So, this morning, after drawing myself a map using the power of Google, and rehearsing in my brain the directions given to me by Tabs and Matt (follow...oh wait, what was it. Hang on. Follow Park Road, it becomes Robinson Road, then it was off Robinson Road) and went to the Botanical Gardens (+ monkeys!).
It was raining, so I brought my umbrella. However the umbrella didn't help with my shoes. Zoe - THIS is why I was going to bring my other shoes. Although really I should have just worn my sandals, which is what I did in the afternoon. Mexican cowboy ankle boots and shorts doesn't really work I reckon.
I have not taken any pictures of the monkeys, lemurs, or birds, I am afraid, as they were all in cages and also, quite a few of them, hiding from the rain, but I can tell you there were many and they were quite cool. There were some big tall stork-like birds, some really reddy-pink flamingoes (pinker than your average one - distilled pink), some punk-pigeons, and various other birds.
There were ring-tailed lemurs and black and white lemurs (not their official name). And there was a raccoon, which was bigger than I expected, and then there was a ginger-monkey swinging around with a ginger baby holding onto its stomach, in the middle of a load of mainly black monkeys with some ginger on their faces. I wonder if that's some breeding oddity or if they were slightly different types of monkey. (If they were monkeys. Maybe they were gibbons.) There were also some tiny monkeys, which I'd seen before on TV. A bit like Marcel from Friends I think, but a lot smaller, so not really.
Oh bum - I forgot to look at the lizards because I was distracted by the rain and fearing for my laptop. I think there were lizards. And that would have been somewhere dry to go I expect.
Anyway I sat and wrote under some not entirely waterproof shelter - that was fun. Then it started bucketing it down (perhaps Typhoon 3?) and I was joined by various other rain-shelterers. A couple of younguns came and looked at my laptop, glanced at my screen. I smiled at them but wasn't brave enough to speak, and nor were they. When it eased off a bit I packed up and left.
After lunch back at base I went back out again and went to Hollywood Road and a temple, which I will check the name of. Bright colours (mainly reds, golds, some pinks...), incense everywhere, including amazing, massive incense coils covering the entirety of the roof. I took a piece of the incense (free entry, as was the Botanical Gardens, and free entrance), lit it and made a wish, then made a donation and left.
I ambled along a bit more of Hollywood Road, looking into the antiques shops. One was all jumbled and full of cool stuff, but I wasn't quite brave enough to enquire about the price of anything. (Plus I could barely fit into the shop, and I figured knocking things over would not be good.)
Then I managed to find my way back to the flat: ta dah!
It was raining, so I brought my umbrella. However the umbrella didn't help with my shoes. Zoe - THIS is why I was going to bring my other shoes. Although really I should have just worn my sandals, which is what I did in the afternoon. Mexican cowboy ankle boots and shorts doesn't really work I reckon.
I have not taken any pictures of the monkeys, lemurs, or birds, I am afraid, as they were all in cages and also, quite a few of them, hiding from the rain, but I can tell you there were many and they were quite cool. There were some big tall stork-like birds, some really reddy-pink flamingoes (pinker than your average one - distilled pink), some punk-pigeons, and various other birds.
There were ring-tailed lemurs and black and white lemurs (not their official name). And there was a raccoon, which was bigger than I expected, and then there was a ginger-monkey swinging around with a ginger baby holding onto its stomach, in the middle of a load of mainly black monkeys with some ginger on their faces. I wonder if that's some breeding oddity or if they were slightly different types of monkey. (If they were monkeys. Maybe they were gibbons.) There were also some tiny monkeys, which I'd seen before on TV. A bit like Marcel from Friends I think, but a lot smaller, so not really.
Oh bum - I forgot to look at the lizards because I was distracted by the rain and fearing for my laptop. I think there were lizards. And that would have been somewhere dry to go I expect.
Anyway I sat and wrote under some not entirely waterproof shelter - that was fun. Then it started bucketing it down (perhaps Typhoon 3?) and I was joined by various other rain-shelterers. A couple of younguns came and looked at my laptop, glanced at my screen. I smiled at them but wasn't brave enough to speak, and nor were they. When it eased off a bit I packed up and left.
After lunch back at base I went back out again and went to Hollywood Road and a temple, which I will check the name of. Bright colours (mainly reds, golds, some pinks...), incense everywhere, including amazing, massive incense coils covering the entirety of the roof. I took a piece of the incense (free entry, as was the Botanical Gardens, and free entrance), lit it and made a wish, then made a donation and left.
I ambled along a bit more of Hollywood Road, looking into the antiques shops. One was all jumbled and full of cool stuff, but I wasn't quite brave enough to enquire about the price of anything. (Plus I could barely fit into the shop, and I figured knocking things over would not be good.)
Then I managed to find my way back to the flat: ta dah!