Lion King in Singapore

When my parents came back from Canada more than 5 years ago, they insisted we make an effort to go watch the Lion King, the theatre production if we had the chance.

When we went to London in 2009, they reminded KS and I to try catch the show but we ended up watching We Will Rock You instead (which was absolutely fun!). 

So when The Lion King came to Singapore and before it ended its run, KS and I decided to go catch it and do our annual Singapore trip.

We booked into the Ibis Hotel in Novena via Hotels.com and was pleasantly surprised by the well planned room. Clean, sufficiently equipped with really tiny stuff which I don't normally use like the smallest fridge I've ever seen, small wardrobe, small kettle but they were generous when it came to things that mattered like a huge TV, comfy pillows and free wifi. It's about a 10-12 minute walk to Novena MRT station which was slightly less than 1km away.

First stop we made was to meet up with Jan and make our way to:

Despite my frequent trips to Singapore when I was younger, I never got the chance to go to the Night Safari. So this was a treat. It was great having to see the animals actually moving rather than us trying to whistle, cajole and call out to make them flicker during the normal zoo hours. I couldn't take much photos but here are some:

Cute zebra chairs

This tiger here was the highlight of our trip because it was sitting right at the viewing glass. Some kid was toddling in front of it when it got annoyed and tried to smite the kid down with its giant paw. Everyone then gave it a respectable distance despite the glass. Jan and I then went right in front of it and I tried to offer the back of my hand. But every time I did, it snarled. So yeah, certified wild.

In the end, it got bored, turned around and started drinking as seen here.

Bus stop at the Night Safari

By the time we got back, it was past midnight.

Next day was spent admiring the Marina Bay Sands building and the surrounding buildings.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The "Boat" on top of the three buildings

Oh, and of course our jumping shots.

The failed Merlion jump in front of the Durian. KS looks like he's in pain.

Marina Bay Sands: Reminds me of the British Museum

Glass ceiling at the British Museum

Okay, okay, it also looks like the Musee de Orsay

Anyway, KS and I caught our 2pm matinee for the Lion King there.

The verdict? It was good! I won't say mind blowing because we already know the story line and we were went in with pretty high expectations. Still, I enjoyed myself, especially when they performed some of my favourite songs from a cassette I bought right after the cartoon came out in the 90s, Rhythm of the Pride Lands.

The costumes were outstanding (I liked that the guy playing Zazu wore a bowler hat, very British! Or the little contraption for the heads of Mufasa and Scar) and I loved it when Rafiki spoke in er... a foreign language with all the tongue clicking sounds. She had such a powerful voice too! The kid who played young Simba was also simply amazing! Stole our hearts.

Feeling happy right after the show, we indulged in some cupcakes:

Mahal gile!

And again with Hummingbird cake the next day :)

After such a lovely time in Singapore, we took our First Coach bus back to Malaysia, a most comfortable ride (plus I managed to watch four episode of Bones on my personal screen!). However, it made an unfortunate pit stop at Macap along the highway. The place was swarming with flies!

See the little black dots?

Of course over a hundred came along into the bus and followed us back to KL.

Welcome back to Malaysia! Sigh.

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