Friday, July 30, 2010

Fauxnesia Weekend

Singapore's small, and when your island fever gets too intense, you gotta skip town! The easiest solution is to get on a boat to the island of Bintan, aka Fauxnesia. Fauxnesia, like Disneyworld, Vegas or Iqaluit, is for people who want to convince themselves they're somewhere they're not. In this case, we're pretending we're in Indonesiapore.Bintan's resort area is separated from the rest of the Indonesian island by a barbed wire fence, and its currency is the Singapore dollar. Shown below are fauxsatay, bigger than actual satay but less tasty.Bintan is not without its dangers:However, if you need a getaway and a 90 minute massage, Fauxnesia is easy and relaxing.But be careful not to hyper-extend that relaxed neck.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Visiting the Birds

We recently visited Singapore's Jurong Bird park. The birds were a big fan of Barry and Erin. I, however, was a little more hesitant.These birds are ibis, though I'm more familiar with them in their hotel form.Some of the birds seemed to be having a good time.But others not as much (unless it's normal for ostriches to bald).Good times, and less good times (tiny owl cages and penguin enclosures not shown).

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Wet & Wild

How do you take your coffee? No, this is not a mass coffee spill: Singapore's had a few floods lately, after which our local paper published the following picture:Whoa, back-up the truck, the article nonchalantly just mentioned terrifying poisonous snakes. Is this not, um, scarier than floods? I guess the answer depends on whether you're one of these drowning cars' owners.These clever people seek higher ground. They will later likely seek anti-fungal cream.
The apparent cause of flooding was a blockage in one of the city's many drainage canals. We did some investigative journalism to see what might get stuck in drains here. And, well, we found a few things.


Monkey Man and other Wild Wonders

We have recently discovered that Singapore has its own Sasquatch, called the Bukit Timah Monkey Man. So naturally we went to find him. We certainly found many places in the forest where he might hide.
Here's Barry looking for footprints:Here's me running away in fear - not of monkey man, but from a huge spider's web I had just run into.
Well, instead of finding cryptids, we found alternative creatures, such as soccer cows.A monster snail slowly attacking my umbrella:We found the lesser known, flower peppercorn, probably used by monkey monster as seasoning.
You're enraptured by my photographic representation of the puffball, yes?Outside of the forest, I call this art of art imitating life...And this: the End of Puff. And finally: Lotus-like flower hides under the Wall. (As opposed to Buddha).