Ah, yes. Another long break in Stripy Tapir posts. January and February seem to have passed by in a total whirlwind, and I feel like my feet have barely touched the ground. One of the main reasons was an absolute dream of a trip to New Zealand at the end of last month, to see family, drink in the scenery, and of course, spend some time with its wildlife.
Having learned from our previous trip there that getting to New Zealand in a one-er meant spending more time on planes than either of us could tolerate, we looked around for a good stopover. I didn’t need any convincing to make South East Asia our point-of-call – so without further ado, here’s the first of the posts from 36 hours in Singapore.
36 hours in Singapore is not a lot of time. Especially if this is your first time in South East Asia, you know there are endless forms most beautiful in the forests out there, and you also know you’re going to be jet lagged. Trying to decide on any sort of itinerary was tough – never believe anyone who says that Singapore can be ‘done’ in a day – but we all agreed that, if there was one thing all of us wanted to see, it was the Gardens in the Bay.
There’s always a chance of disappointment when it comes to places that have received this much hype. No such problems here though, as I can safely say that my jaw had to be picked up off the floor when I first the much-fabled ‘super-trees’. Then it had to be picked up several more times, as we bought tickets for two of the Garden’s mega-greenhouses – the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, the latter of which is the location for most of these photos. I can only describe wandering around this dream-like mountain stuffed to the rafters with orchids, aroids and tree ferns as an etherial experience – especially after they turned on the misters and swathes of it became covered in cloud. I’m pretty sure it was the most beautiful man-made structure I’ve ever seen- I could have spent days in that greenhouse absorbing every last detail and taking in the sheer audaciousness of it.
24 hours with no sleep is no joke though, and after even a McDonalds breakfast failed to shake the tiredness we made our way back to the hotel at lunchtime. If I’m lucky enough to go back, this fantastical place is still top of my must-do’s in Singapore. There’s so much more of the gardens to see- super trees to climb into, details to pore over- and most pertinently, more zebra doves to admire (just look at that exquisite plumage, offset by the bright cyan stripe around the eye. They’re tiny wee things, too).
