Postcards From Here and There

Singapore – Gardens by the Bay

The Gardens by the Bay, which opened in 2012, are botanical gardens for the twenty first century. Built on over 100 hectares of land reclaimed from the sea they are an ambitious attempt to bring a greater understanding of the importance and role of plants to our planet and their place in our cities. It was the aim to develop Singapore as a city in a garden. Despite such lofty ambitions the gardens have not lost any sense of the fun and magic that a area such as this should have.

Gardens by the Bay have grown to be the number one tourist attraction in Singapore attracting over 8 million visitors since opening. Having said that it doesn’t feel crowded when you visit, the whole experience is very well managed. Entrance to the gardens is free but if you want to visit the two giant conservatories then there is a charge of 28SD but if you can prove you flew with Singapore Airlines there is a 10% discount.

The two conservatories, The Flower Dome and The Cloud Forest are the two key attractions and are a must to visit. Both are wonders of construction, vast domes free of any obvious supporting column on view. They are at a comfortable temperature and are designed to have minimum environmental impact. Even if you don’t like walking round gardens I fail to see how you couldn’t be impressed by these wondrous creations. They are simply spectacular and well worth the entrance fee.

The Flower Dome concentrates on the Mediterranean and sub tropical climates are there are numerous ever changing displays of flowers all of which are displayed creatively. There are the most amazing olive trees which look like they have been there since time began, old and gnarly. London chef Jason Atherton even has a restaurant (Pollen) situated inside the dome.

The Cloud Forest is the smaller of the two domes and features mountainous tropical regions of the world. The central feature is a huge waterfall which you ascend by lift for some amazing views and then depend by a series of escalators through various exhibition spaces. This Cloud Forest mountain is clad in the most amazing display of plants such as ferns and epiphytes. The plants on view in here include rare orchids, insectivorous plants and pitcher plants.

The OCBC Skyway is an elevated walkway 22m up in the Super Tree Grove. A separate entrance fee is charged here (8SD). the walkway takes only around 10 minutes to complete but does afford some spectacular views not only of the gardens but the city itself. at night the whole are is illuminated with a sound and licht show. Tickets to the walkway are bought separately to the two domes as they sometimes need to close it if the weather isn’t suitable.

A visit to The Gardens by the Bay should be a must on anyones itinerary during a stay in Singapore. Trust me when I say this I’m a botanist if a somewhat reluctant gardener!

Singapore – the old and the new.

Singapore is a place of great contrast with new skyscrapers vying for space with old style colonial buildings. It makes for a remarkable skyline, especially at night when the buildings become almost a city wide art installation.

The Fullerton Hotel, (building opened in i928), is dwarfed by the financial buildings that make up the backdrop.

Singapore is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and is quite an amazing place. The tropical climate gives a temperature in the high twenties/low thirties but humidity is high and there is a rainy season between November and February but after the cold of a British winter I can put up with that.

Making Plans

Back in the mid 80’s The A Team was a popular TV series. The show featured four, ex military, “good guys” wrongly accused of a crime and pursued by the military police. While evading capture they became mercenaries, helping the disadvantaged, oppressed and preyed upon get justice. One of the characters was Hannibal Smith (played by George Peppard) whose catch phrase “I love it when a plan comes together” featured in virtually all episodes.

I always think of it when travel plans begin to take shape and the day of departure draws closer. Our up and coming trip to New Zealand and Australia has been in the planning (on and off) for almost eleven months. I’ve read the guide books, travel blogs, searched the web and made copious lists and notes. The planning is almost as good as the travel itself. Almost, but not quite!

Planning is so much easier today with with so much information available at just the touch of a button and some very knowledgeable independent travel agents. I wonder just for how long the traditional travel guide will survive in its current form. It would certainly help the packing if I moved to electronic versions instead but old habits die hard.

Of all the activities associated with travelling I think packing is my least favourite. I even enjoy the airport experience much more. The trouble with packing is that there are too many decisions to make. As a result I always end up taking stuff that I never use. Perhaps the lesson is to take less but then I’d worry that the stuff I left behind was the stuff that I actually needed. As for using packing Apps – they’re horrendous for me. The lists are enormous, the possibilities endless. So much choice equals too much stress.

Then there are the passports. No packed item gets checked as many times as the passports. They have a remarkable capacity to hide in the deepest recesses of my carry on bag only to suddenly reappear as the stress level reaches glass of wine level.

Even so its all worth it in the end. The plans are made, bags are packed, currency bought, electronic devices charged and the taxi booked. Now, where did I put the passports?