A tray full of frogs

Frustrations of an active job seeker:
1. Waiting for a call, any call.
2. Spending a lot of time customising cover letters for different roles - and then not hearing back from any of them.
3. Filling online applications on websites - entering the same information for the umpteenth time, sometimes seeing messages like "Unexpected error. Please log in again." and having to start over again.
4. Capturing that fleeting will to go on with the job search.

Joys of an active job seeker:
1. No strict agendas for each passing day - free to sleep, write, watch TV, listen to music, eat, read, travel around and not having to worry about time.

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On my way to the bus stop, I pass a restaurant. Judging by the number of customers, it appears to be a popular choice in the area. There are two wire-meshed cages stacked on top of each other on the side of  restaurant. The bottom cage has live crabs, tied up. And the top cage has a tray full of large frogs, submerged in a little water. The crabs seem partly unconscious, the frogs however, look very much alive though they have no space to move around freely. Usually by the time I return from my trips, a significant number of the animals are missing and have been processed to frog soup or sea food dishes.

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Yesterday (after many weeks of planning), I decided to visit the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which is supposedly 3 bus stops away. But I boarded the wrong bus and ended up at the Singapore Botanical Gardens (SBG) instead.

It was my first time in a botanical garden in a long time. The last time I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) might have been during my school years. Sri Lanka's gardens being very impressive in itself for the collection of plants and landscaping, was somewhat laced with a reputation for being a hot spot for lovers, usually seen making out behind trees and bushes. It used to be a parent's horror to take their impressionable young children there. I wonder if things have changed now.

The efforts that have gone into the planning and maintaining of the garden was evident in the aesthetically pleasing atmosphere. It is hard to imagine that an environment like this thrives next door to a busy central business district and I thought it did a wonderful job of showcasing the diversity of plants that make themselves home in tropical rainforests and educating the public on other classes of flora. That too, without charging any admission fees.

 

There are several lakes, different mini-gardens and plenty of places to relax, play, exercise and picnic. The Nparks Headquarters and the National Biodiversity Centre were also located inside the SBG. A rather cool play to have an office, I'll say! In my few hours there, I was only able to explore the Evolution Garden properly, walk from one gate to the other on the opposite side and sit by the Swan Lake to watch the swans, large fish and red-eared sliders. I'll need another day (or days) to explore the rest of it.

And that's how it all began. Millions of years of chemical reactions and evolutionary adaptations later, here WE are

 

 Cycads - they've seen the dinosaurs in the Jurassic period and have evolved little since then!

Not a pile of poop but a moss covered stone being touched by rays of sunshine that made its way to the forest floor. Also on close up, structures for spore dispersal were visible. Mosses are cute.

 

A commendable idea, implemented at several locations around the gardens

On returning home, relaxed and satisfied about taking some initiative to leave the couch and burn some calories, I saw the precautionary note I had left for my housemates "Gone to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve". Leaving notes like that might be a bad idea sometimes.

Oh, I'll also remember NEVER to try the mint and chocolate chip ice cream sold there again.