Aline's travel blog: July 21, Saturday

July 21, Saturday

Hey, do you realize that I’m south of the Equator once again? Hopefully I have left the monsoons behind and will have beautiful weather again from now on.

This was the first day of my 2-day pass on the Hop-on / Hop-off buses. I left the hotel in time to catch the 11:05 Green-Line bus at the corner of Bras Basah Road and Selege Road.

Singapore from the tourist bus: It really is a beautiful, modern, clean city.

I'm disappointed with the bus ride however since the "recorded" information is very limited and the bus driver is going too fast to allow us to take pictures. He's driving as if he's late to get somewhere.

Check out the terraces between these tall buildings. Great architecture once againg.

The city is beautiful

and has many green spaces

I ended up doing most of the loop around the downtown area before arriving in the west end area where the Botanical Gardens are located. I spent the rest of the day here enjoying the beauty of nature.
Botanical Gardens: Singapore was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles {I'll see the name Raffles many many times during my visit through this part of the world}, and he is the one who had the idea of creating a botanical and experimental garden. These gardens were used in the late 18 hundreds to introduce Havea brasiliensis, the rubber tree to this part of the world, which became a major crop to South East Asia. The gardens cover an area of 74 hectares and I walked almost all of it today.

Which way do I go, which way do I go?

I opt for the rain forest walk first and discover this strange looking growth on the trunk of a tree.

Paths through the rain forest portion of the Botanical Gardens

Palm Valley

One of the many fountains

The Orchid Garden was absolutely spectacular. Over 1000 species and 2000 hybrids, some “hand-crafted” right here. It is built up on a hill (of course there’s a hill…. If I’m visiting, you can be sure there will be hills). I took about 70 pictures, just in this section. Cannot believe how many varieties and colours and shapes there are. They also had a “cool house” (Montane tropical forest) and a “mist house” (rare orchid cultivars) and another enclosure to display bromeliads.

moss covered statuary

Absolutely beautiful, and such different shapes and colours

After 40 minutes walking around the Orchid Gardens I decided I was ready for lunch since it was almost 2 pm, so I stopped at “Halia” restaurant for lunch, near the Ginger Garden.

I huge juicy beef burger and a ginger iced tea went down very well and gave me energy to continue with my visit of the Botanical Gardens.

And one of the photos in the park helped me identify a flower I have photographed in the past but had not identified; it's the Torch Ginger. I'll have to somehow find those photos again in my "vast collection of e-photos" and add the correct name tag.

Bamboo Ginger flower from the Philippines over the giant lily pads in one of the ponds

Also found out that the Bird of Paradise plant & flower, which is native of South Africa, is part of the ginger family. Who knew?

Beautiful water features leading to the pond

And of course, there are swans on Swan Lake

and ducks.... Oh ! No, wait, those are statues of ducks. How cute and they look so natural,

Puffy pom-pom flowers

and tiny ones that look like berries

And a wonderfully huge statue of a flock of swans on Swan Lake

A nice picnic area under the trees
From there I was making my way back through the park past the Sundial garden and the Bonsai gardens near the Bandstand

Bonsai

There is a grove of really really tall flowers growing in clumps. How tall are they?

Much taller than I am. {Darn it’s difficult to take your own picture !}

Back through a different path of the Rain Forest and on to Symphony Lake at the base of Palm Valley

where a statue of Chopin adds to the serenety of the surroundings. The only thing missing is his music playing in the background.

On to the Evolution Garden which makes you feel as if you are walking through a Jurassic park.

Petrified wood

beautiful pathways

It really does feel like Jurassic Park
I found out that flowering plants only proliferated and diversified after the dinosaurs disappeared at the end of the Mesozoic Era, 65 million years ago.
And of course once I entered this section of the Botanical Gardens, I was "led down the garden path" in more ways than one! Down a serpentine path, which means of course that there will be a climb back up again to get out of it. I AM SO TIRED. My ankles are feet are swollen and I would love to dangle my feet in one of the ponds or fountains.

At 4 pm I decide to call it a day and make my way back to the bus stop at the entrance and return to the downtown area. On my way there, we drive on the famous Orchard Road, where all the high class shopping malls are located.