Sassy Mama Field Trip: Turtles and Temples in the Chinese Garden

Let’s go see the turtles – before it’s too late!

One of the oh-so many reasons we love Singapore here at Sassy Mama is the abundance of parks and playgrounds, wet areas and other free stuff available to help families entertain their children. The truth is, we’re actually struggling to keep up with our own excursion plans! But whenever we have difficulties choosing which outing to do, there is something that always bumps an activity to the top of our list; if it’s something a bit out of the ordinary… Like a turtle museum for instance! And there so just happens to be The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum located smack in the middle of the gorgeous Chinese Garden in Jurong East. Double whammy! Sad news is though, this cute place might be closing soon (they had an extension after the petition but when it will close is yet unsure.)

This beautiful park is easy to get to on the MRT and offers some worth-seeing architectural sights surrounded by an immaculately kept garden. It is located right next to Chinese Garden MRT Station and also connects to its next-door neighbour, the Japanese Garden, by a bridge. This time we went mainly to check out the little turtle museum but brought a packed lunch (to be on the safe side), which I’m glad we did because there were no food stalls or shops suitable for children as far as I could see on the way from the MRT to the garden.

The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum is really more of a tiny turtle park or zoo where these chilled reptiles cruise around waiting for visitors to feed them some veggies. The actual museum grounds are very small and a bit run down but both my boys were absolutely thrilled to see so many turtles walking about, being able to touch them and we ended up spending a good half hour feeding and watching the animals. Entry fees are nominal at $5 per adult and $3 per child. If you’re in the mood to hand out some turtle food, just add another $2.
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Watching our half-shell friends chew down all that lovely lettuce had clearly worked up the boys’ appetite, so we went in search of a nice spot to eat our picnic. And the fact that the turtle museum is located in the Chinese Garden is probably what makes the trek out to Jurong East worthwhile, since this can easily be transformed into a lovely half-day outing with the kiddos. After we finished our lunch we slowly started walking back towards the MRT while exploring the gardens a bit more.

The only thing that cast a shadow over an otherwise close to perfect family outing, was being stopped by two ladies upon exiting the park who told us they had just walked past a big cobra on the path to the MRT. Ugh, guess not all reptiles are welcome on a family outing!

The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum at the Chinese Garden
1 Chinese Garden Road, Singapore 619795
Tel: (+65) 6268 5363
Website

Open: 9 am-6 pm daily

Getting There: The museum is a 5-minute walk from the Chinese Garden MRT Station (EW25).