See the Jungle When It’s Wet With Rain

It’s funny how our worst day became my favorite memory. First of all, our concierge should be flogged. I asked where to catch the 170 bus. She asked where exactly I wanted to go and I told her Singapore’s rain forest. She sent us to a bus that drops off on the far side of the reservoir. Clearly I was wearing a strapless dress and red patent peep-toe wedges perfect for strolling the botanical gardens later but completely inappropriate for the rocky, eight-kilometer jungle hike we had to endure to get to the (free) tree-top walk through the forest canopy. We set off around the reservoir. There were several paths to follow. Which to choose…which to choose….Clearly we chose the leafy path in the middle and avoided any bayonets lurking along the first or multilingual mystery dangers on the later. We tromped (Chris) and wobbled (me) along. Soon it began to rain. The rain turned into a deluge. Well now, we are in a rain forest, aren’t we. Mud splattered my patent peep toe pumps and covered my legs up to my knees. My hair and dress were drenched. My shoes created some nice blisters, ripped through them, then started the process over a few times. We argued. I cried. My feet bled. It kept raining. The jungle stretched on, interminable. Monkeys started to appear here and there in the trees and along the path. We gingerly stepped out onto the tree-top walk. Then we noticed the monkey on the wires over Chris’ head. We were admiring the nice view of the reservoir we’d just circumnavigated when we heard a noise up ahead and saw monkey alternately belly-crawling along the bridge railing and lounging in a peaceful, I’m-not-doing-anything repose, eyes on us the whole time. As other tree-top walkers ambled off, monkeys appeared out of the woodwork (literally! da-dun-chhhh!). They seemed rather interested in us. Some were angry. Some were laughing. Some were working on advertising (or thievery). We saw climbing monkeys……riding monkeys……flying monkeys. This monkey was particularly curious about me. She climbed closer and closer through the trees until we were at eye level with each other. Two monkeys watched from the bridge wires overhead. Another monkey perched in a tree behind me. Five monkeys congregated in the crook of the tree below. Noises I’d attributed to a bird—chirping and cooing very similar to Pounce’s murmurs—were coming from her. “Bttthhhhh? Eep Eep? Bbbbtttthhhhh? Bbbtttthhhhh?” She cocked her head and blinked at me. Then some more tourists climbed onto the bridge. “LOOK! A MONKEY!” said one guy, pointing to the monkey that was previously over Chris’ head. My monkey colony scattered. My monkey moment was over. At the end of the eight-kilometer escapade we encountered some urban monkeys trying their paws at driving. Can you count all eight? One per kilometer!Then this baby monkey descended out of a bush. She was soon joined by her older sibling……and mom…who scooped the baby up, put her on her back and climbed away, followed closely by the older sibling. Bye, monkey family!In the interest of good memories, please enjoy this floral interlude while the real Mari and Chris continue to clomp along in hunger and oozy feet until a security guard takes pity on our exhaustion and calls us a cab. “Want to go to a museum?” Chris asked once we were in the back of the cab headed back toward the city. I gave him one of those Looks. He started over: “Do you just wanna….get dinner?” “I don’t care what we do later so long as food is our next stop. I’m not doing anything until I’m fed,” I said, still thoroughly soaked. “Ok, where do you want to eat?” Chris asked. “Ummm, between our hotel and the Raffles there’s an Australian restaurant, maybe an Italian and a German place.” “Ooo! Italian!” said Chris. Upon arrival it turned out O’Gambinos was an Irish-Italian restaurant. Two Americans eating Irish-Italian food in Singapore felt like a little too much food fusion, so Chris pulled me over to Brotzeit. “Look! They have Paulaner!!” And just like that, our troubles were over and a taxing day became a fine adventure!