Monday, January 25, 2016: Day 4 in SINI started the day early with the zoo. I was originally going to take Uber there, but the surge pricing kept me from doing that. Instead I opted to take the shuttle bus from in front of the hotel to the zoo. The bus comes hourly (at 10 past the hour) and costs SGD6. It stopped at a few hotels to pick people up along the way and got to the zoo in about 40 minutes.
Zoo EntranceWhile at the zoo we had some more rain, quite heavy at times. The interesting thing about heavy rain at the zoo is that all the animals take shelter, which not only makes them easy to find, but it’s often right in front of you, too! There are plenty of covered walkways at the zoo and a few indoor areas to hang out in during a downpour, but all in all it was a pleasant experience. The sun even made an appearance after a few hours.
I feel bad for this guy living in SIN outdoors in the heat. Probably why he's so thin
Baby male giraffe
Lion family hiding from the rain
He kept ringing that darn bell
Baboons
In case you were wondering like I was why their rear ends are were all red and swollenAfter 3.5 hours at the zoo I headed via Uber to Coffee Bean for lunch. By this point I’d seen most of what I wanted to see and needed to get a lot of work done, so I headed back to the hotel to work (in the lounge after I needed to check out of my room at 4pm). I worked for a few hours before heading back to Coffee Bean for dinner and to pick up some sandwiches for breakfast and lunch the next day in Beijing. I got back to the hotel, collected by bags from the concierge and headed to the airport via Uber (this time after the surge pricing ended) around 8:15pm for a 12:15am flight to Beijing.
Lunch at CBTL: Salmon and mushroom pasta in a cream sauce; California style salad (again)I checked in with using the Premier Check in area in Terminal 1. Air China only opens their check in counters 3 hours before departure, but the premier-early check in area is a lot nicer. Afer checking in, I went from the “lounge” straight to customs via a private walkway.
Premier check-inI was able to use the SATS lounge in T1 to shower and relax in their massage chairs. After working some more from the lounge, it was time to head to the gate for my flight.
Massage chairs in the loungeSecurity at the gate had a bit of a line, but after clearing that I was still the first person on the plane. The business class cabin was maybe one third full, but I didn’t really care. I slept most of the short 6.5 hour flight to Beijing. While it was no SQ F, the beds were lie flat and the cabin was dark and cool.
CA970 SIN-PEK, A330-300I woke up after 5 hours, refreshed and had the cold parts of both my meals (I didn’t feel like salmon at 4:30am). The food was catered by Hermolis again, and it was a good thing I ate what I did. It was my last “meal” for 16 hours.
Hermolis meal (without the hot entree)
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