On my way back home (away from home) I had an 8 hour layover in Singapore. As I had about 6 hours throughout the day to kill I took full advantage and headed out to (re)discover my once home country.
Fun fact: I spent the first 3 years of my life in Singapore thanks to my dad's job as an expat for Phillips.
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| Handlugage only kinda travels ✔✔ |
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| stamped in ✔ |
Singapore, April 19
To be fair Changi (Singapore) airport is huge and absolutely big enough to explore for 6 hours if you really feel like it.
But I wanted to go out and explore the outside so I went through immigration (hurray for not needing a visa in advance!) passed by the information centre to find out what train(s) to take to the city and off I was!
Essentially you take 3 trains to get to the Gardens of the Bay, which is kind of city centre as far as I could make out.
So a day ticket only costs you a couple Singaporean dollars (2,40S$/2,80AU$/1,45€) and the trains (aprox. 45min to an hour if your unlucky with the connections) take you almost right to the Gardens by the Bay entrance. Which was my destination for the day.
The Gardens by the bay is an absolutely extraordinary sight to behold. Although it was raining by the time I got out of the Bayfront train station I was still excited to go explore (duhuh)!
I hadn’t seen rain in weeks for one (haha!) but I also found myself standing at the edge of these magnificent gardens.
Entrance to the conservatories is 28 S$ (29AU$/18€), as it was raining the Supertree Grove-tree top walk was closed. This walk takes you quite literally to the treetops where you walk over a long boardwalk between the Supertrees for which the gardens are so famous for. The entrance fee here is cheaper, but unavailable when I was there due to the rain so I happily “settled” to spend the afternoon wandering about the two breathtaking conservatories, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest.
(I’d like to ad that the park surrounding the conservatories and tree top walk is completely free and absolutely magnificent in it’s self!! as well as, that my photography skills are average at best and don't really do the place justice, so please go explore yourself! 😉)
Anyway as it was raining I headed almost straight to the domes. Reaching the Flower dome first you’ll breath a sigh of cool air as the dome is air conditioned (to keep a constant temperature and climate all year round), a sigh of relief from the hot humidity outside is immediately followed by a slight jaw drop for the beauty you’re laying your eyes upon.
The dome is divided into climate regions like the tropics, the dessert, the Mediterranean, ect. and then again divided into countries where you’d find these specific climates around the world. Each country has been worked out thoughtfully with sculptures and information plaques on all the various fauna and flora to be found in said region and what you’ll be looking at in that particular section.
Different levels take you all over the world in fauna and flora. All beautifully illustrated and inspired by both humans and animals.
I must have taken about a million pictures in the couple of hours I was there but these are some of my favourites.
Once you’ve explored and learnt about all the different types and kinds of fauna and flora around the world it’s time to head over to the Cloud Forest. I think this conservatory is the best known from social media and for good reason. The whole place is as photogenic as they come with a 35meter waterfall greeting you at the entrance and a 42meter cloud mountain as the centre piece of the dome.
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| talking about making an entrance |
The walkway through the entire dome takes you all the way up to the top of the mountain (by elevator) and slowly guides you back down all the way showing and teaching you about the breathtaking world wonder that is, a rainforest.
Needless to say that pictures will never do this dome justice. It might come close for some profi photographers but the cheer beauty is just so real, as if you'd actually walk into a compacted rainforest. And the thing is, you actually ARE.
You can just feel the whole thing breathing.
As you make your way down slowly the dome takes you through about seven different sides of the rainforest and dome. Each level talks about different aspects of the dome specifically and about the rainforest in general. The lost world, the cavern, the waterfall view, the crystal mountain, the cloud forest gallery, the cloud forest theatre and the secret garden will take you on an incredible journey that you simply can't miss if you ever find yourself on that side of the world.
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| views from the top |
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| beauty in every nook and cranny |
After having my fill of rainforest (and after a check at the time), I headed back outside to find the skies had cleared together with the rain so I took the long walk around the gardens back toward the train station.
The gardens are a real treat in themselves with beautiful pavements, art, boardwalks and magnificent views everywhere you look the park itself is well worth the stroll around with the two domes and the super trees dominating most of the scenery.
The super tree grove walk had opened up again with the skies but as I had a plane to catch I left that for my next (inevitable) visit as I decided there was still so much more to see and explore, not only in the Gardens by the Bay but in the whole of Singapore city and country by extent.
I'll go back soon to explore more, but for now it was time for me to head home again.
Back to Aus and back to my trusted travel buddy Nala as we had one hell of an adventure waiting for us: The great Tropical North.
xoxo Liz
