On Saturday I decided to head off on my own for the first time. The Singapore Botanical Gardens seemed like a nice safe choice. I took the MRT to the Botanic Gardens station, and to my surprise when I walked out of the station I was in the gardens! The first part right outside of the MRT was a little bit weird; there were many giant trellis gardens that look cool but weren’t very pretty. However, I had been warned that the beginning part wasn’t nearly as good as the better parts to come.
Once I emerged from the trellis area, I saw big flowery trees, a lake with some duck-looking animals and black swans and many really nice outdoor sitting areas where people where enjoying the weather. By enjoying the weather, I mean sitting outside in for some reason in the extreme heat and humidity; I don’t think I would have done it, but maybe they are used to the unbearable weather? It was actually very pretty though. I could see myself relaxing in that area maybe if it were 20 degrees cooler.
Next I found a pretty herb garden, and then stumbled upon a map of the gardens for the first time. I approached it thinking that I had probably seen at least half of the gardens. I had been walking for about 20 minutes, after all. Nope, not even close. I was still on the far edge of the garden, maybe one-eighth of the way through. “Oh my goodness” I thought. “This is going to take 5 times as long as I thought”.
I didn’t have a lot of time, so I started speed walking across the gardens. It was definitely the prettiest speed walk I have ever been on. There were so many gorgeous trees, flowers, and bushes, and mixed in were some really unique plants that I had never seen before.
I made my way a long a red brick path through a gorgeous grassy park area. The path I was walking on was on a cliff, with old homes that now serve as garden buildings on the left and the cliff, trees, and grasses on my right. Soon, I made it to the healing garden. It was an amazing collection of healing plants and herbs, organized by the part of the body the catered to. For instance, there were sections for the skeletal system and the ears, nose, and throat. There was also a section for toxic plants (scary huh?).
I didn’t see the entire healing garden because I was pressed for time. I set off again along winding paths with some really unique plants surrounding them. Finally, after not seeing people for a long time, a came to a courtyard that led to a more populated area. There was an entire rainforest area that I didn’t not enter because I knew we are going to go into a rainforest in Brunei.
While I was taking pictures and admiring some pretty Birds of Paradise, I heard some gorgeous piano musical. I thought “oh this is nice that they are paying music for us while we check out the gardens”. But as it turns out, a live pianist was playing music on an amphitheater floating on a lake, and the music was being projected for everyone. At this point there were many people around the grassy area, and the music was amazing!!! I wanted to take a break and enjoy the wonderful scenery, but I needed to stay moving.
Next, I finally got to the National Orchid Gardens. The Orchid Gardens are the only part of the Botanic Gardens that you have to pay to enter, but I got in for free with my NUS student card. It would have been totally worth paying for though! It was amazing. They had every kind of orchid imaginable and they were all so beautiful! Additionally there was a “cool house”, a place where the cool weather plants were housed. It was AMAZING! At this point I was literally dripping sweat and pretty dehydrated from fast walking through the 100% humidity and 88 degree weather, so the 70 degree cool house felt like heaven.
After that I decided I should head back, because our ‘welcome dinner’ was later that night and desperately needed a shower. However, I hadn’t even seen all of the gardens yet! I am planning to go back and explore the rest of it soon! If I was a local Singaporean, I would definitely spend time relaxing there.
Click on this link to see my pictures from the gardens:
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| Singapore Botanic Gardens |
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