janep.org | the singapore and sydney blog

AJ Jorge August 17th, 2007

Our first stop in Singapore - the famed Jurong Bird Park.

The park was a good 53 minutes train ride (from Simei station to Jurong station, the information table says the ride will be 53 minutes and so it was!). We need however to ride another bus from Jurong station to the park itself, it was probably around 10-15 minutes ride.

*note: you will be seeing a lot of solo shots of me and Pen. It’s one of the downside of sightseeing with only the two of us.


Pen beside the mrt information stand

my turn

Welcome to the Bird park.

AJ hugging the landmark. I was telling Pen to give the camera to the lady in the counter to take a photo of us but in the end Pen took the picture instead.
Pen: the attendant was busy with people coming through!

We headed to the Penguin station first. Ganda! Sayang lang at madilim sa loob. We had a hard time taking photos. Penguins look majestic and really cool. It was a big room with iceberg-like rocks. Penguins are swimming, walking and standing in the viewing area.
Pen: Happy feet! I have to keep reminding myself that penguins are birds and not fish.

We really can’t get a decent picture of the penguins but nonetheless, we like to share how the whole viewing area looks like.

There was a pond where the penguins can swim and where humans can see them through the glass.

Penguins are scattered all over. It was cold inside the room and we both wondered how cold it is inside with the penguins themselves.

Penguins walking about

One of our first stops in the park. It was an amazing scene to have seen LOTS of flamingos. It was like a breeding ground of sorts.
Pen: They’re so pink!

Pen with the pink flamingos.

Portrait effect. Wowi. Blurred background. Thank god for DSLR. haha

A lonely bird. We took the walking trail rather than ride the tram. This way we have time on our side and we can take pictures as we please.
Pen: Good idea to walk rather than ride. I can say the opposite for Night Safari.

Gotcha!
One of our favorite action shots in the park. These large birds are frightening. Wouldn’t want to be the one underneath those huge wings!

Pen taking a shot on the birds…

… and checking out how it looks like in the viewfinder.

Having to walk means taking a look at the map every once in a while. Kulit nitong shot na to. Sabi ni Pen “Dun ka tumingin sa mapa sa may directions”. Haha. Turistang turista.
Pen: Directed and picture taking hehe.

20cents to use the viewer. We were at the flamingo pool here. Looking at the pink flamingos closer was kinda cool but they could have done it for free instead.

When it was Pen’s turn, she was only able to use the viewer for 10seconds I think. I used up much of the time with the 20cents we put in.

Another majestic bird. They were really like proud of themselves.

Pen told me to go near the swan but I was freakin’ afraid that it will bite me. The swan’s head was bobbing and was posing for a killer bite. I stayed away from it and told Pen to hurry up with the shot. haha.
Pen: Ajay wasn’t even within half a meter from the swan! How can I take decent photos with this?

One of the rest stops. We have to sit down and relax our feet and drink water. We brought our own mineral water so we could have a drink anytime.

That’s the actual wingspan of the birds in that area. I forgot what bird it is.
Pen: Dalmatian pelican! Remember we were reading each of the trivia underneath the wooden panels?

Colorful Macaws.

Birds in general are hard to photograph. They keep on moving. As with this shot, the leftmost bird has no head, the middle one is bending, the third one is OK though.

There was a section dedicated to the different macaws. They were caged unlike the other birds that were free to fly around.

Alin… alin… alin ang naiba…

Pen: Would have liked to see the canaries and budgerigars, but surprisingly they’re not in the park’s collection. Too ordinary? They did have minahs and parakeets.

Jurong bird park is home of the world’s biggest aviary. We didn’t even notice we were in one. They also have the biggest man-made waterfall - 30ft in height I think.
Pen: Once Ajay told me we were in an enclosed area and I saw the netting I started feeling dizzy and wanted to flee.

Vulture. There were two vultures in the park. I can’t get a decent shot with both of them though. They look mean and fierce.
Pen: Fear…

American Bald Eagle. Ang ganda ng tindig nito. Our first time to have seen a bald eagle. Very majestic and proud.
Pen: As much as I feel about America right now, can’t help but feel the pride emanate from their national bird the first time I’ve seen one that isn’t in their seal.

Hawk. Beautiful matching of color - snowy white and brown and gray.
Pen: Hawks are cool

Another eagle. I forgot the specific name but it was I think the least fierce among them all.

There was this one big aviary dedicated to lorries. You can feed them and go as near as you like with all the lorries there.
Pen: I love lorikeets. Hey I have not-very-good pictures of them in swarms in the trees of UNSW.

This is the nearest I could get without me frightening it or it biting me. haha

Pen goes near to the lorry. This is part of a series of shots with the lorry keeps on going up and down the railing. If you notice in the background, there was a kid feeding a lorry.

The lorry up close. Colorful!

Hedwig! There was a nocturnal room in the park where they house the owls. The first owl we saw was Hedwig! Haha. Pen and I were both amused and laughing to have seen a Hedwig-like owl. Amputi-puti!

The other owls though were scary. They were looking fiercely and intently on us. There was even a ‘monster owl’ there. Pen literally gasped and was shocked when she saw that owl the first time.
Pen: It was just creepy how they turn their heads in unison when we appeared within their sights.

I wish we could share with you all the photos. It was really an exhilarating experience. To cap our visit in the bird park, we ate at the famed Bongo Burgers right outside the park.
Pen: Bongo bongo!

I ordered a beef burger while Pen had the lamb burger

Big lump of beef with fries and salsa.
Pen: Yummy!

Sprite in mini-garapon.

Chocolate cake (this was in starbucks na)

One of our self portraits. I can pretty much say that I’m getting good at taking a shot at us with my arms stretched.

Goodbye bird park! Till we see each other again!

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