Singapore Day 8 (River Wonders and Night Safari)

 First thing to focus on today is geting luggage packed and moved to Nadi and Archer's. My bro still has the hotel until tomorrow but I check out today. After breakfast I tidied up my luggage and then went out to do a quick trip to the post shop to get more stamps and mail some post cards.

After that I got back and then moved my 3 suitcases down and left the key in the room, and called a Grab. Made my way to Tampines and got off. I think it's at a different entrance to the one I came in last Weds. Nevertheless I walked into the communal area to the centre so no matter where I am it'll be easier for Nadi or Archer to get me. Archer came to pick me up. Thank you for helping me with my luggage. 😭💖

After I got inside I settled the laundry and moved my luggage in, repacked my bag, and we had some of the Thai leftovers for lunch. After that, we got ready and Archer and I headed to River Wonders via Grab.

We arrived! And Archer bought his ticket. We then went inside. It was like a semi-aquarium with a lot of fish animals and a couple of water-based animals like otters! And for some reason the pandas are here?! The pandas were in full view and showing us bamboo eating, so that was really good. It wasn't as crowded today. There's a animal encounter show at 4:30pm so we made good time going through the first half of the park, and then having a ice and snack just before the bridge to the boat plaza. I had a soursop ice popsicle (a cousin of 釋迦). It was nice! Archer had a popsicle and then later a coconut drink. We also bought a Rumukku? fried dough snack. It was kinda like 麻花 but with cumin. Very interesting. Also toilet here.

We crossed the bridge and the breeze was so so nice. We arrived at the boat plaza just in time for the show, and settled onto the audience chairs. They really trained the animals well! And got to take photos with the pelicans afterwards. They had a capybara, a big reptile lizard, river otter, got a kid to hold a snake, and a mammal I wasn't sure what the name was. It was cool!!

Afterwards we continued through the park and meet quite a few big tortoises, a few mammal-fishes, ghavials/gharials and alligators. They has huuuuge sturgeons, and an lungfish that was 80 yrs old?! Mudskippers and catfish. Lots of big fish that I've never seen before. We managed to finish at around 6pm, and the manatees were at the very end! Like dewgongs! Nadi was on her way now, and we ended up going to the zoo foodcourt to have dinner. I had a "healthy" Nasi Lemak, according to Archer. IDK how it was healthy, maybe less grease? I couldn't finish all of it... but I managed most of it. Just left some rice and pickled vege. Sob. Archer got me a lemon tea drink and it was so sweet??? But by the time I got to the bottom of the drink it was less sweet, I guess the ice cubes melted. A cleaning auntie came around to grab my tray around 6:30pm, and I realised that the food court closes around this time. I finished my drink and called the auntie at the return station when she came out from the room (I can't see). I thanked her and we waited for Nadi at our table. She arrived!! Soon after 7:15pm, when the Night Safari has opened.

We headed in and made it just in time for the 7:30pm show, but had to wait until the bird flew onto/off stage before being let into the audience area to sit. We saw heaps of animals; hyena, owl, fennec fox, porcupine, raccoon with really dexterious hands, pelican?? and they pulled the bird's sack on the bottom of the beak!, and a few more which I forgot. But it was an awesome show!

After that we got out and got ushered into the tram by Nadi, saying there's no line and it was packed last time she was here! So in we go! The rangers took a photo of us which I ended up buying for $35 SGD. Oof. But it's a souvenir! We got to see a lot of animals on the tram ride!! Which is so cool! Usually it's like hit or miss but there was like 2 animals we didn't see. They had deers, tigers/lions, hyenas, hippos, elephants!!!, and various others. So very cool. And lots of cattle stops. xD They had rangers at carious points of the trail waving at us (they served as traffic control I'm assuming) through the tram ride.

The tram ride was about 30 mins long. Once done we had an ice kachang as a snack, and then headed on the trails to see the animals. We also participated in like a activity and you can get a badge afterwards. They had an owl one for the first half of the event, and an elephant enamel badge for the second half. We were on the elephant one now, sad, I would have preferred the owl one. Oh well!.

We got to see a pangolin walk right past us!! That was so cool. And quite a couple of owls of different species. Monkeys, too!. And a white tiger!! A couple of marsupials, like a woylie (cousin of kangaroos). And then we got to see a North Island spotted brown kiwi like walking right in front of us, like whattt!! Blessed!!! The kiwi was digging around and then slipped on the ledge next to the glass while turning around. 😂 Aww so clumsy! Sadly we didn't see any Tasmanian Devils today. We also ran out of time to see the bats and the leopards. By the time we were tired and done, it was after 10:30pm, and we kinda wanted to go home. We were at the other end of the park, and we went through the Civic enclosure to get to the exit. 

They had taxis waiting (it as 10:45pm) thankfully, as Nadi/Archer was worried about getting a grab home at this time. It was about $35 odd I think, and we got home in 30mins ish. We took a shower and then everyone just went to bed. It's past midnight now. I'm soooo tired. It was such a fun day.

Singapore Day 7

 They ran out of congee today at the breakfast buffet noooo.... 😭 I just had some of the croissants, fruit, scrambled eggs, and tater tots, which were very nice! Then back to our room and I packed away my cosplay stuff and tidied up a bit. Finished blogging for yesterday (or most of it), and then time to head out to meet Nadi at Singapura Plaza. She needed to pick up some stuff for cosplay~

I walked to the Plaza and met Nadi~ we went to Art Friend and looked at all the craft stuff they had!! So many~ Nadi needed to paint some of her ears blue and got acrylic, she showed me and it was faux fur so I said that we could look at fabric paint, or dye, or marker. We managed to find a fabric marker pen so went for that option. She also managed to find styrofoam rings, and also one in a diamond shape!? For Chaos Emeralds. Awesome.

Then we went to the only remaining Spotlight in Singapore, and found that they have a Naruto print, and also one with Shrek heads hahaha. There's also a Sonic print but it feels low effort and basic, sadly. Most of it is the same as NZ.

Next we had a look at an anime/games shop, and then went to have lunch at a café. It was barely bearable with the amount of people inside, I did not like it. I asked for a miso eggplant burger and a teh tarik. The teh tastes pretty weak, like healthy version of it, and no sugar, haha. Once done, we headed out of there, and looked at the other weeby shops. There was a Muse shop and inside they were playing like a medly of anime covers by Mickey and Goofy? And it was soooo funny. I just went looking for the song and I found it loooool. Most of the merch was the popular mainstream stuff. Then we went to the next store, which has some really old nendos. Another store had bookshelves full of Taiwan manga.... I had a look and sadly no 1/2 Prince. :') Once done, we went downstairs and there was a official Bandai Gashapon shop. One token is $2 SGD, and most gashapons required at least 3-4. Wow that's a bit expenny.

Then we walked all the way to Orchard Rd's Takashiyama Dept Store for the big Kinokuniya. Nadi picked up a Corocoro with Shadow on it. Chrono was big on the cover, my boy is popular TToTT. They also had Vol 1 of Unmei no Makimodoshi too. We were pretty much done today so headed home. Took the bus and Nadi then took the MRT home~

Got back to the hotel around 4:30pm, bro was there (he headed to AFA in the morning). I rehydrated and rested, and he went to the concert. I took a nap and woke up exhausted around 6pm. Took a while to wake up and then headed out to dinner at 6:45pm. I just went to Albert Court, and there's this HK style roast  meats place that had lots of people lining up in 3838 Food Court. So I also lined up and asked for roast duck with rice $4.50. They didn't come with any vegetables and after I finished the dish, I was still thinking about the veges, so I went back and got a plate of bokchoy.... $3.50. It was all open air and all the tables were taken so I just sat across from some other guy. Once done I went back to the hotel and popped into the mini mart next to the hotel and picked up a can of Qoo. It was $1.50 and I paid all in change, and the shop guy and me had trouble doing maths LOL.

Back, watched an ep of I Parry Everything and then took a shower. Going to sort out Zoo tickets and sleep.

Headed

Singapore Day 6

 Oh man I am so smashed today. My eyes are so dryyy and tired. Nadi proposed we meet up to go around the anime shops La Tendo and Rashinban in Suntec today, so I got myself ready and headed out. We met up at Bencoolen MRT and took the MRT there. Cause Suntec is so big it's so easy to get lost inside. Nadi took us to the shops (thank goodness we have a local guide, I would have never found things!) and La Tendo is pretty big with a real mix of merch. Some merch are old and never sold I guess? There were nendos and other figures, and I spotted 3 Lan Wu Yao nendos... like whaaat.... 

Rashinban is connected and apparently they just get whatever merch Japan gives them. I didn't find a general general section, so no fishing for Appmon badges... sad. There wasn't much for me, didn't find any treasures. After browsing Rashinban, my bro needed to head off to AFA for his panel, and Nadi and I decided to get some lunch.

There was a food court not too far and it was quieter, so we found a table that was empty around, and then got paratha flat breads from an Indian Muslim place which came with 2 curry dips (Nadi said the thicker one is for chicken curry and the thinner one is for fish curry). 

After eating it was time for my panel Re:Zero with Kobayashi Yuusuke guest, so I headed up to AFA with the staff pass wristband and managed to get through without needing to line up (thanks Shawn!), and they let me into the stage as well! I got there about hald an hour early and saw the last bit of the panel my bro was attending (Towe of God with Hayamin and Ichikawa guest). Thanks to my body I kinda needed to pee just as the panel ended and was waiting for Re:Zero to start... maaan why my body gotta be like this!!! :'D I'll manage...!

After introduction Koba Yuuz turned up in Subaru's tracksuit. The man!!! xD Himeself!! He says that Subaru's outfit is pretty much official uniform for Re:Zero events hahahha (and he bought it himself apparently). When he first started afterrecording, he needed to shout to much and die so many times, he was left so drained at the end of a session, and the other seiyuus around him would be like "are you ok? do you need water? don't push yourself too hard" and turned into many Emilias. xDDD He also mentioned that he would think about how to perform each death, for example when his left arm got chopped off he imagined that since it is close to the heart and lungs, his breathing would be affected and gasp/gulp his speech. If his throat was affected he can get away with muddier pronounciation. If it was his leg then he would still need clear pronounciation as his blood circulation wouldn't be affected too much. He mentioned during Petelguese's arc, since there's so much "GEEEH!" screaming he was left dead at the end of every session. At the end of one afterrecording, the sound director saw him lying these and told him that he should be left to rest and don't get up. xDDD

KobaYuuz also mentioned that he auditioned for Subaru and Reinhart, since at that point he had done a lot fo princely roles so he thought he might suit a knight/noble role. Subaru was his first "dirty/messy (kitanai)" role character.

The panel was great! They took a kinen shashin and we all got to do "VICTORY!" pose. He's come such a long way since his debut role.

After that I went out and there was a line to get out... crowd bottle neck... needed to pee but the toilets on this level were only like 2 cubicles... met up with bro and went downstairs where there's heaps more toilets and peed. Phew. 

After that we met up with Nadi at a Coffee Munch café where she chilled and drew. Then we went to Vivo City (Archer was going for a Beyblade event there). We took the bus and saw the harbour/shipping containers on the way there. The mall was SO BUSY AND NOISY inside. It was really sensory overload. I didn't like it. We ended up looking around, and there was a weeby game shop. They also never clear out their merch so you may find old and odd merch just marked down sitting there. I found.... 4 copies of MHST2 on Switch marked down for $38, and all the ammiibos for them (Tsukino, Laeus, Ena) were still there... $30 for each and $40 for Laeus. All dusty.... TToTT

Then we continued to have a look around the mall... and had soft serve from a shop called Nasty Cookie... say outside the playground for some quiet and under the shade for rest... 

Then walked around outside the mall for some quiet, and ended up walking up Sentosa Boardwalk! My bro wanted to see where the chess matches were, so we went to Resort World(?) and also saw the casion which had a $150 entry fee. We walked all the way there, and then decided it's time to head back. Took the Sentosa Express, and turns out it's free to go back but $3 to go to Sentosa, lol! Got a nice view of the shipping containers and harbour from the train. 

After that we went to Toys R Us to meet up with Archer. Nadi showed me the Sonic section and we also found a Sonic Monopoly set! I sent a photo to Dark H, but sadly seems like Taiwan doesn't stock that. Once Archer was done (he didn't get picked for Beyblade), we headed to dinner at a place called Servus. It's German, and they recently changed their name. They had outdoor seats (!!!) and everyone was OK sitting outside. TToTT Thank you~~ I got a vege burger and it came with saukraut, but the saukruat wasn't cooked and it was super sour!! I finished eerything except 1/3 of the saukraut. Then it was time to head home, as everyone was tired. We took the MRT and said bye to Archer and Nadi while they stayed on the Blue Line home. 

Once home I was sooo tired, took a shower and bed.