Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Year of the Pig! I've just got back from spending Chinese New Year in Singapore, where unlike Malaysia they are happy to proudly announce it to be - the year of the pig (Malaysia has to be careful not to offend the muslim population, if the year has to be mentioned it is the year of the boar)

Some happy chinese piggies

Golden pig money boxes - what every good home needs!

As you can imagine the crowds in Singapore for CNY are pretty large. In anticipation of these Andrea, Diana and I decided to take the overnight train to Singapore instead of the regular bus. Whilst it takes twice as long on a normal day, and involves trying to sleep in a moving vehcile with a lot of Malaysian families, it seemed to be the better option when compared to the possibilities of ten hours trapped on a bus with blarring videos playing and one small toilet the size of a shoe box. Actually the trip was not too bad. Although a word of advice - if you do ever book a sleeper train ticket in KL, try not to get one too close to the bathrooms. The smell can wake you in your sleep.

Saturday evening was CNY eve, and after catching up on some zzz's and high tea at Raffles (it has to be done, a trip to Singapore isn't complete without a sling!), we bravely headed into the masses in Chinatown. There we joined the thousands to see out the dog, and in the pig, well to be honest after a while we actually joined the smart people in a bar overlooking the thousands. One of the traditions is 'bumping' the bad luck out of you, and it gets kind of tired after about the 30th time!

An unusual quiet spot on the road

Some of the new year goodies for sale

The crowds from my handy viewing spot

Although I have been to Singapore several times before I also got to do a couple of things that were new. We took a day trip to Sentosa, a little island off Singapore, you take a cable car out and spend the day with thousands of day-trippers on manmade beaches and tourist attractions. Although I did see one of the most unusual creaures I have ever seen at the underwater world.

The amazing waterdragon!

Unlike Sentosa, the Night Safari is something I would highly recommend. It is attached to the Singapore Zoo, but is a separate zoo full of animals that come out in the night. It is an amazing chance to see big cats and many other nocturnal animals prowling around, instead of sleeping like they normally are. I had a wonderful bonding experience with 3 stunning leopards, got up close (maybe a little too close) with some big bats, and saw a slow loris for the first time. All very call!