I spent more time in Singapore this past week than I had for awhile as both business and side trips have been taking me out of the country the past month. What I had not fully appreciated was we essentially have a three alarm system in the morning to make sure we get up in time for work and school. One, around 6 AM some type of tropical bird starts making a noise that kind of sounds like one of the "Wooo Girls" from How I Met Your Mother. Depending on what locale of our condo complex that bird settled down in after a night of partying depends on the decibel level that gives you your first notice that the sky is getting juuuuuuust a touch grayer outside. Two, around 6:30 AM (after you've finally fallen back asleep from the first avian intruder) a good old fashioned rooster does what Mother Nature trained him to do when he sees first light. This doesn't last too long, but you've essentially done the equivalent of hitting the snooze button because 15 minutes later your phone starts blasting out whatever ringtone seemed like a good idea for an alarm.
With finals studying beginning I found myself with some quality me time around the place this afternoon and decided to go in search of our early morning intruders. You see, we live not much more than a solid drive off the first tee from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I thought there might be at least a chance one of these intruders to my sleep was residing there. Not that I could really do anything about it, but isn't knowing the enemy half the battle? 
I needed fuel first though. Not having a personal Mr. Fusion device to get me going I made a quick swing through the Empress Market. I'd been meaning to try a chicken curry puff for some time now, and this seemed like as good of a time as any. I was also going through sugar cane juice withdrawal so what better way to kill two birds with one stone (pun intended). These things are dangerous, I mean, how could a flaky pastry full of chicken, gravy and vegetables not be good? I could eat about 10 of them, plus the lady running the stand was really friendly. They reminded me of the "Hot Pocket Pot Pies" we used to eat in college on our way to class. After realizing this and then internally making a few Jim Gaffigan jokes to myself (and grinning like an idiot at how clever I thought I was) I was off again.
The gardens really do have a lot to see. The National Orchid Garden is there where recently an orchid had been named for Princess Kate when her and William swung through Singapore. I almost went over there, but decided I better save that for a visit when I wasn't flying solo. I wandered through the Evolution Garden - they have different set-ups for how the Earth looked like when plants first started right up through the present day. Then came the Rainforest Walkway in which they had left a portion of the park the way Singapore used to look like before all the modern conveniences popped up. I happened to be listening to a "Stuff You Should Know" podcast (highly recommend subscribing - its free) during my walk so the timing was pretty eerie. I'd hear about how the soil quality in the rainforest is poor so instead of trees putting down deep roots they will shoot out extra trunks to stabilize themselves and then all of a sudden a tree with multiple trunks would appear in front of me.
So I'm seeing all these cool plants and flowers, but no wildlife. Finally, hot, tired and ready to potentially score some more sugar cane juice I happened across this guy and thought "maybe he's been the one tormenting me in the morning"? Turns out black swans sound like a bugle, which come to think of it would be way worse than our current noise pollution. In terms of tracking down our morning culprits - no dice. In terms of a nice outdoor activity close to home - not a bad Saturday afternoon at all. Plus I found some more cheap, good food across the street. Everything's coming up Milhouse..... until 6 AM tomorrow. Lets hope the trees at the other end of the block look more inviting.
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