Singapore - Day 3 Flower Dome

 Flower Dome 

We walked into the largest greenhouse in the world prepared to be amazed. We were. Its relatively cool and dry climate provided a welcome relief from the humidity and heat outside. Eight gardens display plants from five continents.  Maybe we were just lucky to visit on a day when the gardens weren't crowded with tourists.     

The roof is free standing meaning no columns cast unwanted shade on the plants. Thousands of specially coated glass panels let in light while reducing the amount of heat passing through the roof.  Click here to read more about the remarkable technology employed to maintain the environments inside the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest.  

Kei-Chan - "a girl in a polka dot dress transports the viewer to a safe world of innocence and positive thinking..."

Numerous friendly bunnies hop about the Japanese island  Ōkunoshima better known as Rabbit Island.

These colorful rocks are actually juicy African plants disguised to look like stones. They are called stone plants, of course.

Singapore Day 3 - Supertrees

After a free breakfast at the nearby Henri Bistro restaurant, we once again boarded the MRT for Bayfront Station.  A long, bright and gleaming tunnel connects the station to the Gardens By the Bay.  

Across Dragonfly Bridge, Supertree Grove is just a short walk away.

 

I had purchased tickets in advance for the Supertree Observatory, OCBC Skyway, Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest in January. Now we get to "cash" them in!

Supertrees from the OCBC Skyway

Supertree "bark" of each of the 18 trees is actually a vertical garden. Over 200 species of plants numbering over 163,000 in all make up the gardens. The trees serve and air intake and exhaust vents for the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. Seven of the trees are equipped with solar panels.

At 160 feet, Supertree Observatory is the tallest of them all. We rode an elevator up to the observation deck with wrap-around walkway. From there, I walked up a short flight of stairs to the roof-top deck for even better views of Singapore. 

Supertree Observatory

                                         

 The OCBC Skyway

                                            

Views from the OCBC Skyway

                                   

Joanne decided to pass on the OCBC Skyway and take a break.

 

Planet from the Skyway  

Planet, appearing to float is seven tons of bronze and steel.  The sculpture was modeled after the artist's seven month old son. We viewed the baby at ground level the following day. 

Flower Dome and Cloud Forest from the Observatory 

                   

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Singapore - Day Two

April Fool’s Day – No Fooling!

I woke up about 3:30 AM to my phone chiming, not sure why, but checking my email discovered that Welcome Pickups, a ride service, had emailed me at midnight to inform me that our morning ride to the hotel was cancelled! At 4 in the morning a very nice young lady at Viking Orion’s customer service desk helped me schedule a taxi at about twice the cost of the Welcome Pickup.  I had also reserved transport with Welcome Pickups for our transfer from our hotel to the airport. I cancelled that reservation. Not only is Welcome Pickups unreliable, they are unresponsive as well.

After some What’s Apps’ chats and calls with our taxi driver who initially went to the wrong terminal, we connected for a 5.7 km ride to the Amoy Hotel in Chinatown, $60 US dollars lighter.

Here’s what Lonely Planet has to say about the Amoy: 

       " Not many hotels are accessed through a historic Chinese temple, but the Amoy is no ordinary slumber pad!"

We were able to check right-in and unburden ourselves of our bags before heading out to explore.

The Telok Ayer MRT station across the street, is just two stops from Marina Bay’s Bayfront Station.  Alas, the Tourist Pass cannot be had at the Telok Ayer station so we walked a few blocks to the China Town station to purchase ours. The Tourist Pass, good for three days, allows the bearer to ride public transportation without buying individual tickets.  Very convenient.

The OG Department Store was right there so Joanne decided to have a look at some beautiful dresses before riding the MRT to Bayfront.

Some more interesting facts about Singapore gleaned from Wikipedia:

In 2015, Lonely Planet listed Singapore as their top world destination to visit.

Singapore is the world's 3rd-largest foreign exchange centre, 6th-largest financial centre, 3rd-largest oil-refining and trading centre, largest oil-rig producer and hub for ship repair services, and largest logistics hub.

To prevent the bumper to bumper “parking lot” congestion, Singapore limits the number of private cars on its roadways.

Vehicles on the road and people walking on the streets keep to the left.  However, given the large number of clueless tourists, people walk on the left, right and center.

Singapore has the world's highest percentage of millionaires, with one out of every six households having at least one million US dollars in disposable wealth.

Capital (hanging) and corporal (canning)  punishment are are legal and enforced.  Singapore has a very low crime rate.

Singapore's unique combination of a strong, almost authoritarian government with an emphasis on meritocracy and good governance is known as the "Singapore model", and is regarded as a key factor behind Singapore's political stability, economic growth, and harmonious social order.

Singapore has no homeless. If one cannot afford an apartment, the government provides one. Health care and education are free.

Singapore a has a military and compulsory service for males. Since Singapore is short on space, the military operates bases in California, Australia and Indonesia.

Singapore is the 5^th most visited city in the world with 19 million tourists in 2019.

At the Bayfront MRT, we had no idea which exit to take and so ended up in a multi-level shopping mall with boats plying an artificial river below us.  With a little guidance, we went outside, across the street and into one of the Marina Bay Sands towers. An elevator delivered us the Lavo Restaurant on the 57^th floor, the very top of the hotel. We had a pizza and drinks while taking in the views.  

Marina Bay Sands

Lavo Restaurant at Top 

Flower Dome, Cloud Forest & Supertree Grove

City Skyline

After riding the MRT back to the Amoy and resting up a bit, we rode back to Bayfront this time exiting to the Expo Center with shops and restaurants along the Bayside.  We picked JustIN Flavours for dinner after wandering around for awhile.  We shared Singapore Hainese Chicken, Braised Tofu with Assorted Vegetables and Rice. The restaurant is right on the the bay side so we watched the light show from there.

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The Perfect City  - Alina Mcleod

Singapore Day One

 March 31 – Viking Orion docked at the Singapore Cruise Centre at noon. A delay in obtaining clearance squeezed our tours – the free included bus tour and the Singapore by Night tour together with only a half hour between them.

Our free bus tour stopped at Merlion Park at Marina Bay and the Budda Tooth Relic Temple in China Town before returning to the cruise terminal via Little India. Along the way our excellent guide provided Singaporean tidbits including commentary of a legal nature:

Smoking in Public is prohibited – I didn’t see a single person smoking.

Chewing gum is prohibited altogether.

Eating or drinking on public transport is prohibited – the subway cars and stations are spotless.  

Littering can earn one fine starting at $1000 fine and a stint in a very public place wearing a shirt promptly displaying Corrective Work Order on the back so all your friends get you on social media in real time.

Prisoners are not coddled.  A prisoner’s day starts at 5 AM with a piece of stale bread and a glass of water followed later in the day another piece of bread – that’s it.

I picked a few more rules off the internet:

Walking around one’s house naked is prohibited. We didn’t see any naked people anywhere.

No more than five people can gather in public. Protests are only allowed at the Speaker’s Corner.  We didn’t encounter any protests, didn’t hear anyone screaming, yelling or blasting away on a megaphone.

Pornography is not allowed on home computers.

The Merlion, a mythical fish-lion creature is the official Singaporean mascot. The fish represents its beginning as a fishing village and the lion its original name, Singapura. 

 

Marina Bay Sands Across the Bay

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum is absolutely stunningly ornate inside with many Buddhas, monks and worshiping Buddhists.  Our guide said that her Buddhism was more a way of life than a religion. Shouldn’t any religion be a way of life?

The temple deserved more time than we had but we hung around for cups of iced coffee at a food court while rain swept across the parking lot below before continuing the tour.

Video

 Cintamanicakra

Back at Orion, we quickly changed our clothes and shoved our big bags out tour cabin door so that they could be transported to the terminal for us to claim in the morning.  Then we made a mad dash back to our bus for the night tour.  

First up, Merlion again this time with light rain followed by a Singapore River Cruise. Remember the eyes?  Eyes at the bow scare away monsters that live in the water. Singapore really lights up at night but Hong Kong is more spectacular.

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To top off the night each of us had a Singapore Sling with peanuts at the iconic Raffles’ Long Bar.  Our drinks were no doubt watered down, for the best I am sure as we had to descend a circular staircase on the way out. Peanut shells are traditionally swept from the table to the floor – now I know where Texas Roadhouse and Five Guys got the idea.  

Raffles Hotel

The Way Down