Anuses of the Intertidal Sea

What's going on here? Hint: it can squirt water at you with its anus, which is a great skill.

We missed the cats, so it was time to go embrace sea cucumbers! Yup, here I am, in the dark, with a sea cucumber in the intertidal zone (which means low tide in the beachy sludges).They don't mind human touch, nothing was harmed in the taking of these pictures other than our sleep cycles.

Here are the pink warty and pink spiny sea cucumbers. Fun fact: if they get angry, they can also launch some of their internal organs at you, which is a cool skill.

It was 5am and I don't remember all of the names, so let's say Sea-potato cucumber. I wanted to bring one home as a pet, but we don't have a sludgy salt-water environment.

Continuing on the food theme, the one on the right is an apple sea cucumber (Genus Pseudocolochirus, for Raed). It has an active anus action going on for us to see.

So while a sea cucumber has no brain, and is just basically a mouth, intestines and anus (priorities), a sea anemone is a whole bunch of feedy tentacles all stuffing its central mouth/anus. Yup, that's right, facial hemorrhoids can be seen here.

Shallow water sea carpet anemones are less flowy than their deep water friends, but they're still pretty.

Marine biology is not my strength, so I have no memory of what this is. We'll call it the pleasingly symmetrical brown shallow flowerthing.

Big news! We saw our first ever nudibranch (armina nudibranch). This is apparently exciting if you're a diver, although I think most sea creatures are nude, except for maybe hermit crabs?

Are mollusks clothed? Unclear.

These guys are most definitely nude. I have no idea what they are, so I'll name them after someone I don't like: This is the Ron DeSantis worm.

I'm not sure if this is the same kind, but let's call it Le Pen-dage.

Here, we're back into familiar territory: starfish. Here are its tube feet. 

Below, cake and biscuit sea star.

Biscuit and fancy orange sea star, which I think is a crown sea star.

Knobbly sea star, just chilling and looking cool.

The guide got very excited about these flatworms, which we wouldn't have otherwise noticed. This is a blue-lined flatworm, I think Pseudoceros indicus.

This truffly lady is an Acanthozoon flatworm. She also has a combined facebutt, and can reproduce independently (asexually), thank you very much.

Worm, slug? It got confusing. Pretty sure this one has a separate face and anus.

Sea squirt, thus named as it squirts when removed from water.

Just a leaf porter crab riding a leaf. This is how they swim.

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot the purple sea sponge! Hygenic.

We saw even more creatures, including filefish and scorpion fish, but we're not underwater photographers. And then it was sunrise, so we went home.

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Cheese, Chewballs, and Fire Pockets

Great news! Tiga, now Tigger, was adopted by a lovely family, and is surrounded with happiness!He has a brother, Jasper, who keeps him inline, and plays with him. 

He loves his humans, has doubled in weight, and his eyes have turned to deep amber.

 So, back to regular life. Perhaps day drinking. I prefer to just call it drinking, so as to not be all judgy.

But please don't take yourself! 

Feeling underwhelmed? Add more stuff to your sugar water! Chili, Crab, milk green tea, foam, which is sometimes cheese-flavoured. Our local hawker even does this on fruit juice, like a frothy cheesecake puff on top of your watermelon juice. 

Here at home, we made the extra healthy dill gin sours instead. 

There's a lot going on in the neighbourhood. They're building a tunnel, so this means free raincoats for all. I'm not sure if you've ever tried wearing a raincoat in the tropics. In our experience it's even wetter, but on the inside.There were reflective disks which are quite sensitive, I guess. Also, I haven't mastered the art of shadow photography while trying to catch to up Barry. 

Next door to us is an Indian street snacks brunch place. Their pani puri has something akin to mango Tang in it though. 

Speaking of mangoes, we found a fruit which the plantdentification apps couldn't plantdentify. Anyone?

Then we visited an urban farm. Their gig is they explain agriculture to you for 2 hours, and then you get free lettuce. Having grown up in rural Canada, I didn't learn much, so felt like it was a lot of investment for lettuce. 

For other passtime ideas, I suggest...

Moxibustion! Is this a thing in the west yet? It's the burning of mugwort leaves near your skin. This is the DIY version where you put these mini fires in polyester pouches strapped to your body. What could go wrong? So basically like a heating pad, but with smoke and risks. I just read that you can add salt and garlic. (Side effects include a toxic reaction and skin cancer.)

Bad news. While you've been wearing fire pockets, your skin your double chin has been sagging big-time!Time to get a chewball, just like a dog!

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Creepy Fort, Cucumbers and Figs

When you think of Singapore, you probably don't think dilapidated buildings with graffiti.

So let me help to wreck up your pre-conceived notions.

(Although I'm starting to worry that by posting so often about nature and ruins, I'm being misleading.)

This is Fort Serapong, one of 9 forts that the British used to unsuccessfully protect Singapore from Japanese occupation in WW2; built in the late 1800s.

It is largely off limits. This is due to the risk of concrete walls crushing you to death, which is unlucky.

Also, the stairs are hard to maneuver, and you can get lost in the tunnels (blocked, so not shown).

However, there's still a washroom. Or maybe a kitchen.

The bolts that held the big warring guns in place are the longest lasting, to break your feet for decades.

Strangling fig: ambitious. Not intimidated by swallowing a whole building.

The inside view is fairly creepy.

Speaking of swallowing and creepy, here's a fun fact. This is the creeping cucumber, which is edible when green, but a strong laxative once black (background).