Saturday, 19 November 2016

Singapore Day 1

Wow. Singapore is amazing. In the past year, I've watched a few documentaries on Singapore, and I'm still amazed.  The architecture is amazing and there are gardens everywhere. Roof gardens, street level gardens and plenty in between.


One of the more famous new buildings is the Marina Bay Sands. There are three tall towers topped by a single connector. The topper looks a bit like a longboat -- it's long and thin like a canoe, but not as deep. There's an infinity pool up there, as well as a lot of trees. I'm going to see if there’s a bar.  If so, I'll have a drink.


This evening, I went across the street to the Raffles Hotel (built in the British Colonial period) to the bar where the Singapore Sling was invented. It was everything I imagined and more. Anita told me she had seen on a video that the fans were synchronized. The fans are ovoid flat affairs  (imagine Chinatown fans that don't collapse like a flamenco dancers fan) that are linked together with rods. At one end, there's a simple electric motor that powers a rotator arm. The rotator arm makes the row of fans pendulum back and forth, moving the air. Simple, effective and charming.


Today, I spent the afternoon at the Gardens By The Bay (gardensbythebay.com.sg). There are so many amazing things there. The super trees are metal sculptures, each about 14 storeys high. The trunks are about 12feet in diameter and the tops open into a flat bowl. Greenery is working its way up the trunks, making them even more fascinating.


Fortunately, there's a canopy walk 128 steps up. There's an elevator, but it was full, and the stairs were there, calling my name quietly and insistently.


From there, I went to the Cloud Garden House, another architectural marvel.  It's kind of a squished dome, with white metal pipes providing the superstructure and glass providing protection.


There’s a six storey waterfall by the entrance, providing a huge wow factor. Visitors spiral up along a series of ramps and escalators, always seeing lush plants on both sides (okay, maybe there are lush planting season on one side in the escalator corridors). Because it's a cloud forest, it's misty. I put on my raincoat as soon as I got in because the air conditioning felt a little too cold. I had some waffles made with butter this morning, and I'm feeling a bit off. I don't want it to get worse.


Okay. The trip down is along a series of suspended walkways, ramps and escalators. You see much of the same things, but from a different perspective. At the bottom, there's a video about how the things you've just seen will all be gone by the end of the century if we don't collectively do something to slow climate change.


The Flower House didn't have the same impact as the cloud forest.  It was nice enough -- a half dome with gardens from Australia, South Africa, California and the Mediterranean. In the meadow area in the centre, there were Christmas displays. It reminded me of the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park.


I'm sure that if I had gone to the plant house first, I would have been more impressed.


The other touristy thing I saw today was the Merlion statue. It's a large fountain on the waterfront and although it's touristy, it's nice.


It's getting late, so I'm going to post this without pictures. I'll try to add some in the morning.

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