Renzo's trip to the animal farm

Renzo has been hinting me that he wanted to go to the Zoo in recent days with liners like "Daddy, you have to drive the car and bring Renzo to the Zoo. Then Renzo can see the Zebras", while bringing his little chubby hands up to his eyes to make an pair of imaginary binoculars. But despite having a helper to look after Rynus, generally Mummy Chan and myself still prefer not to be out of the house to too long a period of time and even if we do, we are usually pretty near home (able to reach home within 30 minutes).

So as an alternative to satisfy Renzo's craving to see animals, we decided to bring him to the Pasir Ris Kid's Kampong at Pasir Ris Farmway. Not only was it soooo much closer to home, but it is a hell lot cheaper too... (but of course, ducks and fishes compared to tigers and pandas... Zoo wins hands-down).

It was to Pasir Ris White Sands first for a hearty brunch at Pepper Lunch. It being one of the few times that we actually dined at Pepper Lunch, I didn't even know what was on the menu. Spent quite some time there deciding what to eat and ended up with the first item on the menu, something which I usually do when visiting an eatery for the first time.. (on the assumption that the first item is usually a dish that the establishment is most proud of...lol)

After the meal, we headed to the Bus Interchange to catch Bus 88 which would bring us to within 10 minutes walking distance from the animal farm. The journey after getting off the bus wasn't the most pleasurable. The roads, though wide and empty, were strewn with dead snakes that were run over by passing vehicles... we were even 'lucky' enough to come across one that was 'freshly crushed'... the poor reptile in a struggling slither, trying to maneuver in its pathetic state... disheartening sight.

A couple of turns left and right later, rain starting pouring... and all we were armed with was a little foldable brolly in Mummy Chan's bag that would have to shelter us all the way to the farm. Thankfully we made it there in a relatively dry state and when we did, the pouring rain subsided to a drizzle.

We inspected the place a little and spoke to the usher whom advised us that because of the rain, the visit might not be as fun as it would be during sunny afternoons but we could still buy the packets of feeds and let Renzo have some fun feeding the little animals. And so we did. For a mere $3, 2 adults and 1 child gained admission and given 3 neatly packed animal feeds (1 for chicken/ducks, 1 for fish/tortoises and 1 for bunnies/rabbits)

First stop was the over-populated koi pond with hundred of always-hungry fish. Feeding them was pretty fun and it was interesting to see the fish rushing up to the edge of the pond, all eagerly anticipating Renzo's handful of fish feeds to hit the water and they'll rush at them in a frenzied state.

Then there were the ducks (or were they geese?...seems too huge to be ducks) enclosure. Honestly I have no idea how to feed these guys on a rainy day. Their feeding bowl was flooded with muddy water and there was no way I'd let them eat off Renzo's hand, anyway, Renzo was too short to reach over the fence. So in the end, Renzo just throw the corn feed all over the muddy floors and also into the flood bowl, but they (ducks/geese) seem happy enough to gobble the food up anyway... =/

Next came the rabbits and bunnies, which I found more fun as them being mammals, they seems to really have a high level of intelligence and generally look warmer and more huggable than fish and fowls..lol... Many of them perched up against the wire mesh cage, seemingly really crying out for food. But judging from their large sizes, I'd say either there were plenty of visitors or the owners really do feed them well. Renzo gently rolled the food pellets into the funnel and watched as the pellets rolled down into the food bowl in the cages... and into the mouths of the little critters.

Lastly the chicken coop (which we failed to notice on our first round around the feeding area). And housed in it were aggressive roosters and hens. If I understood their language, I'm sure I would have been hearing curses and swears for Renzo not giving them more corn.

So after the last bit of corn was dropped onto the floor of the chicken coop, we headed to the lobby and tried to book a cab. But turns out that the rain stopped before we could even confirm a booking. With that, we made our way out and back onto the main roads on foot, with Renzo mischievously jumping into every puddle that he came across. At the bus stop, we realised that there was a direct bus that would bring us directly back home and the first thing that Renzo did upon boarding the bus was to nestle into mummy's cradle and sleep throughout the journey home...