My little girl’s biggest desire is to be like Bindi Irwin, a jungle girl. I’ve been racking my brain for ways to encourage her in her love for rain forests, animals (especially endangered) and all the creatures of God’s big wide world. Am I at a loss. Most activities here are catered to sports, cheerleading, dance, music and the like. There really isn’t much for a budding scientist. I feel a bit frustrated as I could make some strides to develop this dream for my daughter if we were still in SE Asia. I could think of so many things that we have done or could do. I could spend days nurturing my little enthusiast with just a week in Singapore. It is no secret that I love this little Island State. To me it is a perfect destination. It is East meets West…City meets Jungle. The Singaporians are very conscious of being “green” in the newer generations. I would love to be able to hop on a plane and take Gracyn there to experience some wild life and beautiful botanics. We have been there so many times yet Gracyn is at an age where she could really appreciate it. She loved it years ago but we could do so much more to enrich her learning. We would go to The Singapore Zoo which is to me the world’s best zoo. The animals are well cared for and have as natural a habitat as possible. I have just discovered that the zoo offers a week long camp for kids to exlore the zoo and once you are 10 you can participate in a junior zoo keepers experience. Gracyn is dying to do both of these! We would go to Jurong Bird Park. There are hundreds of species of birds. When we were last there we were able to go inside a bird canopy above the trees and feed Lorikeets. You can purchase little cups of nectar and the Lorikeets will perch on your cup and drink! Jurong Bird Park truly is the place where “rainbows have wings”. Singapore also has a night safari, many botanical gardens and parks. You can go to Sentosa Island and interact with Macaque monkies. They are playful and naughty. They will steal any treats left unattended and run them up a tree. You can visit the butterfly park, swim with the pink dolphins or see the aquarium. Anyone would have a hard time being bored in Singapore, unless you are not an easy to please individual. Singapore also has diverse cultures. You can visit Little India and eat an Indian meal with your hands off a banana leaf. Chinatown, Arab Street and Malay villages are also a neat stop. One of my fondest memories is walking the rain soaked streets of Arab Street with the sweet smell of curry wafting from each food establishment. It was a heart warming moment for me…I can’t explain it but it was one of those moments where I thought “life is beautiful”. Now whenever I smell curry, I am right back on those streets by myself in the rain. I am trying not to be discontent. After all we have experienced so many beautiful things. Recently while watching an episode of Bindi the Jungle Girl, Bindi talked about elephants in Thailand, many of the Singapore nature activities and about Koalas and kangaroos in Australia. I turned to Gracyn and reminded her how blessed she is because many kids watching the same episode can only dream of seeing every bit of that in person and Gracyn has seen every bit of it.