Singapore

Singapore wildlife: Oriental pied hornbill bird

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Given how small Singapore is, I’ve been surprised by the wildlife here that appears in urban life.

My Singapore wildlife bingo card of animals I want to see or come across looks something like this:

  1. Otters. DONE
  2. Monitor lizards. DONE
  3. Monkeys. DONE
  4. Boar. DONE
  5. Snake. DONE
  6. Crocodile. Yet to spot one here, but determined to see one (from afar, of course!) during my time here.
  7. Pangolin. Rare. Yet to spot one….but hoping to encounter a pangolin in Singapore or at least somewhere in South East Asia.
  8. Oriental pied hornbill. DONE

So far, I’ve managed to see most of the above in my random wanderings here, often when I least expect to see them.

One of my earlier encounters in Singapore was a really interesting looking bird, one that I had never heard of before. I had only learned about this bird through a work colleague and so whilst I had just learned about them when I moved here, I was able to identify it when I encountered one. They are such an interesting looking bird.

One weekday morning, I unexpectedly came across this bird perched on my apartment balcony. Such a rare sighting especially in a residential urban area.

Check out this Oriental pied hornbill that was on my balcony (at the time I lived on the fourth floor) near my laundry washing stand. It freaked me out to see such a large bird on my balcony, within a condo complex. I was able to catch a fleeting photo before it flew off. But it was super cool to see one so close. (This encounter was back in November 2021)

This is the one and only photo I got of it, although have seen them since in trees from afar. Their bills are so fascinating – it’s a like a doublebeak. Anyway this was a very cool bird spotting from the comfort of my then apartment.

I’ll continue to post more of my wildlife bingo encounters.

High tea + Beer at the world’s highest urban microbrewery

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Otherwise known as high tea at Level 33.

It’s been a few years since I’ve posted some high tea reviews, and I have a backlog of them!

One of my more recent favourites, and one of the most tastiest ones I’ve done, particularly in Singapore so far was the high tea beer set at Level 33 which I did back in April this year.

There were no teas on offer, nor, much to my dismay, were there scones either, but there was a beer flight (which I thought was cool) and lots of tasty dude food. The set focused more on savoury rather than the sweets, which I much prefer, washed down with some beers. This is probably one of the more gent-friendly (less girly) high tea offerings out there. Nonetheless, our party of four ladies had a great afternoon out, in a mid-week public holiday. The views over Marina Bay were a bonus.

Level 33 (name of the venue) is, you guessed it, located on level 33. It is self-proclaimed as the world’s highest urban microbrewery, and I’ll take them at their word for it. I had dined here before previously, but this was my first time to do the high tea set, which was only offered at the time on weekday afternoons, so needed to find a public holiday on a weekday to tick this one off the list.

Level 33 is, you guessed it, on level 33 and is self-claimed as the world’s highest urban microbrewery.

The menu:

I appreciated that there were two tiers dedicated to savoury food! All of which was tasty. This is my kind of afternoon tea – more savoury, less sweet.

Mini sliders, fish, prawns, spring rolls, breads and other savoury delights.

A beer flight to wash it all down.

Loved the napkin (above) detail!

Sadly no scones, which would have officially made this the best high tea offering ever, but there was pavlova! I liked that these were the only 2 sweets as part of the set (and thankfully, not a macaroon in sight!)

I highly rate this afternoon tea – points for the beer flight, savoury morsels and views.

Otter alert

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Something I did not know prior to moving to Singapore was the local wildlife – otters in particular. Imagine my surprise the first time I had my wild otter encounter! So exciting.

Who knew there were so many otters here?! My first year or so in Singapore, particularly in the pandemic and during the lockdown days, I spent a lot of time doing walks to familiarise myself with the neighbourhood etc. One of my regular walks close to home was along the Singapore river.

One of my early encounters back in 2021, was a romp of otters along the Singapore river, where they romped across the pedestrian walkpath and were also frolicking in a nearby condo water feature!

Locals gathering round to spot the other locals.

River walk at dusk.

Spotting otters is my Singapore obsession. Coming across them always makes my day. It’s always a treat to spot otters.