Orangutan Heaven

Uh did that really just happen? Did BOTH of our kids just sleep TWELVE hours!? Yes! Yes! Yes!

So we're off to see the number one attraction in Singapore something that is supposed to be the best in the world. When somebody tells me that something like that - or even if they just claim it's better than New York - I find myself thinking, "Oh yea... well, prove it!"

That was my attitude as we sat on the bus headed to the Singapore Zoo. The zoo sits on the northern end of the island and it was kind of fun to see the outer parts of the city. 

The trip took about 40 minutes and guess what? The zoo here really is something to behold. 

The zoo is lush with all sorts of tropical plants and monkeys are literally sitting in trees as you walk in the door. The zoo specializes in primates and there are dozens and dozens of monkeys here. You feel like you can reach out and touch them - and worry a little that they can reach out and touch you, too! 

Orangutans are the flagship animal here and there are 24 of them. I literally wanted to call my friend Linda Jacobs in Florida and giggle with her in delight. My favorite all-time assignment at CBS was a piece about Linda raising orangutan twins in her home. We've kept in touch over the years and I've gone back to see Pumpkin and Peanut three times since.

Here, there is a huge platform for the orangutans to climb and then there are two free-ranging areas. I still haven't quite figured out how this works. It SEEMS like the orangutans are allowed to just climb around - outside of any kind of fence. We saw one being fed directly over our heads. It was incredibly cool, but I was also a bit leary.

The other animals are also incredibly close up. I think that's because the enclosures are really small. So for us humans, it's a great way to see all the cool creatures because they're right there. I mean - RIGHT THERE! Giraffes, zebras, cheetahs - everybody is just a few feet away. I'm not so sure that's great for the animals though they all seemed pretty content.

We caught two shows. The first was a sea lion show which was quite average, but the second was an elephant show and wow - that was great! They had five elephants demonstrating how they can easily move trees, balance on beams, use their trunks including putting the trainer's hat back on his head. I loved it! That and the orangutans were my favorite. Tom liked how close all the animals were. Maisie liked the pony ride (no shock there) and Hudson got a kick out of feeding the bunnies.

The kids were especially delighted because they had hot dogs, chicken nuggets and french fries. Me and Tom? We got Asian food which is what we eat all the time here. I think it's very cool that we easily get dishes that I used to take a subway train a half hour to find in New York. The kids are learning to love some new stuff, too. Yea! We have yet to have a bad meal. More on food here in another blog.

While the day was really wonderful, five minutes of it were the worst of my life: Hudson got lost. Just as the sea lion show ended, I was a few feet away looking at a sign and Tom was standing with the stroller, reading a map. Hudson hopped out of the stroller and took off. He was probably only gone a minute before we noticed, but that was enough. He had totally disappeared. A mass of humanity leaving the show was walking towards me as I pushed through them. The one thing I had going for me is that Hudson is a blond child amongst a sea of Asians. I was screaming - half in tears - "Please help me! My son! My son Hudson is gone! He's blond! Hudson! Hudson!" 

I ran back to Tom. He hadn't found him either. We were both running everywhere searching frantically. Hudson is that kid who would climb into the lion cage and not think a thing about it. All sorts of visions of horror danced in my head. I headed back towards Tom one more time and finally heard somebody say, "Is this Hudson?" 

I scooped him up and started to cry. Hudson? He was laughing, never for a second worried that he couldn't find us. Maisie was maybe the most upset of all. "I was so worried about you! Don't ever, ever do that again! I love you, Hudson. I'd be sad if I didn't have a brother." That made me cry all the harder.

Hudson is now strapped in each and every time we go some place. Period.