February 7, 2015 - Drove to Hamilton, NZ over "The Forgotten World Highway". It is a very curvy, twisty, and small road that that goes almost 100 miles and about 20 of those are gravel. It is a nice road, but does not deserve the hype.
Scenery along the road.
VERY small tunnel.
Our picnic lunch stop.
February 8 - 11, 2015 - To Auckland where we turn in our rental car and spend the last few days in the country before leaving for Singapore, which is a 3 hour flight to Brisbane, Australia and then 8 hours to Singapore.
February 12, 2015 - In Singapore. Very large city with more than 5 1/2 million people. But it does not feel that crowded. Rooms are very small, but more than adequate. We have now crossed the equator again and are in the northern hemisphere, which makes it winter. But that is difficult to accept as it is 85 degrees and humid, daily. We went for a long walk today that took all day and we were dripping with sweat several times, but enjoyed the exercise and getting to know the city.
This is looking up at the Singapore Flyer which is a giant ferris wheel that is supposedly the largest in the world. It is very high. We went on it and took photos of the scenery from it below.
Those buildings across the river are botanical garden and display.
I know that it is hazy, but look at all the ships on the horizon that are parked there waiting for their turn to unload or load from one of the busiest ports in the world. I estimate that there are nearly 100 out there.
The building in this one is the Sands hotel and casino. It has three towers that are connected on the top with what looks like a cruise ship. Quite an awesome sight.
It looks like they are getting ready for the Chinese New Year celebration which lasts for 15 days.
February 13, 2015 - Friday the 13th. Took a "Hop - on, hop off" bus today to take in much more of the city. Great way to see as much as possible. Took all day.
Buildings designed by I. M. Pei, a world famous architect that produces spectacular buildings. This one looks different from each angle
Government building s.
Chinatown
February 14, 2015 - Went to the Singapore Zoo. This is a very unique place in that many of the monkeys are not in cages and stay in the trees around the park. You can get right up to them. There are also many of the enclosures that are more people friendly and do not look like enclosures or cages. Great place to visit and spend the whole day.
At the entrance was a fantastic floral display and many messages for the Chinese New Year.
Monkeys in the trees.
Crocs.
Cottontail monkeys.
Are you looking at me?
Big nose monkeys.
Chimps playing.
polar bear asleep.
Rhino.
Giraffe
Beautiful gardens and a lake in the zoo.
Baboons.
Baby rhinos.
Moon over Singapore.
Zebras.
Meercats.
Restless lion.
Hiding leopard.
Puma.
Smallest bear species on planet.
Can you spot the monkey in the photo?
February 15, 2015 - Last day in town before getting on the cruise ship. So we did laundry and repacked in preparation for the next leg of the journey. In the morning we will take a taxi to the port to start the next leg of our journey and I will start a new chapter that will be entitled Chapter 4, "Singapore to Hong Kong." You can access it by the following link:
The next blog site will be: https://travelzsingapore-hongkong.blogspot.com
