On Saturday, I took a diversion from my bus trip to Toa Payoh to go see MacRitchie Reservoir.  Prescott and I had been to MacRitchie once before, but we’d been on a hiking trail further north and had never actually seen the water.  So it was a surprise to come up over a short rise and see this:

There were boathouses and people out rowing and kayaking in marked lanes (you can see them on the right in the photo below if you squint).

Because it’s Singapore, the park area around the southern end of the reservoir was perfectly manicured.

And there were flowers everywhere:

But the biggest surprise was having a whole troop of monkeys run right across my path just as I finished crossing a bridge.

Once they reached the shade, they mostly just hung out on the wall and in the trees.  I like how contemplative they started to look.

For the next outdoor adventure, Prescott and I hiked up Bukit Timah Hill on Sunday morning.

But instead of finding the monkeys that are usually there (and about which the government has placed abundant warnings) …

… the only animals we found were a very large golden silk orb-weaver …

… and an even larger, very lazy cat:

Prescott and I also played on the playground equipment and the rope bridge at Hindhede Nature Park (until we were chased off of the mini-zip line for being too old — sigh).