Singapore, Part Two

Singapore, November 5, 2014

I mentioned that much has changed in Singapore in the past five years and yesterday we enjoyed one of the great surprises of this building boom.  When Singapore gave permission for the construction of the casino and the three hotel towers, it also made a decision to use a good chunk of the money that would be generated by the casino revenues to build public parks.  One of these ventures is directly behind the casino and it is called the Gardens by the Bay.

It is a two hundred acre park that is filled with some of the most spectacular gardens you can imagine.  There is a grove of what they called Supertrees, which are made of metal and are very artistic –and at night are all lit up in different colors and visible for miles.  The gardens are anchored by two large domes, one housing flowers and trees, the other a Cloud Forest.  These domes are climate controlled; in fact they are microclimate controlled in that they can reproduce any climate they wish by controlling the water, heat, amount of sunlight and even the airflow.  In the Flower Dome there are no fewer than twelve microclimates ranging from desert to subtropical orchid gardens.  You can wander and wander around this vast dome and never know what will be around the next corner.

Cindy’s comments:  I forgot the camera and can hardly forgive myself!  We hoped to find some photos or postcards in the gift shop but there were none that captured the best flowers (although the link has a few good photos).  They had sculpted animals out of flowers or leaves – with help from chicken wire – including a life-sized elephant with water flowing through its trunk onto a baby elephant.  The best of all were two white peacocks; the birds were formed from feathers (with chicken wire) and their bodies tapered and flowed into a blanket of white orchids that formed the rest their tails.  Beautiful – and so clever.  Over to William …

The Cloud Forest features a seven-story cloud mountain with a hundred foot waterfall, which provides welcome moisture from the heat outside.  You take an elevator to the very top of the mountain and begin your walk down, passing through different flora typical of a tropical mountain range.  Needless to say, we had a ball walking around this moist mountain and marveling at all of the breath-taking flora.  This link will give you all the information you might like to have on Gardens by the Bay.

Last night we were royally wined and dined by Scott and Maz at their lovely apartment about 20 minutes from the hotel.  It was pleasant to be able to sit outside in the breeze and watch the traffic below and to get out of the hotel and into a neighborhood.  We started with a warm clam dip that Scott’s mom taught him how to make and it was divine. This was followed by a wide assortment of grilled vegetables, a green salad with blueberries and perfectly grilled Wagyu steaks.  I had heard of these famous steaks from Japan but never ate one, and my oh my, they live up to their reputation. 

On my walk this morning I noticed that the ArtScience Museum had an exhibition of Da Vinci featuring original masterpieces for the first time in Southeast Asia.  Over breakfast I suggested we go to the museum and Cindy almost fell off her chair.  We headed over the Helix Bridge to the museum filled with excitement - only to discover that I had failed to notice the small print which said that the exhibit opened on November 15^th so we were ten days early!  Since we were there we did visit the current exhibit on photography called an Ocean of Possibilities, which as the name implies was a bunch of pictures from various photographers from around the world.  It was rather intense and almost too much to take in in 90 minutes, but we managed.

It is now raining to beat the band. Thunder, lightning and all the good effects of a tropical downpour, which is sure to clear the air!  Off to Chiang Mai in Thailand tomorrow; stay tuned.  Cindy and Wm