to the Singapore Science Center there are multiple exhibits and galleries with different themes. Again ignoring the bias towards the oil industry, there were exhibits on Geology, Space (a huge cool factor was the Mission Control and Space Center microphones and cameras where the kids could stand on opposite ends of the room and talk to each other) and of course the "speed" Gallery.

Another fun little exhibit was the Earthquake chair. The chair lets you experience what a low, medium and large earthquake would feel like. Frankly, the difference between level two and three was not as great as expected, but it could be they don’t want kids flying off the chair too!



Another fun exhibit was the "Ride the Hurricane". You step into a phone-booth type structure and when you close the doors the wind starts to increase and eventually simulated winds of over 100 Kilometers Per Hour. (see the Beaufort scale here). Okay, so I have a confession here. I can ride the craziest rides. Rollercoasters are nothing, but I didn't like the feeling of being in the winds, I felt I could not catch my breath. The kids (as you can see) loved it and we had to drag them out so others could take their turn!



But, the high point for the kids has to be the helicopter ride to the oil rig. There are two helicopter simulators set up that “fly” people over to an offshore oil rig (a great chance to tell kids about the devastation of the Gulf Oil spill). The oil platform is a miniature version of the real thing, pumps and levers, drills and pilings, even a crew quarters to see what life on a platform is like. Frankly, in some ways the pumps, gears, and tools are far more interesting to kids than the process of extracting oil so much of the pro-oil rhetoric was lost, at least on my kids.




The rest of the center is filled with standard science center stuff, but frankly it is pretty good. Overall the exhibits seem to be in good repair and the staff is friendly. The kids love it and they learn a bit each time they are there, so it is a win on all counts!

Singapore with Kids: Singapore Science Center

As you may recall, I mentioned that our summer plans had originally been geared towards the US. After nearly 12 years overseas, we planned on taking the kids home to bond with the grandparents and cousins for an extended trip. Well one gallbladder and a bout of severe pneumonia later, we are still in Asia.










We will be heading to the US next week, but we had a lot of bundled up kid energy and extra time so we are doing some "staycation" activities in Singapore and a side trip to Kuala Lumpur. The kids are sleeping away at the hotel now, so I thought I would take a quick minute to post about the Singapore Science Center. Tomorrow I will post about the Malaysian PETRONAS Science Center (Petrosains) in Kuala Lumpur by way of comparison.
















The Singapore Science Center is actually the third most visited attraction in Singapore behind the zoo and the night safari. Not surprising really when you figure that the Singaporean focus on education and science. The kids have gone to the center a couple of times and always enjoyed the center and the water park and play area outside. This weekend was the first time I got the opportunity to check it out as well and we went to see the exhibit on Pixar animation.


The center itself is split into separate “galleries” each having multiple interactive displays and exhibits. We spent the bulk of our time in the Maxwell wing, looking at the exhibits on Climate Change and Microbes. After Declan’s stint in the hospital with pneumonia, the virus section was fascinating for him! There are also sections on the human genome, space, nanotechnology and math. The exhibits are designed to match portions of the Singapore educational system so while some exhibits are not interesting to a 7 and 8 year old as the intended audience is more for high school student, you couldn’t get them away from other exhibits (like the kinetic sculptures).




Growing up and getting to OMSI in Oregon as a kid I always enjoyed the hands on activities that were presented as part of the educational experience. It was just never that fun when I got back to school. I like the idea of teaching the cool stuff and funky side of science to get children engaged. The Singapore Science Centre could be a good day of fun. Bring your swimsuits and get in the water at the end, play and learning all wrapped up together and I love seeing the kids play with science and hey if I end up with a scientist or lab geek when these kids grow up… I think that would be alright by me!

Kuala Lumpur with Kids: Kraf Kompleks

Hidden down a side street on a lane now filled with the din and confusion of construction a gem lies waiting for discovery. Wind your way down the street avoiding the trucks and potholes following the signs that mark the way to the Kraf Kompleks (Craft Complex. Most tourists never make it here because it is a bit out of the way, which is a shame really because for an afternoon away from the crowds with activities that are fun for kids and adults alike, the Craft Complex is a real treat.

While the center features most traditional Malay crafts, including pottery, shadow puppets, beading and weaving, the highlight and the one I have always found to be open (the other stalls seem to be hit and miss) is the Batik painting. Batik painting at the Craft Complex is the real deal, you pick the image you want to paint, you chose either silk or cotton fabric and then the staff prepares the wax and image for you.






Some Batik paintings come with pre-waxed images that you then color in the space in between. At the Craft Complex, you can do it either way, but it is much more fun to actually pick your image, trace it and then have it waxed. Once you have your trace done, the artisans at the center will apply the wax for you using a canting and once the wax is cool (about 5 minutes) you then paint on the fabric and watch the colors melt and blend into each other.




The wax acts as a resist and as soon as it is melted off the outline will remain. The ladies at the Kraft Complex will the prepare the final product for you, mat your painting for you and as little as 2 hours from start to finish at a cost of less than $15 US you have your own Batik masterpiece.





The Vagabond Kids love the Craft Complex and painting Batik and it is always a highlight of our trips to Kuala Lumpur. Usually on weekdays we go mid morning and find we are some of the only people in the area (it does tend to fill up with School Kids on certain days in the afternoon).

I know, based on friends that live in KL, the Craft Complex can also arrange for you to have a private party if you live in KL and they have told me birthday parties featuring Batik Painting are always a hit! If traveling with kids in Malaysia, this is one stop you should add to your itinerary.

The Kraft Complex can be found here (Make sure you click on the English option)

63 Jalan Conlay (Behind Chulan Square and next door to the Prince Hotel)


View My Saved Places in a larger map

Mountains and Valleys: Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Hood River

As I prepare for our trip home this summer, I found part of a post from a travel blog I tried to start back in 2008, filling out some details makes me hope we can do it again this year!

Mt.Hood

I love going back to those places I visited as a child. I have such memories of driving down the Columbia River Gorge and seeing Mt. Adams. Mt. Adams was such a different view from our favorite Oregon mountain, Mt. Hood. Adams, well she is pretty, round and young. Hood always seemed a bit craggier, a bit wizened perhaps, but less, well, matronly.

When I was a young adult, probably right after college, I loved to drive the Hood River loop, starting up and over Mt. Hood, down through the orchards of Hood River and home back again through the majestic Columbia River Gorge. Vagabond Dad grow up in the Gorge, my grandparents were from "Eastern Oregon" so the Hwy 84 drive was not foreign to either of us... but it was quite a trip for the kids

This is a great day trip for kids, a full day yes, but one filled with fast luge rides, snow ball fights, historic buildings and fresh picked fruit, ending the day at Multnomah Falls.

We started from Vancouver Washington, and took the full day and drove to "Multipor" Skibowl and took a fun filled luge ride down the hill. Little did I know it is not known as Multipor anymore, they are simply known as Ski Bowl, but I am showing my age here....In order to ride the Alpine Slide solo the children must meet minimum height restrictions. I think the level was about 45 inches, but I could not find an actual measurement. My son was tall enough, but we still chose to double up. To get to the top, you ride a chair lift to the mid level where you get off and zoom back to the bottom. (You can also ride to the top (a common mountain bike area) and bike the trails around the top of the mountain. The Alpine slide opens between 10 and 11 each morning.

After a fun morning on the luge, we stopped at Historic Timberline Lodge for lunch and snow. The kids, being proper Singaporeans now, really have only seen snow in a faux snow atmosphere. So getting up on the mountain seeing the real thing was a bit of a shock. We ate lunch at one of the pubs at the lodge-Corn Soup- Oregon Pinot Noir-Historic surroundings=Bliss for the Vagabond Mom and Dad.

Mt. Adams

We then packed up in the car and drove the full loop, down Highway 26, passing through Hood River Valley and Hood River proper. We stopped at a farmers market and picked up a bunch of fresh cherries and some dried fruit. The view of the mountains was so spectacular, it made me think I never want to leave. Of course Hood River Valley is amazing in summer, it is just the other 9 months of the year that stink.

A drive down the Columbia River Gorge, stopping at the Multnomah Falls. Again, another memory from the Vagabond Parent's childhoods, but one the kids had yet to experience. There is not much to say about the Falls that hasn't already been said, by those much more prose filled than I, but an jaw dropping sight to see. Finishing with the 45 minute drive back to Vancouver Washington for an overnight stay with Grandma rounded out the day. It was long the last few miles filled with cries of "are we there yet" but it was beautiful and everything that Summer in Oregon should be.

Disneyland Pictures (circa 2008)

Just a few pictures from Disneyland and Disney California Adventure

Borneo with Kids: Miri's Lambir Hills Park aka tours with the headhunters!

Last October (2009) the Vagabond Kids and family set out on a new adventure, to a spot we had not yet done, a place we had not yet traveled. We went on a family vacation to Miri Malaysia on the island of Borneo.

Borneo (so far we have only traveled to Malaysian Borneo) is quickly becoming one of our favorite spots for a quick get away. It is an hour plus by plane from Singapore and still has some native forest left (as compared to much of Indonesia and all of peninsular Malaysia), pristine beaches (for now) and native cultures unlike those on the peninsula.



Jeff, aka Vagabond Dad, is always looking for a new place to see, someplace before it hits the big time. This time, the new spot that cropped up was a couple hundred bucks on an Air Asia flight, two hours in air and a Marriott hotel later and boom, we were in Miri.


Miri is just south of the very oil rich Sultanate of Brunei and is also home to the first oil well in Malaysia. Miri is also a bit of a "hot spot" for Bruneian and expats working in Brunei (Brunei is an Islamic country and no Alcohol is sold there). While we were in Brunei a good size group of British Army-men and their families were camped at the Marriott for a weekend of pool, beer and camaraderie.

Lambir Hills Park

Miri is still a sleepy town, much of it is either oil or timber industry and has not yet become a popular tourist destination in Asia. Much of the tourism that is there, is of the adventure type and Miri serves as home base prior to departing out on a jungle trek and a welcome shower and soft bed upon your return.


We weren't really interested in a big hike, and frankly I am not sure the kids are quite ready for it, but we did want to take the kids out and show them some real forest. Jeff and I grew up in small towns in Oregon, where forests are thick-day hikes are common- and an appreciation of the wild is part of being a kid. Needless to say, Singapore, you don't get that.


We found that there was a nearby day hike, less than an hour drive from the Hotel in the Lambir Hills National Park. The park has multiple waterfalls, suspension bridges and a swimming pond at the end of one of the trails. There are multiple trails in the park, the easiest is about a 25 minute gentle walk towards the swimming hole. There are two ways to get to the park, you can either hire a taxi for the day which would run you about US$35-40 or you can hire a guide and driver. We went ahead and hired the guide and it was a great way of doing the park. The guide, plus car and driver, was only about $60. US, so for the additional $20 we figured it was worth it.




















Jeff showing off little minnows









Our Guide was a local Dayak, and the Dayaks are the indigenous people of Borneo and contain around 200 subgroups. The most infamous of the Dayak tribes were the headhunters, which our guide told us his family was part of that subgroup. We were assured however, that they had not taken any heads for at least 20 years, so we were in safe hands! All jests aside, one of the advantages of having hired the guide we walked through the park and were given some of the local flavor of the park and he showed us how the local peoples used different plants as medicines, how children would make helicopters with certain seeds and how the Dayak people were much more in touch with nature. In many ways much of that culture is gone (and not just the headhunting). The current Dayaks are leaving the forest and going to work on the oil rigs or in the timber plantations so it was interesting to get some of the traditional information while it still exists.









Man this was cold water!














At the end of the trail we sat down to a picnic lunch that we had packed and enjoyed a bit of a dip in the swimming hole. We were by ourselves for an hour or so before another family we had met at the hotel also went for a dip. It was a neat opportunity to get out of the city, to enjoy some trail time and to show the kids what being outdoors really means. After another drive back down the hill a little grubbier and tired we made it back to the hotel and the kids burst back into action in order to hit the pool in time for the Inflatables... but that is a post for another day.

Kids in Singapore: A Day at the Zoo

I love living in Singapore, it really is one of the greatest cities in the world. One of its best features is not unsung, but it deserves all of the credits it gets. Yes, the Singapore Zoo is high on my Top 10 things to do in Singapore list. Even better if you have kids.




Four Cousins at the Zoo













Open every day, from 9-6 the Singapore Zoo has to be one of the best zoo's in the whole world; free and open animal exhibits,creative use of space, ability to feed certain animals, interactive guides through out and oh yeah a totally kickin' water park on the back side. (If you still have strength you should check out the night safari!)








The water park

















Our strategy for the zoo is to get there early. Particularly on weekends… here’s a little secret about many Singaporean's; they sleep in on weekends. So, if you get to the Zoo around 9am you should find yourselves with the animals not crowds of people. Besides, by 2pm in the afternoon, it gets pretty darn hot even with the well designed zoo. So we try to get a big part of the zoo done early in the morning and hit the water park at the back side of the zoo in the afternoon to cool off.










White Tiger Exhibit























One of the great things about the zoo, other than the Polar Bear Exhibit (a long story), is most of the animals are native to SE Asia. The zoo has exhibits featuring the White Tiger which are totally amazing to see these creatures this close. The exhibit is also interactive with information about the Asian Tiger, its diminishing habitat and information on the white tiger (did you know that all white tigers are cousins to each other as they all have the same ancestor?). The zoo also has the Malaysian Tapir, a huge Orangutan exhibit, SE Asian Otters, Asian Elephants, Komodo Dragons, Proboscis Monkeys, Hornbills… in addition to the standard Lions, Zebras, Rhinos and the like.
















Feeding the tortoise










The kids love feeding time, in some places it is a talk by a keeper and in others for a small fee you can feed the animals. Some of the more popular animal talks/feedings are the pygmy hippos, the giraffes and rhinos, but we love the giant tortoise. Less crowded for Singapore $5 (about US$3.50) you get a bowl of fresh fruit and you get to walk around and interact with the tortoises while you feed them. My sister and her family visited us last summer and this was a highlight of the zoo for them.



















The whole zoo is a great place to hang out, you can have breakfast with the Orangutan, see a few shows, play in the water and head over to the night safari for dinner and a whole new zoo experience. I am torn between this or Sentosa being my number 1 for things to do in Singapore with the kids. What do you think?


Here are a few more fun pics from the zoo... click on them to see a larger size

From Vagabond Kids

From Vagabond Kids

From Vagabond Kids

From Vagabond Kids