Second part of a unexpected day in Singapore, due to delays travelling between New Zealand and Nepal. I walked 25km in the heat and humidity to visit the Singapore Botanic Gardens in the morning, and Gardens by the Bay in the afternoon.
When I last visited Singapore in 2012 Gardens by the Bay had only just opened. The area has developed hugely since, with imaginative and varied mini gardens throughout.
Marina Sounds is a sizeable presence with nothing large close to it.
I didn’t head up the Supertree Grove as it was uncomfortably hot just standing in the shade below them, and I’d visited them on my previous trip.
The Flower Dome wasn’t open on my last trip, and was a delight to finally visit. It’s less showy than the neighbouring Cloud Forest but has an amazing collection of plants from around the world, including a magnificent range of cacti and succulents, and many mature trees. Apparently it is the largest glass greenhouse in the world, an impressive engineering and architectural achievement.
There were also some slightly random statues in amongst the plants.
The Cloud Forest is the one for social media though, with so many jaw dropping moments, starting with the huge waterfall when you enter.
Just to the right from here is a beautiful Māori kuwaha sculpture gifted by New Zealand in April 2022, six months before I visited Singapore.
After a lift to the top, walkways lead you down past more views and artwork. The walkways seen from below are pretty striking.
Every two hours the plants are watered with a fine mist from hundreds of spray, creating quite an atmosphere inside the dome.
There was a slightly weird / somewhat well suited Avatar exhibition on when I visited, with life size models of the various fantastical creatures from the films in the bushes.
To finish with the view of part of the Singapore skyline from the gardens.
