Singapore – Day 2
Saturday, 17-Oct-2015
Tags: Travel
Morning:
Gardens by the Bay, a park spanning (250 acres adjacent to the Marina Bay area). This beautifully laid-out park has lakes, outdoor garden areas, walkways, 2 cooled conservatories under domes, and a “grove of supertrees" with a “tree-top” walkway. [Some of the notes below were borrowed from Wikipedia.] The park itself is free, with admission charged for the two domes and the walkway.
Also in Marina Bay is the spectacular Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
The Supertrees are huge tree-like structures, vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading, and working as environmental engines for the gardens. They are fitted with photovoltaic cells to provide lighting for the Supertrees and serve air intake and exhaust functions as part of the conservatories' cooling systems. There is also an elevated walkway, the OCBC Skyway, between two of the larger Supertrees, which we walked.
The Cloud Forest Conservatory first – It replicates the cool moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions between 3,300 ft and 9,800 ft above sea level, found in South-East Asia, Middle- and South America. It features a 138 ft "Cloud Mountain," accessible by an elevator, and visitors descend the mountain via a circular path where a 115 ft waterfall provides visitors with refreshing cool air. The "Cloud Mountain" itself is an intricate structure completely clad in epiphytes such as orchids, ferns, mosses, and bromeliads. It consists of a number of levels, each with a different theme.
Pitcher plants, real and lego!
Here’s a shot of the Flower Dome from a distance, with the Singapore Flyer in the background.
The Flower Dome – The Flower Dome replicates a mild, dry climate and features plants found in the Mediterranean and other semi-arid tropical regions (e.g. parts of Australia, South America, South Africa). It also has a huge center section for special exhibits, which was a celebration of chrysanthemums.
Afternoon:
Southern Ridges Parks, a trail system that runs for 11 km along connected parks along the south part of the island, a little west of central Singapore. We took the SMRT subway to Harborfront, intending to head up to Mt. Faber first. The cable car system there had a line to Sentosa Island and one to Mount Faber. There was no ticket to just one of them, and the combined ticket was quite expensive, so we ended up take a short taxi ride up to Mt. Faber. It turns out there was a path (up, up, up) we could have walked, but it was nice to get driven to the top to start our trail walk.
The Southern Ridges is made up of Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park, HortPark, Kent Ridge Park and Labrador Nature Reserve. We walked from Mount Faber to Telok Blangah Hill Park, crossing the Henderson Wave bridge that connects the two parks. It was quiet and relaxing. From Telok Blangah Hill Park, we walked downhill to pick up a bus that conveniently had a stop nearby our hotel.
After showering and relaxing, we headed via the SMRT subway to dinner in Little India, eating at the Tekka Food Court.
Then we took the SMRT back to Gardens by the Bay to catch the very end of the light show, and then went to the lobby of the amazing Marina Bay Sands hotel across from the Gardens. Then back to the hotel for the night.
--
Larry and Eileen Samberg
