Jurong Bird Park

The goal for day one in Singapore was too keep us awake for as long as possible (all day) so that we would adjust to jet lag faster. Therefore, it was a busy day! After going receiving the keys to our rooms and eating our first Singaporean meal at the "e-canteen" in our residence area, we headed off to the Jurong Bird Park!

I know what you must be thinking, what is a bird park? I thought it was some big park where a lot of birds lived, and I guess I was kind of correct. It turns out that a bird park is like a Zoo, but with only birds! There were all kinds of birds, from swans to pelicans to peacocks and beyond! The Southeast Asian bird exhibit was my favorite. It was very extensive and most of the birds I had never seen before. Such as these:

Later we stopped in on the Birds of Prey. The Bald Eagle could obviously sense that we were Americans, because he was posing for us the entire time.

We also saw the penguins being fed...

... and the largest man-made waterfall in an aviary (It kind of looks like I've been trekking through a rainforest doesn't it?).

In typical Singaporean fashion, the park was extremely clean and pleasant. We saw people power washing the dirt off the sidewalks, sweeping the leaves away (as you can imagine, this requires lots of work in an outdoor area), and separating the recycling from the trash in the trash cans! This public bathroom was spotless (a more than impressive feat for an amusement park public restroom) and even came complete with its own nature backdrop!

After the bird park we went to a nearby mall to get necessities. It was HUGE! The biggest mall I have ever seen and I didn't even see all of it. After all of that I was more than ready to get some rest when we got back!