The animals were headed just around the bend

There are some who would question the taste of going to the Ford Factory on Bukit Timah Road, where the British surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, on Singapore's National Day, but it has a logic; that was the moment which convinced Singaporeans they would have to ultimately be a locally-ruled nation, not depending on the leftover attention people half a world away would toss them. Plus it seemed just one bus ride away, easy to return home should spaceroo (who's posted select pictures of the Jurong Crocodile and Reptile Paradise) feel much worse. The combination of a lot of medicines and sleep left him feeling better, but, you never know. So we plunged forward into a day of unimaginable amounts of walking around in the hot sun.

( This is an abnormally long entry. Behind this cut are our attempts to find the Ford Factory, and then our attempt to see pangolins in the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. )

Here I have to gripe a bit. The 927 bus, running from Choa Chu Kang to the Zoo and Night Safari, allegedly runs every 26 minutes. Therefore, one should not under any circumstances have a 48 minute wait for a bus, should one? While the berth at Choa Chu Kang is a fine structure, I'd have found the Night Safari a more fascinating one.

( We then went to the Night Safari, the after-dark side of the Singapore Zoo, where we hoped we could see capybaras, but instead found otters and porcupines. )

Altogether today, I'd estimate we walked about a hundred million bajillion kilometers, most of it uphill, and we should now go pass out for a couple weeks.

Trivia: The installation of vents and pumps for safe handling of Centaur upper stages on orbiters Challenger and Discovery cost approximately US$5 million each. Source: Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System, Dennis R Jenkins.

Currently Reading: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones.