Cloud Forest, Flower Dome & Supertrees
This post is a little backdated - I went to see Gardens by the Bay for the first time with my friend Marianna from Brown University back in early August - and I
finally cleared out my SD card. This is just part 1 because we didn't actually go walk around the outdoor parts of the Garden since it was too big and we only had about 2 hours in the evening. Apparently the tram service that runs inside the park only runs for a ridiculously short period of time, something like 10am to 2pm (or maybe it was till 4pm), so if you don't want to walk so much, beware the timing!!
Cloud Forest
Having just spent the afternoon walking around town to see the Raffles Statue and the Merlion, we were dying for some air-con, so the Cloud Forest was a great place to start! (On hindsight it would have been better to see the Flower Dome first, which was equally cooling, but a bit less of a spectacle. Seeing the Flower Dome after the Cloud Forest is a bit anticlimactic.)
The Cloud Forest now boasts the world's tallest man-made waterfall, having usurped Jurong Bird Park's aviary waterfall at a whopping 45m. Personally I still prefer the bird park's waterfall because it looks like it could be real, and I'm a nature buff, while the one at the Cloud Forest is basically water pouring out of a metal platform situated 45m above the ground. Nevertheless it makes for some good photo ops!
The trail within the Cloud Forest is very guided - there's only one way up and one way down. Trying to skip to the interesting bits, like we did, will only cause you to walk around and around in circles. So be a good Singaporean and just follow signs =P!
Walking around the base of the man-made hill, we caught a tantalizing glimpse of what looked like a prehistoric garden. You could almost imagine being in Jurassic Park with those tree ferns and fog. But alas, that's somewhere near the end of the guided route. The entrance to the hill actually takes you up a lift to the top floor called the "Lost World" where there are strange plants galore, particularly pitcher plants! Pitcher plants are my favorite after the venus fly trap, because carnivorous plants are cool.
You then take a slow stroll downwards, round and round the hill. Since we were there around sunset, the view of the flowers backdropped against sunset on the bay was quite magical.
My knowledge of plants has literally disappeared since my environmental bio days in sec school (sorry Ms. Tan!), so I shall not even attempt to photograph/name individual flowers. There were info boards scattered along the path which talked about plant sensitivity to climate, and the current climate change, which I suppose isn't anything we didn't already know, but it's a good reminder. Especially for us, on an island, to be drowned once the sea level rises.
Halfway down there's a very random fake cave complete with fake stalactites and stalagmites and
mirrors to pretend like there's more of them! Also a lot of geodes containing amethyst (the purple-coloured quartz crystals), that sell for a few tens of thousands a piece at interior design stores, and at Kinokuniya. Forgive me for the snark, but I just came back from seeing amazing limestone caves in California, so this was really trippy.
The route takes you a few more rounds outside the hill before ending up back on the ground floor in a floor-to-ceiling video display of what the world will look like if global warming continues at its current rate. It's the usual doomsday scenario with a bit of a preachy message at the end, so I don't know how effective it really will be in convincing people.
You will die by fire and flood!
I'm not too fond of all the "save the environment!" PR. Don't get me wrong, I think it's
vitally important that we save the environment, but the preachiness of the 'education' the government tries to impose on us just turns people off rather than making people want to help and do something about it. Promote innovation!
Real education! Solar cell startups, better recycling infrastructure, teach our kids to cherish the beauty of nature,
put ecology back into primary school textbooks!!! Having a
conservatory, while kind of spiffy, isn't going to teach kids to value real out-there nature.
Uhm. Right. So anyway, the next part was the best bit of the dome in my opinion - the prehistoric forest! The fog and tree ferns and stream and giant snail statues really made it an immersive experience and I only wish it were slightly bigger. Any dinosaur buffs out there will understand how I felt.
We eventually somehow re-emerged near the entrance of the Cloud Forest, so our next stop was the Flower Dome, a fairly quick walkabout before the sun set, since we wanted to catch the light show at the Supertree Grove.
Flower Dome
The Flower Dome is really pretty. It's a lot more sprawling than the Cloud Forest, but because height is always more awesome, it may or may not be a bit of a letdown if you do it after the Cloud Forest. It's home to plants from Mediterranean climates including Africa, Australia and California, so their leaves are all spindly and every region seemed to have its own version of a Baobab tree.
I love Baobab trees, they're like fat upside down trees. Baobab trees are cool.
Marianna against a backdrop of mini Africa, almost Lion King-esque!
More Baobabs!
An adorable cactus garden with stone fish (that grey pillar thingy in the top right is a stone fish taken from the front)
We kind of rushed through the Flower Dome because the sun was setting and the OCBC Skyway was closing, so we didn't take a very close look at the plants. I think this would make a great field for primary school kids to learn about plant adaptations to dry weather, it's one of those things we just learned out of textbooks in the past and never really got to see. Now the kids get to see it in real life, but alas, botany is no longer in p-school textbooks!
Flower Dome is also a lovely setting for company events and possibly weddings, with a large function room near the entrance which overlooks a flower garden area. If anyone is up for gourmet food, there's a (very pricey) bistro for some afternoon wine and cheese underneath the California Garden. Great ambiance, but sadly wayyy out of our budget range, so we ate pasta and pizza near the Supertree grove.
Supertree Grove
So in case anyone who hasn't been to the gardens was wondering, there are actually THREE sets of supertrees, each with its own function, that I don't really remember. It's a bit confusing when you arrive there and wonder "where are the supertrees?" only to realise that they're pretty much scattered all over.
There's the Silver Garden, the Golden Garden, and the main Supertree Grove. The Silver and Golden gardens each have 3 (smaller) supertrees, which have some function related to the conservatories. One of them 'exhales' CO2 produced from the energy generation in the Gardens in general, and I think the other is basically an intake valve, but don't quote me on that. The main Supertree Grove has 12 taller supertrees fitted with solar panels to generate some of the electricity needed to cool the conservatories. There is a large diagram on the base of the supertrees explaining how the whole garden is powered sustainably.
We took a walk on the OCBC skyway, basically just a walkway about 25m high connecting two supertrees. You get a nice high-up (not quite bird's eye) view of the gardens and the grove, along with MBS in the background. It's a nice walk in the evening when the weather is nice and cool. Just don't be caught in the rain or the sun because the walkway has no shelter to speak of.
At 7.45pm and 8.45pm every night, the Supertree Grove has a light show, which is basically the lights on the trees flashing in sync with some background music. It's not particularly exciting, but it's nice to watch while eating dinner next to the grove.
Aaand that's about all for this part of the Gardens by the Bay! I'm hoping to visit again to see the outdoor gardens, particularly the Kingfisher and Dragonfly Lakes, and a couple of the Heritage gardens :).
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Budget!
Adults:
One conservatory - $12 ($8 for local seniors, not available to foreigners)
Two conservatories - $20 ($15 for local seniors, $28 for foreigners)
OCBC Skyway - $5
Garden Cruiser (tram) - $5
Kids:
One conservatory - $8 (not available to foreigners)
Two conservatories - $12 ($15 foreigners)
OCBC Skyway - $3
Garden Cruiser (tram) - $3
Hours!
Outdoor Gardens: 0500h - 0200h
Conservatories: 0900h - 2100h (last ticket 2000h)
OCBC Skyway: 0900h - 2100h (last ticket 1900h on weekends, 2000h on weekdays)
