beyond toxicity

With their height of 25 to 50 meters, comparable to 16 storeys high and almost trying to reach the sky, no explanation is needed why these amazing installations are called, Supertrees. They’re one of the spectacular attractions in Gardens by the bay; one of the reasons why Singapore’s literally blooming these days.

I was fortunate to pay it a visit on the last day of my 4D3N trip to Singapore last July 2012, barely few weeks after Gardens by the bay officially opened to the public. I was even luckier because my Singapore-based Filipina friend, Gina, who’s a former colleague back in Manila, accompanied me and offered to treat me to Gardens by the bay, Marina Bay Sands and all the way to Sentosa. It was Gina’s suggestion for us to see Gardens by the bay first thing in the morning so we could maximize my last hours in the Lion City.

Accessibility’s definitely not a problem even to a first-time-visitor-commuter like me; locating it was such a breeze. Coming from Oasia Hotel  in Sinaran Drive, Novena area, I walked my way to the MRT station right across it and took the train going to Marina Bay Sands. I alighted at Bayfront Station and strolled my way to Gardens by the bay.

My good friend, Gina and I agreed to meet up at the ticket counter.  We individually walked through the path from Bayfront MRT at Marina Bay Sands and thankfully, the weather was at its finest, the sun shone its brightest. I only regret 2 things in this visit, one of them was forgetting to bring the 3-fold-umbrella that my wife prepared inside my luggage which I left in the hotel’s concierge and the second one was failing to capture the grandeur of Gardens by the bay at dusk. Anyway, at least we didn’t have a downpour and there’s always a next time to further explore this unique botanical park on our future visits.

Few days prior to our visit, I personally saw and captured the vast stretch of this garden in the city as I first appreciated Gardens by the Bay’s Conservatories and Supertrees from the Sands Skypark at Marina Bay Sands…

Gardens by the bay is attractive from a bird’s eye view, even more impressive up close. It’s a showcase of Mother Nature’s most colorful blooms and lush greens amidst progressive city. However, due to limited time, Gina and I only opted to visit the two conservatories, the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. What I love the most about these two conservatories is the fact that they’re airconditioned; they’re kept cool to maintain the required temperature for the flowering plants to thrive. Most on the display are imported species from *Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world.

Flower Dome is the cool-dry conservatory while the Cloud Forest is the cool-moist conservatory.

This blog has never published a volume of photos of flowers after my blog post about Shibuya in Tokyo back in 2010 (blog post HERE!). Be ready to be overwhelmed!

FLOWER DOME

*Facts from their website :  “The world’s largest columnless greenhouse, the Conservatories’ glass sits on a steel grid that acts like an eggshell. With 3,332 panels of 42 varying shapes and sizes of spectrally selective glass, the Flower Dome is like a giant puzzle!  Air is cooled at the lower occupied zones through chilled water pipes in ground slabs, while warm air is vented out at the top.”

Now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

meet my beautiful and intelligent Singapore-based-friend,

Gina! (applause!).

Of course, everyone agrees that she best complements those bed of flowers, doesn’t she? 

(note: she’s presently available and unattached *just trying to play cupid here!*).

It has been two years since Tina and I last met Gina in Manila. We’ve been keeping our lines open via where else but facebook. She remains to be the same old charming and thoughtful friend we used to know. One thing’s sure, I  noticed that she gained extra skills and talents in being host to tourist-guest like me. She wanted to update Tina so using her iphone, Gina immediately checked in our location via facebook and began taking our photos and tagging my wife who was left in Penang with Gabby. I even lost count of the times she asked me if I wanted to be photographed the whole time we’re inside the conservatories. I burst into laughter a few times and told her that I am used to clicking my cam to shoot photos and not otherwise. In the end, I gave in; she won in capturing this…

I know. It’s neither I nor Gina who’s the star of this post. We’re not worthy!  Indubitably, the spotlight for this blog post is directed onto those vibrant petals. Here are some of my shots that I hope could make you smile or at least, lighten up your mood even a bit. Enjoy!

Those yellow creeping beauty made me remember Gabby while inside the Flower Dome. Spongebob’s color is Gabby’s ultimate favorite. And he’s correct; yellow brightens up any mood. I smiled instantly when I saw it.

Then, God created pink…

I am recommending Flower Dome to people who wish to pause and smell the flowers, literally! Time, inside the Flower Dome could stand still effortlessly. It’s a perfect venue for those worry-free-forget-about-all-hassles-moments!

After we felt we’ve savored enough, we exited the turnstiles and headed to the second cooled conservatory located right across. It’s the Cloud Forest!

CLOUD FOREST

Gina liked it better than Flower Dome. I thought so too. Whoever made the blueprint and constructed Cloud Forest must have been so inspired by the fantasy world in the movie, Avatar! To me, there’s that avatar-ish mood inside! I felt like I stepped into a new foresty world of another dimension! Or perhaps, it’s just my imagination. I must have over imagined it because there’s that lovely mist when we entered Cloud Forest and it made the entire atmosphere inside cooler and fresher! The moist-loving plants are anchored to a mountain-like installation. There’s that tall waterfalls that greets every visitors at the entrance. There are lifts and escalators that bring visitors to various levels of the Cloud Forest; there’s even one level devoted to crystals and crystal-mountains! And walking through different levels, admiring the many species of orchids, bromeliads and other exotic and vibrant flowering plants made our visit to Gardens by the bay really worth it! If visitors have to choose only one from the two conservatories to visit, Gina and I are both recommending, Cloud Forest!

It was almost noon time when we left Gardens by the bay. We left the appreciation for those Supertree groves to our future visit. We felt our stomachs growling and the urgent need to fill them up. We strolled our way back to Marina Bay Sands and trooped to its food court.

I offered to pay the bill for our lunch, but Gina was so generous and didn’t allow me to pull out my wallet. She treated me to one of the restaurants at Marina Bay Sands that has the mood of TGI.F but was noted to have originated in Korea. The food place’s called, Kraze Burgers. We thought we need to sample the KB Original Burgers so we ordered two, plus a plateful of french fries generously topped by chili-con-carne and 2 glasses of iced tea to wash everything down. Everything in that burger tasted fresh! Our lunch was satiatingly good!

From Gardens by the bay to Kraze Burgers at Marina Bay Sands, we rode the MRT and cable car all the way to Sentosa. And since I have another Singapore-based friend to meet for early dinner, Gina was even thoughtful and more than willing to accompany me to my next meeting place before she took her own way to hear mass that Sunday.

I hope I could bring Tina and Gabby back to Singapore and visit our friend, Gina once more.

—————–

Happy 47th Birthday, Singapore! Happy National Day!!!   | 09 August 2012

—————–

Gardens by the bay |   18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953 | Outdoor : 5AM – 2AM daily, Free | Conservatories : 9AM-9PM, daily, S$ 8 to S$ 28 | OCBC Skyway : 9AM-9PM |For more details, click THIS!

Kraze Burgers | Kraze Burgers @ Marina Bay Sands is located at 2 Bayfront Ave, #B2-54/55, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 018956 | For more details, click THIS!

*sourced via Gardensbythebay.com