Singapore
Remember the green polar bear the Green Man mentioned a few months ago? I met her yesterday. She lives at the Singapore Zoological Gardens, and her green color is caused by an algal invasion in her transparent hairs. Though I of course love meeting my bear brethren wherever I go, I am not so sure polar bears are very well-adapted to the near-equatorial climate of Singapore. Maybe their greenish tinge is a subtle hint to that effect. But I have to say the Zoo was pretty impressive- they had mostly decent habitats for their animals, including orang-utans and white Bengals. And I got to meet some Malayan Sun Bears, too, so that was cool. I think. gabrielle and I have been discussing the issues of zoos and conservation and it's a tough call- most zoos these days are actively involved in conservation efforts so supporting them is good, though they also obviously make their living off holding wild animals captive. But on the other hand they protect those animals from poaching. So it's a tough call. However, when we went next door to the famous Night Safari we were enchanted by the eeriness of seeing nocturnal animals at night- fruit bats swooping by our heads, otters poking their heads up to say hi, and yet another bear- a sloth bear! Yay! Plus a bunch of animals I wasn't really very aware of- bearcats ("I went to the zoo, just the other week, saw a kangaroo, had a chat with a chimpanzee, he said hey brother, you want a thing that's hip, do the bearcat!" Anyone know that one?) also called binturongs, and some kind of boar whose tusks actually grow through their mouths.
The other Singaporean highlight was the drag cabaret at the Boom Boom Room. Singaporean drag queens- one of those things you just can't anticipate when traveling, but that's what makes travel so fun.
While I was waiting for a terminal (back in Melaka now) I happened to notice someone using the blogger interface (I wasn't snooping, the familiarity of it caught my peripheral eye- honest!) so I asked her for her blogspot, and here it is! She lives here in Malaysia and thus she has better insight into the country, so head on over and say hi for me.