Chinese Gardens, Singapore

What a great, educational trip I had today at the beautiful Chinese Gardens! The bus stopped right in front of the gardens but it was quite a long walk through a huge field to get to the entrance. The place was almost empty. I walked over a bridge and was met by a 4 foot long monitor lizard! I was startled by his huge size. I guess he sensed that because he remarked, "Don't be afraid you pretty cat. My name is Izzy and I am the official tour guide for animals that come to visit these beautiful gardens. Would you like me to show you around?"
"Thank you Izzy, I would really like that!" I replied. "My name is Purrla."
The first exhibit  he showed me was the 7 floor high pagoda. Izzy told me he was too old and slow to climb the stairs but he encouraged me to go up to the top. The sky was clear so I got a birds eye view of the whole park. The trip down the circular steps made me a little dizzy but it was fun anyway.
When I got to the bottom I saw Izzy swimming in the lake. He said since it was so hot he thought he would take a dip.
Feeling refreshed, he climbed out of the water and took me on a whirlwind tour. We saw several smaller pagoda's, watched a man trimming bonsai trees (Some of which were 90 years old), a bunch of statues of important Chinese figures  including Confucius, lots of beautiful, brightly painted bridges and a small, well tended garden with statues of the the 12 animals of the zodiac. I was disappointed there is no cat in the Chinese zodiac. There isn't a lizard either but there is a dragon. Izzy claims big lizards like him are related to the dragon. (Kind of a stretch I thought to myself.)

                                  


It was time to go home. I bid my very thorough tour guide a fond farewell and told him I would like to come back sometime. He told he would like that and then slipped back into the lake and swam off.
There is a lot more to see in Singapore but the Chinese Gardens is a very calming place and well worth a return trip.