After a wonderful breakfast and now that we are experts at the subway in Singapore, we decided today to explore Gardens in the Bay.
We first took the elevator down to the underground passage and then over to the subway to get to the Gardens by the Bay station. Gardens by the Bay is another “complex” in Singapore that is mainly directed to tourists. It has several areas that can be explored of which we are going to do a couple of them. Again, torrential rains are expected later this afternoon, so we are out fairly early to try and get some sightseeing done.
Here is a map above of the Gardens by the Bay area which shows it sort of a pie shaped area in downtown Singapore. We walked from the Gardens by the Bay MRT station along the waterfront until we got to the Cloud Forest which is a HUGE dome – sort of like a thin egg – on its side. Next to it is a similar sized dome, the Flower Dome. We entered the Cloud Forest first and while I cannot remember how high the structure is, however, it is VERY high – more than 10 stories I would estimate. The entrance with the dinosaurs that were slightly moving like very tall giraffes, were an incredible sight to see! This currently is a Jurassic Park Exhibit and you will see why very shortly…
We could hear some roaring when we walked in, and when we walked up the left side of the Cloud Dome and around the corner what did we run into? This Jurassic Park Dinosaur!
Next, we walked across a bridge and to an elevator to go up into the Cloud Forest. Now, I had seen some structural elements to the building as we approached the building, however I did not realize they were walkways until we got UP to the top and realized exactly how high up we were! They again were metal and my walker was making all kinds of noises and I was NOT feeling well with the height and the walkway jutting out into the Cloud Dome! It was also VERY steamy inside which probably added to the effects I was feeling! There were some exquisite flower displays up top, which I have taken some pictures of:
Then we came to a pond of Italian glass flowers and the Carnivorous Plant display!
Most people at this time made their way down the Cloud Forest by escalator, however I was banned from them so we had to take the elevator down floor by floor to see the different displays on each floor. Some had more walkways out into the dome and one had a walkway to view the waterfall that was at the entrance of the Cloud Forest we saw – but now we were at the top of it! Again, a titillating experience looking down to take that picture! On one of the lobbies of the floors there were examples of some stalactites from caves and then another cute display where they are incubating dinosaur eggs and counting down until they are hatched. It was all animatronics however the kids sure liked it!
Back on the ground now, we exited the gift shop and got directions to our next attraction which was the Tour of Gardens by the Bay by open air bus. On our way there though I spotted a Shake Shack which is a popular American Chain Restaurant and we decided it was time to have something to cool down. Andrew had some custard ice cream while I had a chocolate shake. We then made our way to the Tour location where we got onto the little bus and we were driven around the different areas of the Gardens by the Bay. We took this tour as I knew I was not going to have the stamina in this heat to visit all the areas and I wanted to experience the full Gardens in the Bay display. In the picture I posted at the beginning of this blog, it was basically all the yellow numbered places around the Supertree Grove on the map at the top.
After that, we visited the Flower Dome which was MUCH less intensive than the Cloud Forest! It contained flower displays from around the world. It sure had an impact on all senses too! Especially the wonderful smells that flowers admit! I was so taken back by the number of different displays from countries (Canada was missing) from around the world that were mostly tropical – and all the different types of fuchsias in vast quantity on display! The lilies were also very beautiful too!
As it is also Christmas time, they had multiple train displays too which were fun to see! Andrew was in his element here! It also reminded me of my grandfather’s train display in his basement – however these were bigger trains and there were about 8 different displays – very intricate! When walking around the displays the buildings did not look like they were from Singapore though and I was right – the one building display was on loan from North Carolina!
Unfortunately, today the Observation Deck, which we had tickets to in the Supertree Grove was closed. They instead gave us tickets to the walkway between the towers which is pictured below. At this point in time, after experiencing the Cloud Forest and it was about to rain, we passed on going up to the walkway between the Supertree Grove structures and decided to just keep walking along to the MRT station at Bayfront which is on the Southern side or bottom of the map for the Gardens in the Bay. The pictures below do not capture the sky correctly – it was getting quite grey above us! Above the Bayfront Station there is a GIANT hotel complex which I took some pictures of – some of the architecture in Singapore does remind me of Dubai – they really do like to compete and outdo each other!
Back at the hotel now, we had a very nice dinner in the Westin Lounge again – Andrew partaking in the buffet provided and the chef cooking me a chicken sandwich again. The service in this lounge was impeccable! I have visited a lot of lounges in hotels around the world however this one takes the cake so far – the Orchid Hotel in Bangkok comes a close second, however this one is much better overall!
Tomorrow we are going to change hotels to the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport for two reasons – we are flying out of Changi airport on our way to Okinawa, Japan on our way home, and I wanted to spend some time at this airport as it is rated number 1 in the world by Skytrax Magazine, which does all the Travel Rankings for hotels and airlines each year. The Vancouver Airport is the number 1 airport in North America for many years running and Changi has a similar track record of years running, but best in the world! Lets see what they have to offer!