Singapore Books: Saving a Sexier Island

Neil Humphreys really can’t get enough of Singapore. Saving a Sexier Island: Notes from an Old Singapore is his fifth book (reviews on the first four are here, here, here, and here) about Singapore, and the second one he’s released since publishing the increasingly inaccurately named Final Notes from a Great Island. After touting the wonders of the “new Singapore” in Return to a Sexy Island, Humphreys wanted to explore “old Singapore.” In celebration of fifty years of Singaporean independence, he chose fifty sites that embody some aspect of Singapore’s history or character. He visited each site and wrote about his adventures.

The book was a fun tour of some of Singapore’s lesser-known gems. Some of the places were ones I'd visited and enjoyed - like Bukit Batok Town Park, Bukit Batok Nature Park, Jurong Bird Park, and Haw Par Villa. Others, like Cafe Colbar and Baba House, I hadn't heard of, but definitely sounded worth a visit. However, it seemed to me that some of the other places he chose were unknown for a reason. I didn’t get much of a thrill reading about Singapore’s first concrete bus stop, or that big empty field he hunted down in Chapter 2. In an attempt to keep things fresh without recycling his older material, I felt like he skipped some of the more obvious historical landmarks (like Bukit Brown Cemetery or even less popular places like Chijmes or Reflections at Bukit Chandu) in part because he’d covered many of them in previous books.

As usual, Humphreys brought the humor, but as with his previous books I found that his jokes were sometimes forced. I think they may have been even more forced in this book because he was trying to infuse drama and excitement into some of the mundane places he visited. Not much joke material lurking around that bus stop, I guess.

Humphreys can also adopt a sanctimonious tone sometimes. In his previous books, he’s often been condescending toward other Westerners in Singapore, and that continues here, especially with his utter disdain for a western-looking woman having her nails done in a beauty parlor. He said, "I was again taken aback by that smug documentary I had watched days earlier at the National Museum of Singapore, where locals waited on their colonial masters hand and foot. The scene was playing out in front of me. I heard a plummy narrator saying: 'And in Tiong Bahru, there is no need to queue among the common folk as shop visits are by appointment only...there are always a couple of natives on hand to remove that troublesome bum fluff from the crevices of your toes.' The buffed woman in the chair yawned. She had obviously had a hard day," (pg. 109). I found it irksome that he stood on the sidewalk and judged a woman getting a manicure without any context. Maybe she was tired. Maybe she’d had a long day fighting crime or feeding orphans and she needed to unwind with a manicure. Or maybe she really was a shallow, vain foreigner reveling in being fawned over by the Singaporeans doing her nails. The point is that Humphreys doesn’t know one way or the other, and it seems mean of him to be so judgmental without any context. It also seems hypocritical. Sure, Humphreys takes pride in frequenting the hawker centers of Singapore, but the truth is that he's likely enjoyed a more upscale meal on the island at some point, and when he did, the "natives" were probably on hand to wait on him "hand and foot" too.

One of the main themes of the book was the rapidity with which Singapore reinvents and renews itself. The island is constantly making itself over, and this often means leveling an older building to make way for a newer, “better” one. Humphreys and I are in total agreement here – newer isn’t always better, and Singapore would probably be a more lovable place if more of its history was left intact. I’ve blogged before about how it’s difficult to love Singapore because you never know when the places you love most will be replaced or “improved.” However, I think that Humphreys sometimes advocates for total stagnation instead of respectful, discerning progress. For example, he waxes sentimental about Beauty World Centre across from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Beauty World Centre is decrepit and hosts almost no viable businesses. The building is crumbling and outdated, and most of the shops are vacant. Yet Humphreys wants to see it preserved. Why?! Unlike Bukit Brown Cemetery or LKY’s residence, there is no great history here. I agree that the businesses that are there should be offered some respect and consideration, especially given that they’ve survived against such great odds. But total preservation of this crummy site doesn’t seem like the answer – there are other options. Why not advocate for a new, up-to-date shopping center (with cockroach-free toilets) in which the current shopowners are offered spaces at the same rate that they currently pay rent? Their businesses would be more likely to continue to prosper if they were surrounded by other viable businesses instead of vacant shops with papered-over windows. Singapore won’t move forward by declaring every crappy out-of-date shopping center a heritage site, but it can move forward with some respect for the people who have helped it to become the great country it is today.

Anyway, Humphreys and I don't agree on all the details, but I think he always raises interesting points. And he's good at hunting down and advocating for some of Singapore's great hidden gems, even if he includes some duds in his list too. So pick up a copy of the book, and go visit Bukit Batok Town Park....but you can skip the concrete bus stop of Choa Chu Kang.

Chinese Heritage Center

I spent a lot of time at Nanyang Technological University when I was in Singapore. When I was employed by NTU, it was our base of operations for monkey research. So I spent hours slaving away in the lab in the Humanities and Social Sciences building. And every time I went there, I admired the adjacent Chinese Heritage Center and thought, "I really ought to go in there sometime." And I never did. So when I went back recently, I dedicated an hour to checking it out.

The outside of the place is decidedly impressive. There's nothing discreet about it. It really stands out from the rest of the more homogenous campus buildings.

Why didn't I visit sooner?!

The CHC was founded in 1995, and serves as a library, research center, and museum. The best part is that admission to the museum is free. You just have to be willing to haul yourself all the way over to the extreme west side of the island to get there!

As soon as I walked into the lobby, after noting the impressive interior architecture, I noticed something that really amused me. China is kind of known for copyright infringement (think of all those Chinese knockoffs, like Gocci or Addidas), so I found it funny when the first thing I saw upon crossing the threshold of the museum was the illegal usage of a copyrighted photo. Someone had made a cute little zongzi, or rice dumpling, with a face. But if you look closely at the eyes, you can see the watermark that indicates that the image of the face is copyrighted and should have been purchased for use. Pretty silly.

Check out the words on the left eye

Anyway, the interior of the building was impressive enough to tear me away from the copyright-infringing dumpling in only a few seconds. From the lobby, you can see straight up to the third floor.

Not a bad view!

When I was there, there were two main exhibitions. The Nantah Pictorial Exhibition opened in 2000, and covers the history of Nantah University, which existed from 1956 to 1980. During its short lifespan, it was the only Chinese-language university outside of mainland China. In 1980 Nantah University merged with the University of Singapore to become the National University of Singapore, which went on to become one of the top universities in Asia. In 1981, NTU opened on the former grounds of Nantah University. The exhibition covers a lot of this history, and includes 130 photographs from the time period. Although it wasn't all that long ago, the photographs kind of seemed like ancient history to me. They're a strong reminder of how far Singapore has come in such as short time. The artifacts were pretty neat too.

The most interesting set of artifacts included original roof tiles from Nantah University and a replica of Nantah Arch, which once marked the entrance to Nantah University. Apparently the original arch still stands at Jurong West Ave 93, and there is a replica in Yunnan Garden (opposite the CHC) at NTU. I've seen the replica before, but didn't understand its significance until visiting the exhibition.

Artifacts are a rare commodity in rapidly-evolving S'pore!

Before moving on to the next exhibition, I poked out onto the second floor balcony, which had a great view of the HSS building where I'd worked.

It's way prettier from the outside than from inside a stuffy office!

From the other side, there was a lovely view of Yunnan Garden.

Luckily the haze wasn't so bad that day!

The other exhibition was called "Chinese More or Less," and focused on the various, heterogeneous identities of mainland Chinese people, and how those identities were maintained abroad. I found this exhibit really fascinating. I've heard a lot of talk in Singapore about what it really means to be "Singaporean." National identity seems tricky when there's such a hodgepodge of cultures existing together in a small place that's always changing. But I haven't given much thought about Chinese Singaporeans and how they identify as Chinese, and how they're "Chinese-ness" differs from that of mainland Chinese, Chinese Americans, or Chinese people living in the UK, or Thailand, or Vietnam. This exhibit covered those issues around the world and across time.

There are seven galleries, and each one has a different focus. Throughout was a discussion of what it meant to be Chinese while away from China, and how cultural identities were maintained and transformed in new locations. The galleries focused on questions like "How Chinese am I?" and "What does it mean to be Chinese?"

One gallery focused on outsider perceptions of Chinese people. It was interesting to see racist interpretations of Chinese just around the corner from displays of cultural pride. The most intriguing image was an American caricature from the 1800's, depicting a greedy Chinese merchant. It was a commentary on the Chinese monopolization of trade goods production. I have thought of Chinese production as something that has only recently started to bother Americans, and was surprised to see that it was a point of contention 200 years ago.

Racism at its weirdest

The history of Chinese abroad created some strange juxtapositions - the workers at labor camps were just around the corner from the fancy colonial family.

Sidenote: Wax colonial family made me think that
CHC might make a good setting for a horror movie
about wax figures coming to life.

I poked around the CHC until about 10 minutes past closing time, when there were still no signs of the place shutting down. I went up to the third floor, which I don't recommend, since I don't think I was supposed to be there. But I was happy to see that there were lots of people around, taking in the exhibits, shopping in the gift shop, and taking pictures. It's good to see that a place like CHC generates some interest.

I think the CHC is a great way to preserve some of the history of Chinese people in Singapore and abroad, but I think more efforts should be made to protect actual local historical sites. The CHC has a short history - it's only 18 years old. Places like Bukit Brown have a long, rich cultural history but are not being afforded the proper respect, as historical preservation takes a backseat to constant "progress."

Australia Day Five: One More Day in Darwin

We had pretty vague plans for our last day in Darwin. We slept in and checked out of our hotel pretty late. Our flight out of Australia left in the early evening, so we had almost a whole day to spend hanging around. Our first order of business was food, and I was eager to try a place I'd been eyeballing on our map since we arrived in Australia. It was called Simply's, and specialized in healthy vegetarian food. Bryan was less enthusiastic, but good-naturedly allowed himself to be dragged along. Man, I was SO glad we found that little place. It was THE best meal I had in Australia, and I didn't even have to feel guilty about eating it! Bryan seemed to enjoy his falafel, although he was perhaps a little less enthusiastic than me.

Mexican pie and SIX kinds of salad. Curried pasta salad was my fave.

While hanging out at the restaurant, we dug through our wallets and admired all our Australian cash. It's so pretty! I think every country has more colorful currency than the US!

Like Monopoly money, but with kangaroos on it

After lunch, we walked over to a little Irish pub and had some cider while we watched bowls on TV. Have you ever seen bowls?! Apparently it's some huge thing in Australia. It's kind of like bocce ball, except that instead of doing it casually at a cookout with your family like Americans do in their backyards, Australians do it professionally at bowls clubs and they are DEAD SERIOUS about it. It was pretty fun to watch, so I see how people get so into it.

Eventually we peeled ourselves away from a riveting bowls match and walked over to the Esplanade. There's a path along the Esplanade that meanders along through a park area and along the water, but there isn't really any beach to lounge around on. We did see some neat stuff, including some more birds.

Rainbow bee-eater

Two zebra doves

In our aimless wanderings, we meandered into a historical district with cool old buildings and neat sculptures. One of the most impressive buildings was the Christchurch Anglican Cathedral, built in 1902 and still in use as a church today. The church even survived being hit by a bomb during World War II!

Christchurch Anglican Cathedral

The sculptures scattered around the historical district were pretty cool. These were two of my favorites.

Reminded me of demons!

Tawny frogmouth owl sculpture named "Chinute Chinute"
by amazingly named artist Koolpinyah Barnes

We wandered town a while longer, but the historical district was really the last interesting thing we saw before heading back to the airport, where we had a very strange dinner at Fannie Bay Ale House. We got nachos that had....marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese?! Probably the strangest interpretation of nachos I've ever seen. It's like something I'd come up with when we're running low on groceries.

After dinner and a very thorough security screening (Australia does not mess around about airport security), we boarded our Jetstar flight back to Singapore. It was very strange - that flight was the last time that we would be flying back into Singapore! But more on that later...

Oh yeah! Did I mention that we're finalists in the Singapore Blog Awards?! It would be super if you'd vote for us!

Australia Day Four: Kakadu and Darwin

On our last day in Kakadu, we enjoyed a quiet morning, sipping coffee and listening to all the nature sounds just outside our door. Around mid-morning, we reluctantly lugged our bags out to the car. But we had a surprise: a wallaby send-off party! In the clearing where we'd been night-time wildlife watching the past two nights were four wallabies, placidly grazing.

Omnomnom

After a while, the wallabies noticed that they were being watched. They hopped closer to the forest edge, stopping every few hops to glance back suspiciously at us.

Hey! Quit lookin' at us!

We decided to leave the wallabies in peace, and headed out. We were planning to head back down the Arnhem Highway to Darwin, but first we decided to swing by the South Alligator River one last time, just to see if we could spot any of the crocodiles we'd heard so much about. We didn't have any reptile luck, but we did spot a very exciting bird - a kookaburra!

Blue-winged kookaburra

I immediately started singing the song:

♫ Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Merry, merry king of the bush is he

Laugh, kookaburra! Laugh, kookaburra!

How gay your life must be ♫

I think it's kind of funny us American kids grew up singing this song at school - none of us had any idea what a kookaburra was!! But now I know that the kookaburra is a very large kingfisher that's well known for their propensity to eat snakes - I've come a long way since second grade.

Fly, kookaburra! Fly, kookaburra!

The kookaburra was the most exciting bird around, but it wasn't the only one. As usual, there were magpie-larks hanging around. And below the kookaburra's tree was a purple swamphen. We'd seen those birds around in New Zealand, and it was neat to see one again.

Purple swamphen

After some time spent admiring the birds and the river, we got started on our journey back to Darwin. We took it slow and kept an eye out for wildlife. We were pulling into little side roads along the way, hoping we might see something interesting.

One of our random detours

We got lucky right away when we saw some more wallabies - and one of them had a little joey in its pouch (a WALLABABY)! We stopped and the mom looked up at us, then reached down and shoved her baby all the way into her pouch! I thought it was cute to see her being so protective, but apparently her baby didn't appreciate it very much. We could see him wriggling around inside the pouch, and pretty soon his head popped back out.

Mooooom, let me OUTTA here!

Further down the road we stopped again to watch a flock of galah that were hanging out on the shoulder. They're such beautiful birds!

For obvious reasons, also known as the rose-breasted cockatoo

So weird to see cockatoos in the wild!

We all know how much I love abandoned stuff, and there was some cool abandoned stuff along our route, including the burned out car we'd passed on our way in.

Probably one of the best abandoned cars I've ever seen

Banged up barrel to match the beat up car

We often saw huge trucks on the Arnhem Highway that were longer than any semis we'd seen before - they were like regular semis, but they were pulling three trailers behind. They had big signs on the front that said ROAD TRAIN. It was kind of scary when they passed us, because they made a whump-whump-whump sound.

The signs should say TRUCK MONSTER instead of ROAD TRAIN

There aren't a lot of places to stop between Jabiru and Darwin, but we did find a little place called the Bark Hut Inn, where we could get some lunch. Vegetarian options were pretty limited in the Northern Territory, but I got by with some garlicky pita bread, and stole some of the fries that came with Bryan's burger. It was a nice place to eat - the Bark Hut Inn keeps a few animals (emu, cows, etc.) and we sat outside and watched them while we ate. Adding to the entertainment were the huge blackbirds that would swoop in to steal any food that was left unattended for even a second.

Expert food snatchers

After lunch and a little rest, we got back on the road. It wasn't much longer to Darwin. We stopped just on the edge of town to visit Charles Darwin National Park. As soon as we pulled in, we got the feeling that this park might be a bit past its prime. There weren't many people around and everything looked a little deserted. There was a beat up old camper in the parking lot, and it appeared as though people were living there, and there were a lot of signs warning visitors to lock their cars. Kinda strange.

According to signs posted around the park, Darwin played an important role in defending Australia during World War II. Specifically, it was used as a "bomb dump," a repository for tons of explosives. There were bunkers all over the park. Cool!

Old bunker for storing explosives

One of the bunkers was open and served as a little museum, full of artifacts from the WWII era.

Scary stuff

Old-school typewriter

We followed a path off of the carpark and it meandered along, past bunkers, little skinks, and lots of neat plants that I couldn't identify!

Cool twisty plants

Some of the bunkers were open and some were locked up tight. Just as Bryan walked into one of the open ones, I saw some movement above the door. A 4 or 5 foot long snake slithered up over the bunker so fast we couldn't even snap a photo! It was pretty cool to see it, but I'm glad it didn't drop down on Bryan while he was in the doorway!!

 We hiked all the trails in the park before heading back to our car. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs after a few hours cooped up in the car. Back at the carpark, there was an open area that afforded a nice view of downtown Darwin. Unfortunately it was kind of a hazy day.

Downtown Darwin off in the distance

It was late afternoon by the time we left the park, and we were ready to check into a hotel and then go get some dinner. We headed back to the Holiday Inn, where we'd stayed a few nights before. It was a Tuesday, so we figured we wouldn't have any trouble getting a room. Boy were we wrong! The Holiday Inn was full, and the people at the desk informed us that the train comes in on Tuesday and we'd have trouble finding an available room. Uh-oh! We headed out on foot, and stopped at a couple places. We were temporarily encouraged to hear that there was one vacancy at the Novotel, but immediately disappointed when we were told that the room cost FIVE HUNDRED dollars a night. We tried to keep a straight face when the concierge tried to offer us the sweet deal of four hundred dollars a night. We declined.

After a few more discouraging stops, we decided that hotel-hunting would be easier on a full stomach, so we stopped at the delightfully named Hog's Breath Cafe. They had a variety of Australian ciders, which Bryan and I had become obsessed with on our trip, so we were happy to try a couple more.

I liked both, but preferred the Aussie Cider

Bryan and I both had great food. It looked so good when it showed up on the table that I immediately forgot about my intention to take photos, and just dug right in instead. I had an avocado and mushroom salad, which, I was amused to find, had deep-fried potatoes and mushrooms in it. Playin' it pretty fast and loose with the word "salad" there, but it was SOOO GOOD that I didn't mind. Bryan had what looked like something delicious that my mom would make - chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and gravy. He looked pretty blissed out on his side of the table. I think the Hog's Breath was probably the best food we had in Australia up until then!

After dinner, we drove out of the main part of town and stopped at the Vitina Studio Motel. The friendly lady at the front desk told me that they had vacancies, and proudly informed me that they also had the cheapest rooms in Darwin (the rooms were cheaper than a lot of others, but were, in my opinion, still overpriced. That just seems to be the way things are in Australia). Anyway, we were grateful to have a place to crash for the night, so we gladly checked in and got comfortable!

Hey! We're finalists in the Singapore Blog Awards! It would be super great if you'd click this link and vote for us!

Australia Day Three: Exploring!

On our first full day in Kakadu, we spent some time lounging around our room. We made coffee and took it out on our little back porch. It was loud out there, but for a pretty cool reason: there was a flock of about 60 squawking cockatoos on the lawn and in the trees just outside our room!!! Most of them were little corellas.

Probably the cheekiest birds I've ever seen

Bryan captured this photo at just the right moment!

Apparently these birds are very playful. According to our Australian wildlife bookthey have been observed swinging from telephone wires and riding windmill blades around until they fall off, then flying back to the top to ride the blades back down again. Pretty cute. Watching them on the lawn, diving in and out of the sprinklers and rolling around with each other reminded me of watching the monkeys!!

Little corella play time looks suspiciously like little corella death battle time

♥Birdbrain love♥

It was a good morning for bird-watching. We sat on our porch and watched the little corellas for quite a while, but when we finally walked around a little bit, there were even more birds within about a 20 meter radius of our room.

Crimson finch

One of the prettiest birds we saw was a pink and grey cockatoo called a galah. They're common all over Australia, but they're still an exciting sight to see.

Flocks of cockatoos can be as large as a couple thousand!

 We asked for some hiking suggestions at the front desk, but they looked at us disdainfully and said that most people get started a little earlier in the day. Well la-de-da! There were several trailheads right around the Aurora Kakadu, but unfortunately they were all closed for the season. So Bryan and I got in the car and set off down the Arnhem Highway on our own. We pulled off at South Alligator River to admire the view.

South Alligator River, which is confusingly full of crocodiles, not alligators...

Bryan and I don't usually think of ourselves as big bird people - we don't go out looking for specific birds, we just look for any wildlife we can find. But in Australia, it seemed like there was a new bird around every corner! We couldn't help but be birdwatchers!

Eastern yellow robin

There were always raptors overhead. Watch out, little lizards!!

We followed a little trail down closer to the river, and felt right at home when we saw some fiddler crabs, chubby mudskippers, and colorful dragonflies.

Sometimes bugs are pretty!

Once we'd exhausted the area around South Alligator without spotting any of the massive crocodiles that we'd heard so much about, we hopped back in the car and drove back down to Mamukala, where we'd stopped briefly the night before. It was nicer in broad daylight! And, guess what was there?! If you said MORE BIRDS, you win the prize!

Green pygmy geese - they look so geometrical!

Another intimidating raptor

After hanging out at the wetlands a while, we drove on to the Bowali Visitor Centre. They were more helpful than the people at the Aurora Kakadu had been, and they gave us some advice on places to go where the trails were open. We headed for the Mirrai Lookout, a short hike where we were told that we might see some wildlife. Luckily, we saw some before we even got there! A couple of storks wading in the water were impressive enough to get us to stop the car along the road.

Black-necked stork eatin' some delicious fishes

Heeeeere, fishy, fishy, fishy

It wasn't long after our stork pitstop that we reached the Mirrai Lookout trailhead. We got started right away on the 3.6 km hike. It was pretty steep going, but as an older guy who passed us on his way down observed, "no problem for youngsters like you!" There was a bit of wildlife along the trail, including the ubiquitous droptail skinks and a couple other lizards, one of which I haven't been able to identify.

These skinks flick their tails slowly back and forth,
like they're trying to hypnotize you!

Kind of looks like a changeable lizard, but I don't think it is!

After an hour or so, we got to the lookout point, which was a tall metal tower. The view from the top was pretty nice!

View from the Mirrai Lookout tower

In addition to the great view, the tower also had some wildlife of its own - it  was FULL of spiders!

St. Andrew's cross spider

This one was about the size of a man's hand! AH!

On our way back down the trail, we spotted some wallabies! We'd seen some the day before from the car, but it was neat to see some without panes of glass between us.

They were still pretty skittish!

Sweaty wallaby-watchers

My outback explorer

Before long we were back in the carpark. We hopped in, planning to head for Nourlangie, a nearby destination that had been recommended by the people at the Visitor Centre. But just as we were pulling out, something crazy popped out of the brush next to us. It was a HUGE raptor, flying away with a HUGE animal in its mouth! The animal was about the same size as the bird! Unfortunately, we couldn't snap a photo fast enough, and the bird got away with its dinner. It was pretty cool though!

He looked like this!

On the way to Nourlangie, we saw more wallabies on the roadside.

Eatin' some grass with an ADORABLE BABY

The Nourlangie hike (about 1.5 km) was neat because it had great views, and it was also a rock art site, with ancient aboriginal drawings.

Pretty view from the Nourlangie trail

We came upon the rock art pretty quickly. Some of it, like the kangaroo below, was referred to as "modern art," since it was completed within the last 1000 years. Modern indeed!

A kangaroo and a...kangaroo wrangler?!

Bryan, petting a rock kangaroo

I liked the art that depicted dancing. From the drawings, it looks like the ancient aborigines probably thew some killer parties.

Gettin' down, aborigine style

This next one was my favorite. A quote directly from the sign accompanying this drawing. I'm totally serious.

This is Nabulwinjbulwinj. He is a dangerous spirit who eats females after striking them with a yam.

Yup. So ladies, if you ever see a yam flying at your face, don't take the time to think "What the HECK?! Who threw this YAM at me?!" RUN. Because you're about to be EATEN.

Nabulwinjbulwinj, yam-throwing lady-killer

Anyway, while we walked the rest of the trail, I kept a keen eye out for any errant yams. I didn't see any, but we did spot a lot of massive termite mounds.

Hangin' out at the termites' house

Toward the end of the trail was an open area, up out of the rocky area with all the art. There were great views up there, and the rocks surrounding us were bright orange in the fading daylight.

A rewarding view toward the end of the hike

Bryan on the rocks

We left the scenic overlook behind and quickly encountered a friendly bird along the path. It was a sulphur-crested cockatoo, and he was very busily dismantling a tree branch. Watching him effortlessly snapping twigs with his beak made me realize that you really wouldn't want to be bitten by one of those guys!

Watch your fingers or you might lose them!

The sun was setting by the time we got back to the car, and we'd only eaten oranges and granola bars for lunch, so we decided to head to Jabiru to see if there was anywhere there that we could eat dinner - we'd heard there was a small mall there. When we got to Jabiru, we realized that it was a really small place. We easily navigated to the mall, but it looked like it had been abandoned for about 5 years. It may have still been open, but we were kind of sketched out, so we just left and headed back to our place. The ride went quickly because we saw some neat stuff along the way!

A much healthier dingo than the one we saw the day before!

Bryan ate some dinner at the restaurant back at the Aurora Kakadu. When he was done we went back to our room and I ate my leftovers from my American-sized meal the night before. Then we got all  ready to go out and look for some more wildlife in the darkness!

Stylin' night-time wildlife explorers

The night before we'd been hearing this strange, repetitive woof-woof that we assumed was dingoes. But it wasn't! It was OWLS! The so-called barking owls, to be specific. Pretty weird, huh? On our night-time expedition, we saw three or four of them flying around, making their strange barking noises. They were very hard to photograph, but Bryan got one grainy photo.

Barking owl looking at us!

We went back to a field where we'd been looking for wildlife the night before. We watched huge black flying foxes swooping silently out of the trees. Flying foxes are massive bats - the biggest bats in the world - and it was stunning to see them hunting in the wild. They were so quiet!! I can't imagine being a little mouse, scampering along, and looking up and HOLY MOLY how did THAT THING get right in front of me without me hearing it?!?! The flying foxes were awesome to watch, but photographing black, flying bats in the dead of night was pretty much impossible.

The next thing we saw was easier to snap a photo of: a tree frog!! SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!! And then we ended up on a frog streak.

This is a dainty green tree frog. Don't you just LOVE him?!?!

Not sure what this one is...maybe a Copland's rock frog?

The cane toads are taking over the world!

Not sure who he is either! But isn't he sweet?!

We were on the lookout for more frogs and we were walking through the grass when Bryan said, "SNAKE!" I whirled around and saw it, right there about 2 feet in front of us. AH! Normally I'm pumped to see snakes in the wild, but this was too close for comfort. I also suddenly felt very insecure - I wanted to keep my flashlight on THIS snake, so we could watch where it was going, but at the same time, I wanted to shine it all over the place and make sure the snakes weren't closing in on us from all sides! I admit it, I freaked out a little. And Bryan made fun of me a little...but I had it coming!

Brown tree snake, the source of my mini freakout

In my mind, the snake was deathly venomous and bent on killing us. But of course, a little research showed that, although it can be very aggressive when confronted, it's not considered dangerous to adult humans. But I didn't know all that at he time, so we headed back to our room as I looked every which way with my flashlight, expecting snakes at every turn.

On the way back, we stopped to watch a praying mantis stalking a frog on a wall. It was really weird to see an insect scaring the daylights out of an amphibian instead of the other way around. The praying mantis would move closer by inching slowly forward while rocking slowly back and forth. It looked like he was mimicking a leaf in the wind.

Run, froggy, run!

I can see why the frog was scared! He's intimidating!

Back at our room, we thought we'd sit on our back porch for a while and listen to the barking owls and other night sounds. When we got to our porch, there was a little guy waiting for us, in between our back door and the screen.

Hey pal! Wanna hang out?

The frog seemed pretty scared with us lounging around in his territory, so we went inside pretty quickly. We drank a couple of yummy ciders (Strongbow - I really liked the pear one, but Bryan wasn't too keen!) and went to sleep to wild sounds outside our cozy little room.

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