At some stage, it felt like we had an eternity in Singapore, but the last full day arrived all too quickly. We would have two more nights on Sentosa at the end of the holiday, but I was aware that this would be a different proposition from staying in the city. We were awake around 07:00 again. It looked dreary and wet that morning. We got up, ready and headed to breakfast. I was hoping for some more soup noodles, but they had switched back to seafood broth. I had some longans, dragon fruit and some congee with fried onions, fried shallots, and soy sauce. I also had some coffee and fruit punch. Graham had some salad and cold cuts, some fried egg on toast and some oatmeal. He also had orange juice and coffee.
After breakfast, we headed back to the room to get ready. It still looked dreary and wet outside. This did not fill me with joy as we wanted to go to Gardens by the Bay that day. Looking at the weather forecast, it looked like the weather would improve later. There are normally three indoor areas, Cloud Forest, Flower Dome, and Floral Fantasy. I had spotted that morning that Cloud Forest was closed for maintenance that day. This did not make me happy as this this is where the second Chihuly installation in Singapore is located. Still, I figured the other two indoor experiences would keep us occupied if the weather did not cooperate. We set off. When we were getting close to our stop, Graham asked I wanted to head to the Marina Bay Cruise Centre. My favourite ship, Ovation of the Seas, was docked in Singapore that day. There is a covered walkway that goes from just outside the MRT station to just across from the dock. There are also some really nice views along that walk. I took Graham up on this offer. We got off one stop early and changed lines to get to the Marina South Pier MRT station. It turned out to be a wise decision as i was raining pretty heavily when we got there. We headed towards the port, and I managed to get some photos of Ovation.
The rain started to ease off when we made our way back. We saw some interesting birds along the walkway, but I was not able to get any photos and neither of us was sure what we were seeing. When we got back to the MRT station, Graham suggested that we check out the ferry terminal. There is a little museum here, but this was sadly closed. However, they have a rooftop terrace that not only provided some nice views of ovation, but we could also see some of the Indonesian islands from there.
By the time we headed back to the MRT, the rain had thankfully stopped. We took the MRT for one stop and then we changed back to the Thomson East Coast Line, which took us straight to Gardens by the Bay. This is another station that did not exist in 2019. Indeed, this opened on the same day as the local station to the hotel did in November 2022. This makes getting to Gardens by the Bay from this part of Singapore so much easier. As soon as we came out of the MRT station, we saw the entrance to Gardens by the Bay. There were not many people around and we saw some parrots and a bird of prey. We also finally saw a monkey. We had expected to come across monkeys at the Botanic Garden, but this did not happen.
After a short walk, we reached the Kingfisher Lake. This is a very picturesque and peaceful area. There was also a bench facing the lake. We sat down. Initially we did not see a great deal apart from a stunning view of the lake with the surrounding trees and the Super Trees and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the distance. I took some photos. One of them turned out one of my all-times favourite photos. I had his made into a glass cabochon and the jewellery artist I have worked with for years has turned this into a stunning necklace. I have put this to one side for now as this will make its debut on our next cruise.
All over sudden, birds appeared from everywhere. Most of them were different types of kingfishers. I had no idea how many different types of kingfishers there are. I think I saw more different types of kingfishers that day than I had seen in all the years prior to this point taken together. Apparently, there are still more different kinds of kingfishers in Singapore. Maybe we will see them this year. After a while, the bench started to get a little uncomfortable and we moved on towards the Supertree Grove.
The Supertrees are the 18 tree-like structures that Gardens by the Bay is best known for. They range between 25 metres and 50 metres in height. The Supertrees are essentially planters for unique and exotic ferns, vines, orchids and also a vast collection of bromeliads. They also contain photovoltaic cells that harness solar energy for lighting. The Supertrees collect water for irrigation and to power fountains. They also serve air intake and exhaust functions as part of the conservatories’ cooling systems. The whole thing is not only very iconic, but also terribly clever.
For the time being, we just skimmed this area. There is a central plaza near the Supertree Grove that has a gift shop, various food, and beverage outlets as well as huge map showing the whole of Gardens by the Bay. We had a look at the map to plan the rest of the day. Then we decided it was time for a drink. We went to Starbucks. They already had their holiday drinks. We both had a Pistachio Oat milk Coffee Frappuccino. This was delicious.
When we looked at the big map before going for a coffee, we spotted that they were offering an audio tour. At 10 Singapore Dollar per person, this did not exactly break the bank. As there was a tour leaving soon, we decided to do this. They used a big golfcart for this. Ironically, everybody on the tour stayed in our hotel. Most of them were going on a cruise the next day. The tour lasted about 20 minutes and took in the main sights including the four Heritage Gardens that represent the heritage of the various cultural groups in Singapore. The four gardens are the Indian Garden, the Chinese Garden, the Malay Garden, and the Colonial Garden. We also went past other landmarks like the Supertree Grove, the Far East Organization Children’s Garden and the Sun Pavilion that concentrates on plants that grow in the dessert. We also passed some of the artwork that is dotted around Gardens by the Bay. Some of this was downright bizarre. At the end of the tour, we stopped outside the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. People could get off there if they wanted, but we stayed on until we were back at the starting point.
Once we had finished the tour, we headed for the centre of the Supertree Grove. There is an elevated walkway, the OCBC Skyway, between two larger Supertrees. The Supertree Observatory is housed inside the tallest Supertree. I had considered checking out both of them but ultimately decided against it. My main motivation had been the hope that I would be able to see Ovation and as I had already seen her, this was not really of interest anymore. Graham was happy to go along with whatever I decided. Instead, we pushed on towards Floral Fantasy. They were setting up for a Christmas event and some areas were fenced off, which meant that it took a little extra time to get to Floral Fantasy.
There were two statues outside Floral Fantasy. One was a very colourful tiger. The other, which was just outside the entrance really came as a surprise. A few of my trip reports have featured sculptures by Gillie and Marc featuring Rabbitwoman and Dogman. Whenever I go somewhere new, I check if there is one of their sculptures in the same way I check for Chihuly installations. Although I had struck gold with Chihuly, I could not find any evidence that there was a Rabbitwoman and Dogman statue in Singapore. I was more than a little surprised when I came round the corner and saw Rabbitwoman and Dogman. I have since found out that the statue is called The Wildlife Warriors. This was definitely a nice surprise.
There is an admission charge for Floral Fantasy in the same way that there is an admission charge for Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. However, this is not too expensive. We paid and headed for the entrance. We were given a timed ticket for the 4D ride, Flight of the Dragonfly. My initial reaction was to just sit this out as I am not overly keen on 4D attractions as a rule. Apart from Flight of the Dragonfly, Floral Fantasy is divided into four zones called Dance, Float, Waltz, and Drift. Dance is the first area you get to. This is a riot of colours and seems to defy gravity as a lot of the flowers hang down from the ceiling. There are more than 15,000 cut flowers displayed in Dance at any one time. We took our time to enjoy this. At some stage, I checked my watch, and it was nearly time for our reserved time for Flight of the Dragonfly. I decided that it would give us the chance to sit down and as it was included in our ticket, it made sense to actually use it. Graham was happy to go along with whatever I decided.
We quickly went through the other zones to get to the Fantasy Theatre. We were the first people there and were joined by another family before we went in. I was really glad that I had changed my mind. This was less It’s Tough To Be A Bug, which is what I had feared, but more Soarin’. The seats looked like the kind of seats that you can find in simulators like Star Tours. However, the experience was definitely a flying theatre experience. The ride simulated a flight through Gardens by the Bay with various scents and special effects. There were even some fireworks at the end. It was very well done and hugely enjoyable.
Once the show was over, we went back to where we had left off, which was at the beginning of Float. There was a river that runs through this area, and the plants are those that can be found near rivers. There were also some benches in the area. This looked a lot more natural, but still very colourful and pretty.
Next up is Waltz where the main feature is water. This area mimics a tropical rainforest. Apart from cascading waters, there is a variety of rocks, driftwood, vines, orchids, and bromeliads. This area has its own Merlion, which unlike its cousin at Merlion Park is a fierce looking creature. At the back of this area is a vivarium with poison dart frogs in all colours of the rainbow.
The last area was Drift, which represents a cave with mainly moss and ferns. The lighting in this area mimics the light emitted by the glow worms found in caves in New Zealand and Australia. This area is also home to more than 50 species of exotic orchids from South and Central America. This area is very peaceful and stunning.
The last area we got to was the usual gift shop. For part of last year, Floral Fantasy had been converted to Disney Garden of Wonder. This had been extended a couple of times but had sadly been gone by the time we got there. However, the shop still sold a lot of Disney stuff. There was a very cute Lotso plush dressed up as a flower. I would have happily adopted one, but there was no staff around.
We walked along the Dragonfly Lake, which was another very picturesque area. This led us to the area outside the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. I did have a look through the windows in the hope that the Chihuly installation would be visible from the outside, but this is such a huge building that this was hopeless. We moved on towards the Waterfront Promenade that ultimately leads to the Marina Barrage. This is quite a nice walk, but there was one specific reason why we were heading this way, which was Satay by the Bay.
Before we went to Singapore in 2019, I asked a friend who had been to Singapore multiple times for recommendations. One of the recommendations she made was Satay by the Bay. A major attraction is not where I normally would look for good food at affordable prices and the name did sound like a gimmick. I did however trust her implicitly. We decided to give this a go in 2019 and were very positively surprised. There was a great selection of food, everything was tasty, and the prices were great to. Based on this, we decided to go there again. Unfortunately, Satay by the Bay did not seem to have weathered the pandemic well. A lot of stalls were vacant. Stalls have been removed completely from some areas. The stalls that are left are very heavily geared towards seafood, which I don’t eat. There were still some satay stalls, but there are less of them and only one of them was operating when we were there. I got some pork, beef, and chicken satay for us to share. Graham also had some coconut rice with mango. I did not fancy this and passed. We also had some mango juice each. What we did have is nice, but I don’t think I will bother going back this year.
Once we had finished our food, we headed back to the hotel. Satay by the Bay is quite close to the Gardens by the Bay MRT station and we were both quite grateful for this as we had done plenty of walking that day. Once we got to the platform, we had a bit of a wait for a train. However, there were some benches there and we did not mind. Once the train arrived, we had a nice clear run back to the hotel. When we were back at the hotel, we headed straight to the room. We both had some downtime. Graham had a nap, and I read for a while. Then I sorted out our arrival card for Malaysia. This was not as easy as the Singapore equivalent. It did not permit copying and pasting. Eventually all was done. I then did most of my packing and put Graham’s clean laundry on the armchair. At some stage Graham woke up and we had the rest of the pandan chiffon cake. I read a for little longer and then I got ready for bed. Graham was already fast asleep again.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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