Saturday, February 21, 2015

Gardens of Singapore - Part 2

The last I left you it was with a full tummy and the beginnings of a plan for the next trek, so to pick things back up I hopped on a bus and headed to the pier. The marina was still decked out with sculptures and floats from the New Year celebration, and as many businesses were still closed for the holidays the streets were filled with people enjoying the hawker street food and taking pictures with the decorations.



Kids, lets go sell beer to the masses!

I know these are supposed to be peaches, but why do they look like onions?

I was born in the year of the rooster and according to the sign next to this guy, this is not going to be a good year for me...better tread carefully!

I love this because to me it looks like a giant played a prank 
and hoisted a cruise ship on top of some buildings. 

The double helix bridge is there on the left and that baseball 
glove looking thing is a museum.

The sign was significantly disappointing as the packages 
looked neither like candy nor dragons.

Ferris Wheel? Check. By the water? Check. By the highway? Check. 
Navy Pier, is that you?

That's right, if you get tired of walking, you can take a boat 
to get around this shopping center. 

Working my way through the crowds and across the bridge, I decided to continue the garden theme and bought a ticket to see the Cloud Forest exhibit. The man-made waterfall was designed to resemble a rain forest at the altitude of clouds, which means the whole building was cool, if very moist. A winding set of bridges took you through and around the waterfall as exhibits inside talked about life in the clouds and global warming. Some people on TripAdvisor complained that everything was too manicured and too obviously man made, but I loved it. This is just what the aliens of the future will have in their museums to teach their pod babies about ancient life on earth. 



A fun little exhibit featuring carnivorous plants made out of Legos!

Happy little pitcher plant wanted to say "Haay!"



Just chillin' with my orchid buddy here. Watch out, he bites.

I kept trying to figure out what this climber plant was, but couldn't find a sign. 
It just struck me as distinctly feminine and lovely.


A glimpse of the future through a window of the past.

Just some clovers that made me happy.

Island of doom if you happen to be a bug. I wonder how they feed the plants, 
the place looked immaculate. 




Once outside the exhibit there were several more outdoor gardens to explore, including the Supertree Forest. The sculptures are pretty impressive in and of themselves, but if you wait till dark there's a free show that really shows off the magic.


Set to beautiful music the trees are lit up and the colors and lights accentuate the rhythm and the feeling of the melody, making this a truly surreal experience. The show lasted maybe 20 minutes, but I'm sure that if Fern Gully was set in Asia, this is what the forest would look like at night. I put a short clip of the show on Facebook and another short clip on Instagram, so if you follow me on either of those, check it out, it's pretty cool.


I grabbed a quick middle eastern gyro at one of the stalls back at the pier for dinner and headed back to the hostel. The decorations looked even more lovely and festive in the dark.


1 comment:

  1. AMAZING photos!!! The Cloud Forest looked UNREAL! You are totally and completely lovely :)

    ReplyDelete