We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you

Singapore zoo is an amazing place. If you ever get the chance to go then do. It is billed as an "open" zoo, which means that other than some of the faster moving and jumping big cats, nothing is in a cage. Monkeys can roam free (Eve will never try to grab a cotton topped Tamarin again), the deer or giraffe could jump out of their enclosure but clearly can't be bothered, and the white rhino sat in their mud a few metres away eyeing us with boredom. There was something a bit unnerving about looking at a lion or tiger with no bars between you and the animal, but there have been no deaths as yet so I figure they are doing something right. A friend of mine strongly believes that the approach of the zoo is synonymous with the political approach in Singapore in that if you keep the captives well fed and happy then they have no reason to make a fuss.

Eve loved the zoo, but not in the usual "ahh, there are cute animals" way. In fact, she largely ignored most of the animals and seemed very non-plussed at all the tigers and rhinos and elephants that her mummy was getting excited over. Being a very child friendly place, for a small fee you could rent a little khaki green truck thing that you could seat your toddler in and push or pull them around. We got one with a little door. Eve loved it. It would not be an exaggeration to say she found it the most exciting part of the whole zoo experience and would not be parted from it. While we were waiting for the jaguar feeding Eve decided that she wanted to push the cart herself. As we were, at this point, sandwiched in a small hot room with about 30 other people I wouldn't let her, there was nowhere to push it except into other peoples' knees. Cue a meltdown of the strongest, and loudest order, so that in my very British-my-child-cannot-ever-disrupt-other-people way I ended up taking her out of the room. However, I couldn't get the cart and a screaming Eve out of the tiny room so left the cart there, which made her even louder and more upset. Until I showed her a little yellow flower, which she pulled apart, and all was right with the world.