River Safari, finally...

I think we are one of the most suaku family with two young kids below 6 years old who have not been to see Jia Jia and Kai Kai before. The two pandas have already celebrated their 1 year anniversaries here. At first, we were waiting for the crowds to go off b4 visiting then wanted to go to River Safari on Raelynn's 4th birthday on 2 Dec since admission is free. But I was sick and RaeAnne was sick so in the end, we went to see the doctor and gave it a miss.

Two days ago, I asked the gals to choose where she wants to go on New Year's Day. Multiple choice question actually. 1) River Safari 2) Gardens by the Bay 3) Picnic. Initally, RA chose RS and RL chose GBTB. But in the end, both decided to visit the pandas.

We set off from home around 10am. Not very early haha. It's a public holiday after all and I stayed up late for SBS drama awards show and countdown last night. Did not go to the Punggol fireworks countdown party in the end since it was a rainy night.

When we reached around 1045am, we were informed that the complimentary 15 mins boat ride is already full. River Safari opens at 9am, imagine the crowds that were here before us. 1 hour 45 mins and they are already full for the day? They are definitely not ready for full steam capacity, or maybe because the boat ride is complimentary and not chargeable yet.

Anyway, I am not really disappointed since the Amazonia boat ride has a minimum height limit of 106cm. RL wouldn't qualify and RA as usual is not keen. She is basically apprehensive about all adventure rides especially one that promises to get her wet. So, we walked towards the Panda reserve passing by numerous fish tanks along the way. For a moment, we thought we were at SEA aquarium at Resorts World. Lol.

The queue to see the Pandas was so super duper long (all the way to the fish tanks) that I gave up immediately and decided to bring the gals for early lunch, brunch for me. There is only 1 eatery inside RS, Mama Panda café so needless to say, the queue stretched outside the entrance. I waited 45 mins in all before we could all sit down and eat and with people hovering over us waiting to take our table once we finished. The panda buns were over rated. The new flavour, chocolate custard filling tasted not bad but it is too watery so RL got it all over her dress and I got it all over my fingers. Grr...

After lunch, around 1pm, we went to the Panda Enclosure again. This time, we were lucky. The queue was so much shorter. It started just slightly off the wooden platform. We queued for just 10-15 mins and got to see the pandas.

Kai Kai was fast asleep and it twitches and chews while asleep. So cute. Jia Jia who was supposed to be the more shy panda was in good mood today. She walked around and around and even ate quite a few stalks of bamboo shoots in front of us. We are quite lucky. If Kai Kai is asleep and Jia Jia is hiding in the cave, we would have really come to RS in vain. Haha.

After about 15 mins at the enclosure, we walked back towards the entrance, looping the other way. All in all, besides the pandas, only the catfishes, dugong, crocodile and squirrel monkeys really caught the gals' attention. Compared to the Zoo, RS's exhibits seem quite static cos there are no feeding times, petting area, waterplay or animal shows etc. Food choices was very limited. So, I don't think we will be back in a while unless the gals miss JJ and KK, of course.

I forgot to bring along a camera but the professional 'blue screen' ones were exp. $25 per photo or $50 package price. Not worth it since RL refused to smile at the photographer so I used the app to create my own instead. The magic of smart phone technology. Haha.