Tag: Singapore Airlines

Notes from 38000 feet.

Trying to occupy myself on the fourteen hour leg from Singapore back home I wrote a few short notes about our trip to Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. The list is below and I haven’t added anything since I got back so it really is a snapshot with little editing. If I were to compile it now it might be a little different but probably not much.  The list is in no particular order and lots of research went in to 1, 8 and 12.

  1. New Zealanders make the best coffee.
  2. Singapore is an excellent stopover en route to New Zealand, there is so much to see and do.
  3. 23Kg is a more than generous luggage allowance and you don’t need to use it all and you have to lug it around with you.
  4. I thought I knew what rain was until I went to tropical Queensland.
  5. Botanic gardens don’t have to be dull and boring
  6. New Zealand is a wonderful country in which to drive a  car, the roads are so quiet.
  7. Koala Bears are bigger than I imagined and difficult to spot in the trees.
  8. Craft beer is a big thing in New Zealand and beers are very good.
  9. The breakfast on Singapore Airlines is excellent
  10. There is so much more to the Red Centre of Australia than Uluru.
  11. Spending part of the winter in the Southern Hemisphere is so much better than spending it in the cold and damp of the UK.
  12. Old vine Grenache from the Barossa Valley really is excellent
  13. There is hardly any litter in New Zealand.
  14. Almost everyone we met on our trip were positive, friendly and helpful
  15. There is so much still to see and do in Australia. We need to go back as soon as we can.

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!