Singapore ~ Day 3: Jurong Bird Park

While waiting to make a bus transfer on our lengthy journey to the park, we kept hearing these loud noises. Then we saw this truck...."CROW CULLING, KEEP CLEAR"....... Evidently the crows really liked that area!! Maybe they've never heard of scarecrows.....

Rodney took me there mainly so I could see some more penguins!
(Have you figured out that I'm kind of fond of those fascinating creatures?!?)

Our favorite part of the park was the HUGE African Waterfall Aviary. It's a rain forest setting with thousands of birds flying free and houses the world's tallest man-made waterfall.....

And we just couldn't pass up taking pics of the bathrooms!!!

And, yes, those are real plants in the windowless/wall-less spaces complete with the ever encouraging cascade of water!!!

Just a cool picture of Rodney "acting" like a native......

Singapore ~ Day 2 con't: Chinatown

This is the Chinese "Year of the ___" guy. So Rodney and I found our Chinese years.

Rodney was born in the Year of the Rat....

It says his luck is good, yet that difficulties remain many...???? And how do you stay "fiddle to your partner"?? So interesting!!

I was born the in Year of the Goat....

And what truth is spoken---Trust is needed in my relationship to stand strong against all adversities!! :)

As darkness moved in, our pictures didn't turn out so well, but here are a few that should give you a glimpse into what it looked like.......

Tomorrow--- Jurong Bird Park!!

Singapore ~ Day 2: Little India

Our second day of adventure took us to Little India, then Chinatown.

In Little India I made a couple of purchases......

a SARONG.....

and HENNA TATTOOS!!

It was CRAZY how fast she was able to do that!! All that intricate detail and she just whipped it out... She had my hand and ankle done in a matter of less than 5 minutes!!!

It felt like I had icing on me, which is pretty much what it was, actually. Then once it dried and fell off, the stain remained. It lasted for a good couple of weeks or so. Especially the one on my ankle. Guess I wash my hands more than I wash my ankle!!

If you've not heard much about Singapore, the running "joke" is that it is a FINE city--- they have a fine for this and a fine for that..... including urinating on the sidewalk!!!

This is an example of some of the buildings in Little India. I believe the first building was a temple.

Before we left Little India, we had lunch at The Banana Leaf. It was an Indian restaurant where the food is served on a nice green (clean!) banana leaf! And yes, we ate with our hands! It was some mighty yummy food. We had a couple of different kinds of curry and the na'an (Indian bread) was delicious!!

Then we made our way to Chinatown......

Singapore ~ Day 1: Zoo and Night Safari

While home over Christmas, I received the news of the first deployment extension (which was soon followed by the second!!). So, instead of Rodney coming home in March (2007), I went to see him in.......

 SINGAPORE!!

I had a right seat to get a decent picture of Mt. Fuji with my little camera!!

Our first adventure was the Singapore Zoo!!

Rodney trying to make friends with one of the cuties!!

One of the cool things at this zoo was that the branches and swinging vines for all the monkeys actually went over the walking paths, so you could be walking along and have all these creatures swinging and hanging around over your head!

Now, what you can't see happening in this picture that has Rodney all laughs, is the baby orangutan that is pulling on his shirt!!

There's the baby!!

I got to see me some Jackass Penguins from South Africa...

The white tigers were simply regal!!

Another cutie!!

Some of the vegetation was quite amazing----check out the huge ferns growing in/on this tree.

And the orchids were to die for!!!

Next up---the Night Safari!!

The Night Safari was the opportunity to see the nocturnal animals in action in their habitats. Sadly, neither of our cameras took good "in the dark" pictures, so we didn't really get any animal pictures. But, they opened the Night Safari with a fabulous fire show!! These "Fire Eaters" are from Borneo.

HAPPY 2007!!!

To kick off my postings of 2007, I'm displaying a sampling of pictures from R's deployment.......

Pulling into Brunei

(Island of Borneo)

When they crossed the equator on the way over, since it was his first equator crossing, R participated in the festivities as a "WOG"......

But on the way back, he was now qualified to participate as a "SHELLBACK"!!

Note the halo above his skull and cross bones---

as chaplain, he referred to himself as a "HOLY SHELLBACK!!!"

This picture was actually in one of the Navy papers! He worked with an organization and was able to get 3 Christmas trees for the ship!!

Some of the families had sent their sailor Christmas decorations, but many of them used "necessity as the mother of invention" to create their own---- warfare pins were hung on the tree with dental floss and, yes, a dashboard hula-girl someone had picked up in Hawaii was rigged for the angel!!

She has the Dubuque crest hanging on her arm.

Another exciting event on the way over was a storm!! This pic is taken from the bridge. And they were actually skirting AROUND the storm!!

Just to get a bit of perspective........ the deck is over 30 feet above the water line!

Pulling into Hawaii

Some fun in Australia

One of their outings in Borneo was to the rainforest.....

They boated down the river.......

Then climbed up scaffolding to the rainforest canopy!!

A couple of FUN ones in Dubai

Where's R??