Animal Kaiser Plus Version 2

 Today Jane returned to language school after the weekend. Classes start at 12:30 so we had the morning to explore.

We hadn’t explored one section of Orchard Road, so we went that way. There we found a new shopping center we hadn’t seen before, Centerpoint, which was much more mid-market than the ones further up the road. (There are a lot of shopping malls on Orchard Road.) we went in to check it out. The top floor was almost empty, but did have some foosball tables standing among the vast emptiness. We put our money in and played a game, during which Jane absolutely trounced me.

Nearby was a video game neither of us had seen before; Animal Kaiser Plus. It looked like a fighting game between two animals, and featured “real animals from around the world” that could attack each other with lightning storms and body throws. It also had some sort of trading card component. Curious, we counted our change and played a game.

As far as we could tell, it was mostly random - the type of attack and the force of the attack you could inflict on the other animal were based on spins of a wheel that had no skill component. So we played against each other like this with the default animals, two lions. At the end of the match (which Jane won), the machine did in fact dispense a card - this one for an African wild dog. You could take the card with you and scan it the next time you play if you want to play as an African wild dog. All in all it was the craziest thing ever, and we vowed to find more Animal Kaiser machines in Singapore.

After that it was time for Jane to head to class. We had some dumplings (at the same chain we went to the first night - really good), and she took the train to class while I went on the mission to do some laundry.

I’d found a laundromat nearby and was on my way there when I saw a laundry business that washes and folds laundry by the kilogram, so dropped it off there. This was about the same cost as the laundromat would have been, but also meant I no longer needed to wait around while it washed. Cool! It started raining, so when it let up I decided to go to Gardens By the Bay, thinking it would be less crowded having just rained.

I rode the subway there and went to the Marina Barrage, a giant dam at the mouth of the five main rivers downtown which separates them from the bay and creates a new freshwater reservoir. It was an impressive structure, and also provided a great view of the Singapore Strait filled with ships, one of the major passages for worldwide shipping.

Back at the bottom, it seemed like a good idea to rent a bike to ride to the Gardens. I found one, downloaded its app, and unlocked it, and right then it started to rain pretty hard.

So I waited until it calmed down and when it looked less intense, started riding. But it was still raining more than it had seemed. So I planned to make it to the next overpass and then wait it out. Right then the tires slipped and I fell over and scraped the ground. Immediately the bike also decided to end my rental, so now the wheel was locked again! Nuts.

I sort of rolled the bike to the overpass and waited for it to stop raining. The radar made it look like not anytime soon. Eventually there was a family riding in the other direction from the rain, and sure enough, it had mostly let up, so I re-rented the bike and started riding. 

I found a restroom and went in to clean up my leg. When I came back, the bike decided we were done again, and started asking me to verify it was parked it in a designated area. I tried everything to un-park it but it wouldn’t let me. Finally it timed out and charged me a $5 convenience fee for not parking in the right place. Double ugh. I vowed not to use their bikes anymore and started walking.

The gardens were as beautiful as Beth described. Walking through them was a soothing experience and helped me get over my frustration.

The way back to the station goes through the Marina Bay Sands, which is impressive from the city, but monumental from the bay side. Pictures don’t do it justice.

The route to the station then took several escalators though the shopping center (of course)/casino. This center stood out since every store was an ultra-luxury brand I had never heard of.

On the train back, I was minding my own business, when a man approached me. He and his wife had seen my leg, and they were offering me band-aids and some alcohol wipes! I very gladly accepted them. They even gave me some tissues to dry off the alcohol so the band-aids would stick. I thanked them profusely for showing kindness, and hope they had a great day after than.

Jane and I met up when her class let out and we went to an arcade where we had seen a Minecraft-themed video game. Yes, Minecraft is already a video game… but this was a scrolling-screen fighting game where all the characters and arenas were done in a blocky Minecraft style. As far as we could tell, it had nothing else to do with Minecraft. It was another card-dispensing game, though, so we sought out more cards. We were both excited to get them. You could use them to give your character additional abilities or strength, so with every continue we paid for, we’d get another one and immediately scan it to gain new powers.

The cards weren’t as interesting as Animal Kaiser, though, so we stopped and found the Animal Kaiser. This wasn’t just Animal Kaiser - it was Animal Kaiser Plus Version 2. A significant step up, we surmised. We played several rounds and got cards for some new animals - a Florida Bark Scorpion, a Sawfish, and a Black Rhinoceros. Each one defied nature - the Sawfish floated in the air to compete against other animals, and the Rhino would impale its enemy on its horn, start spinning fast, and launch said enemy into a hard surface to wound it - and so it was tremendously entertaining. We eventually got a good supply of cards.

We went back to the hotel to chill, and later went to dinner at Mozza, the Italian restaurant in the hotel, after getting a reservation. I’m sad we don’t have pictures of it - it was a very peaceful place and the food was fantastic - although like all places in the evening, it was really cold. We enjoyed it all the same.

That’s all for today - more tomorrow!