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Category: fieldtrip

  • River Safari

    River Safari

    This was actually our second trip to the River Safari! El really wanted to go there, so after he earned the 50 stickers, I brought him there. Thanks to my corporate benefits, I managed to get free tickets to the place.

    What I like about the River Safari is the animals are mainly in tanks and so it is sheltered most of the way. Unfortunately, as I read more and more about animals in captivity, I was thinking the tanks were pretty small.

    There were a lot of gharials, various types of fish and snakes. The enclosures were named after the main rivers in the world.

    indian gharial 3

    indian gharial 2

    Indian gharial 1

    There were a couple of storks that were perched on tree trunks. It was quite strange to see huge birds on trees. They reminded me of Chinese gongfu moves.
    lesser adjutant stork 1

    lesser adjutant stork 2

    lesser adjutant stork 3

    Gharials, caimans, alligators and crocodiles are similar, but they have different jaw structures and length. This is an African dwarf crocodile.
    african dwarf crocodile

    It was hard getting a photo of the red panda.
    red panda 1

    El was more amused by the recorded sounds of the red panda.red panda 2

    The first time when we went there, only Kai Kai was outside. Jia Jia was hidden from view. This time round, both pandas were out.

    Kai Kai was busy eating, as usual. He is bolder, and does not mind the crowd.
    kai kai 1

    kai kai 2

    kai kai info

    Jia Jia is more shy, so she was walking around the place.
    jia jia 1

    Her bum was slightly dirty.
    jia jia 2

    Ok, make that very dirty.
    jia jia 3

    jia jia info

    After watching the pandas, we went to the other side of the exhibits. There were many squirrel monkeys!

    squirrel monkey 1

    Soon, we reached the end of the exhibits. I bought panda toys, and some other toys for El.
    panda toys

  • History Fieldtrips to WWII sites in Singapore

    History Fieldtrips to WWII sites in Singapore

    I had been planning a history field trip on WWII, so I needed to recce some places. The first place was Labrador Park. Labrador Park was one of the places where the British had built underground tunnels and put cannons to fight against the Japanese. We went there during the Chinese New Year holiday.

    labrador park1

    Unfortunately, the Japanese came from the north, so the artillery were not fully utilised. Contrary to popular belief, the cannons were not facing the wrong direction. Their purpose was to protect against seaward invasion, but they could be turned too.
    labrador park2
    The tunnels are currently sealed, and not opened to the public. One of the tunnels lead to Sentosa, under the sea.

    Another location was Bukit Chandu, which was just in the vicinity. Fierce fighting had taken place here, and the bungalow where we visited was used by the Malay Regiment in their last days of fighting.
    bukit chandu1
    He had refused to let me take photos initially, until we reached Reflections at Bukit Chandu.

    bukit chandu2

    The Malay Regiment had fought bravely, in the last fights against the Japanese, but they were outnumbered. They had managed to spot the Japanese who had dressed up as Punjabi soldiers marching in the wrong formation. They had marched in fours instead of threes. The malay soldiers won the first battle, but the Japanese came back for revenge, and had nearly decimated the entire troops. A few days later, Singapore surrendered to the Japanese.
    bukit chandu3
    I had brought El along on both occasions, and he had learnt a little about history. He asked for books on WWII and had a lot of questions. I borrowed a book from the library about WWII, but the focus was on the European front. Another book was about the internment of the Japanese in USA after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was an interesting read, based on real life events.

    After going to these two places, we decided to go to Labrador Park sand playground, and he had a lot of fun playing on sand. We had brought along sandcastle building equipment, but without water, the sand could not be hardened to build sand castles.

  • Mint Museum of Toys Excursion

    Mint Museum of Toys Excursion

    I finally managed to be a parent volunteer at my son’s school to accompany the students out on an excursion to the Mint Toy Museum, with two other parent volunteers. I had previously accompanied him on a visit to the zoo a year ago.

    Parent Volunteer
    Parent Volunteer

    I was assigned to watch over my son and another classmate. I had not been there before, so I did not know what to expect. The children were so cute. Some of them asked to sing, and they sang loudly, except for El, who had a mouse’s voice when he sang ABC.

    Children at Mint Museum of Toys
    Children at Mint Museum of Toys

    When we reached there, there was renovation going on. It was quite dusty. We took a lift up to the fifth level and slowly made our way down. Each level was only as big as a HDB bedroom, and they were filled with lots of toys.

    We saw Japanese toys, mainly made after WWII, where the American soldiers went home and started their own families, fuelling a demand for toys. There were robots, toy cars, and Astro Boy figurines.

    Ultra Man
    Ultra Man

    Apart from these toys, there were also toys made in Singapore. I do not have much of an impression of them.

    There were Disney toys and posters, teddy bears, Batman, and many others. Since they were a Mint Museum, the toys were all in mint condition, and not meant to be played. Many children started losing their attention.

    El reading his workbook intently
    El reading his workbook intently

    They were supposed to fill up a booklet, but the guide did not go through everything. El was very eager to fill up the booklet, and at one stage, he asked his teacher to bring him to the cases to find the items.

    Teddy bears at stairwell
    Teddy bears at stairwell

    I was really tired out after the short trip. It was really hard to get the boys to be careful and not to touch the display. However, it was a good experience to see how my son interacted with his classmates. He was interacting better, instead of being left in the dust.

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