Up this morning about 4:30 am, although Debby was able to sleep until about 5:30. Don’t know why exactly, but I just seem to wake up (really) early, no matter what time zone I’m in … no idea what jet-lag will do to me this time!
I actually had a Tucson Festival of Books (TFOB) Zoom meeting this morning at 7:30 am, so we had an early breakfast – terrific as usual! And I was back and waiting for the meeting by 7:25 am. Everything went fine until my meeting got cut short when the hotel’s wifi cut me off about 8:20 am. It does that every couple of days so that I have to log in again … oh well, that was one way to leave a meeting!
Out the door a bit before 9 am and in about 15 minutes we were being dropped off at the Gardens. By this time, it was looking like rain – have to be prepared for all eventualities here – rain (umbrella) or shine (baseball cap/sunglasses) and we made our way to the Skyway between the Supertrees. It was $14 SD (about $10.90 US) to take the elevator up and out onto the skywalk. We were told when we were purchasing tickets that if it started to rain after we went up, we would have to come down, and that there were no refunds – but we decided it was definitely worth the risk. SOOOOO glad we did! We basically had the skywalk to ourselves, and while it started to rain on us, it was fine and we had no problems. Lots and lots of pictures…
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| SuperTrees with Cloud Forest in the background |
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| SuperTrees with Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the background |
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| Sky Walk |
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| Singapore skyline from the Sky Walk |
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| United Buddy Bears under Sky Walk |
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| All painted in different countries! |
From the Skyway, our plan was to head to Cloud Forest, as the indoor mountain and waterfall was advertised as a “must see” sight in Singapore. However, when we got to ticketing, we found that for just $6 SD more, we could do both the Flower Dome as well as the Cloud Forest, so we figured, what the heck! SO glad that we did; definitely the right decision! The rain continued fairly heavily (but certainly NOT torrentially, as has been predicted every day we have been here…) until we were in the Flower Dome, when it stopped completely, and the sun came out!
Entered the Flower Dome first – truly, the world’s largest greenhouse! It is ENORMOUS! And, one of the first people we saw was Jag, our wonderful tour guide from Sunday night! She was now leading a group of 41 Indian pharmaceutical salesmen, who had just arrived (this morning!) on a tour – but as they couldn’t check into their hotels until 3 pm, they were out and about and seeing the sights. Greatly enjoyed visiting with her – and certainly don’t envy her next four days – trying to keep track of 41 wandering tourists and a huge tour bus … certainly not my cup of tea!
The Flower Dome was wonderful! There are permanent displays from all different areas of the world – Australia, South Africa, California (!), the Mediterranean, as well as a desert area featuring cactus from everywhere. Additionally, they have seasonal displays. The current display is from Switzerland, which should be very obvious from the photographs. Some truly lovely flowers, along with faux cows, St. Bernard’s and real cow bells! (How well I remember those from my Art Center (Europe) days…). This place is SO large that they even have a stand of olive trees growing inside, which I am sure will be producing olives at the right time of year. Can’t imagine the staff of gardeners this place must take to operate, as everything was beautifully kept and pruned.
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| Inside the Flower Dome; world's biggest green house! |
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| Dragon sculpture in wood |
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| Here comes Switzerland! |
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| Love the cow bells! |
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| Wouldn't be Singapore without some orchids! |
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| Appropriate, I thought, for the "Lion" City! |
From the Flower Dome, we crossed under and into the Cloud Forest … and again, from the very entry way, you come across a “mountain” and a 35 m high waterfall! Amazing doesn’t really describe it! It is wonderful! Now, however, there is a special exhibition – they call it “Jurassic World” and have included animatronic dinosaurs – including a full-size T-Rex who roars constantly – also, they’re playing the Jurassic Park/World theme music, so it’s definitely not a place for peace and contemplation!
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| Entered to a HUGE waterfall! |
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| ...complete with dinosaurs! |
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| And of course, a T-Rex! |
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| Stunning Dale Chihuly glass! |
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| And of course another view of the Marina Bay Sands |
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| Looking down one side of the Cloud Forest |
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| And another Lion at the exit to Cloud Forest |
We walked and rode the elevator up to the highest level, and walked down pathways to the bottom, greatly enjoying the view along the way. The only problem was that the camera told me that I was running out of battery! UGH! I had charged up the battery a couple of days ago, but have definitely been taking a LOT of photos … so figured, as we returned to the ground floor, that now might be as good a time as any to return to the hotel – and get the second battery that R had insisted I bring with me (much to my protesting…) but now I’m so glad that I did!
Grabbed back to the hotel, put the new battery in, and we’re now taking a rest before we head out for lunch! Going to try Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center about 1:30 or a bit later, and see how it goes!!
So, see you later!
m
xxx
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