Singapore Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens in Singapore are large and beautiful and we walked through from the railway station to see the orchid garden in particular. 

We shared the path with chooks, including a noisy rooster or two, but this was the home territory of Red Junglefowl before they were domesticated so I guess they're allowed to be there.

I didn't really enjoy the walk though. Singapore is way too hot and humid for me. 

An orchid-covered archway must be a popular place for wedding photos but inconvenient because of constant interruptions from visitors. (And look at the messy background because of garden maintenance workers! Maybe the photographer will photoshop them out.)

Singapore people

Human Race

Shopping Centre light entertainment

Three wise men

Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay

That's me in the Australian section of the Flower Dome.

Flower Dome

School excursion, Gardens by the Bay. This student just sat down and played delightfully.

Mythical creatures, Singapore

We found lots of gorgeous mythical creatures in among the beautiful plants and landscape of the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest in the Gardens by the Bay. A complete delight.

Creatures in canoes in a garden of carnivorous plants, and plants built out of Lego.

The Straw Man

Alice in Wonderland was captioned 'Aloe in Wonderland'

Lego carnivorous plants

An urban farm

Indian Rubber Tree outside the museum. It's listed on the International Heritage register.

Our hotel is in Victoria Street near Bras Basah Road, a block from the National Museum and surrounded by the buildings of the SMU (university) and the Archbishop's House. It is a very pretty area, clean and elegant. And so are the people we see.

Cathedral of the Good Shepherd.
The pond is actually a shallow pool of water on top of the glass ceiling of the Bras Basah underground railway station.

I was particularly struck be an urban garden in the middle of it all. It's not very big, maybe 8 metres by 30 metres, but it looks amazing. Recycled food waste, well-tended vegetables and herbs, worm farms, biowater system, compost bins and seed collection and interesting information signs. I wondered whether the one of the uni schools has organised it.

Urban farm, Victoria Street

Singapore's MRT and Little India

MRT train, Singapore

We arrived at Changi airport early this morning and decided to catch the train to our hotel.

I had read that an EZ-LINK ticket is a good option if you're in Singapore for more than a day because it works like Victoria's MYKI card. So with unwieldy suitcases in tow we headed down three long and very fast escalators to the ticket office at Changi. No, she said. You can't use your visa card to buy an EZ-LINK card, you must have cash. So back we went up to the ATM on the first level but this time we used our heads and used the lift! Back down again and we were in business. We paid S$5 each for a card and then added some funds to the card.

With cards in hand, as well as a transit map, we went down to the platforms to find the right train. The platforms don't really look like platforms because you can't see the track. It's all behind glass doors and we discovered that the train drivers are very adept at stopping in the exact right spot so that the train doors match the platform door.

Platform glass

We also discovered that people are very helpful. Someone on the first train told us how to change trains at a junction and there a railway employee told us to wait for the next train because this one was too crowded and then a third helpful person had us walking away from our hotel instead of towards it but we got there in the end. All of the train system is underground so lots of escalators are involved and there are lots of trains in the system so we didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes each time.

Because it was still early we stored our luggage at the hotel and immediately got back on the train to go to an area called Little India.

Shoe rack at a temple

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple

Auto retailer

Phil refused to eat the food on offer at Little India (which won't come as a surprise to those of you who know him) so we came back to book ourselves into our hotel and then ..... bought a Subway wrap and went to Starbucks across the road for a coffee 😃 [I'm definitely going to try the food when we visit Chinatown on Thursday. Phil might pack a playlunch!]

Then back on to the train and into the Raffles Road area where I had planned to walk along the promenade on the north side of the waterfront so we could see the lights but we were stymied on all sides because there is a Grand Prix happening here next week and there are barriers everywhere. It really divides the city in half. Never mind, tomorrow is another day and we will approach it from a different direction.

So ask me anything about the MRT and the EZ-LINK card. We're experts after one day.