Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Gardens by the Bay

One of the newest parts of Singapore has fast established itself as a favourite location for me to visit. It's called Gardens by the Bay and it's on a 110 hectare (250 acres) site of reclaimed land. Upon entering the gardens from the Marina Bay Sands, the first location you come across is the Dragonfly Lake.



The 2 sculptures leaping out of the lake are called the Dragonfly Riders.



There are series of boardwalks and paths through the various parts of the garden, it's very well signposted so easy to find what areas you want to visit. Once across the lake there's also a little shuttle which you pay a fare and can be driven around the gardens. I chose to walk.



The most amazing part of the gardens for me are these structures called the Supertrees. I love the shape, the vegetation being encouraged to grow up them and just the image of them from a distance. (I love them so much I have a photo taken on a previous trip as the wallpaper to this blog!) They're so alien like in appearance, like from an episode of Dr. Who!



Two of the Supertrees are connected by an aerial walkway called the Skywalk. At certain times it can be very crowded but the day I was there late in the afternoon, there were no queues and I could buy a ticket to go up quickly (important as it was due to close!) In the past I had thought that I wasn't good with heights, not so much afraid of heights, more uneasy. Well good news, it turns out heights don't worry me at all! Being up on the Skywalk wasn't at all unpleasant, just interesting to look out over the view.



There are two large glasshouses in the gardens, the higher one on the right is called the Cloud Garden and is a tropical glass house, the lower one on the left is called the Flower Garden and contains more mediterranean plants.


The tallest of the Supertrees has a restaurant and a function centre at the top.

Staying in central Singapore it can appear that it's something of a concrete jungle, being able to visit Gardens by the Bay shows another side to the city. It is lovely and relaxing, there is a cafe near the glasshouses, it's a pleasant place to have lunch and then enjoy the gardens.


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