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| The Supertree Grove |
Of all the places we spent time at on our visit to Singapore back in late 2017 without doubt the one we enjoyed the most was the Gardens by the Bay Precinct. With our hotel basically backing onto the gardens we didn’t have far to go, so that probably contributed to us spending a fair bit of time there. Returning to our hotel every evening after exploring Singapore, we’d freshen up and head over to the gardens to relax and have dinner at one of the many food hawkers there. Drinking an icy cold Tiger while tucking into some great food as night descended slowly over the gardens around us was one of my favourite memories of that trip.
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Gardens by the Bay also has a lot of educational displays in edition to all the visual displays.
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Gardens by the Bay are a fairly recent thing, the gardens were first proposed back in 2005 and were largely completed by 2012, apparently coming in under the $1.035 billion allocated to them. The gardens are part of a longer plan to make Singapore a ‘City in a Garden’ rather than a ‘Garden in a City’. The gardens cover 101 hectares of reclaimed waterfront land, the water frontage allowing for beautiful views back towards the CBD skyline that we enjoyed on our walks back to the hotel each night. Within the 101 hectares there are plenty of spots the general public can enjoy for free, but the gardens are also home to two huge Bio Domes and the Super Tree Grove and to fully explore these spots will involve paying for entry.
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The Cloud Forest Bio Dome.
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Dusk at Gardens by the Bay.
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The first of the bio domes that Sam and I checked out was the ‘Cloud Forest’. This glass covered dome features it’s own mountain, complete with waterfall cascading down. The Cloud Forest dome is the home to a large collection of tropical mountain type flora, the plants normally found growing between 1000 and 3000 metes in altitude in tropical regions of the world. The ‘go’ here is to catch a lift to the top of the 42 metre ‘mountain’ and then descend the spiralling walk way back down to the ground, taking in the changing flora as you descend. The Cloud Forest Dome doesn’t just showcase these unique tropical plants though, the other side effect of replicating the mountain environment is that it is generally a fairly pleasant temperature in here, definitely a change from what can be pretty hot and humid conditions outside.
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Cloud Forest
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Looking up to the top of the 42 metre mountain in the Cloud Forest.
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Cloud Forest
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It was good to see that not everything is super hi-tech in Singapore.
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Heading back down the walkway from the 'summit'.
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The view from the inside of the mountain.
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The detail here is amazing, the longer you look the more you see...
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After visiting the Cloud Forest Dome we wandered over to check out the larger ‘Flower Dome’. The Flower Dome was built to replicate dryer Mediterranean type climates so there are a few Australian plants in here. With this dome replicating a dryer, semi arid types of climate it’s also makes for a bit of a respite from the outside heat and humidity. It was slightly surreal to be standing in here checking out all the cacti as the rain fell on the roof of the glass dome over our heads. As I mentioned the Flower Dome has a section of Australian plants along with a selection of plants from South America and South Africa and, like the Cloud Forest, makes for a fascinating place to wander around for a few hours. The Flower Dome has it’s own bistro and children's play area so it’s great for families.
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The Flower Dome features semi arid tropical flora.
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This would be an awesome place to bring children I'm thinking.
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The Supertree Grove is probably what Gardens by the Bay are most well known for, I’m thinking. The Supertrees are a stunning combination of man made architecture and nature. These huge trees (some of the structures are up to 50 metres high) act as air inlets and exhaust for the nearby bio domes. The trees home hanging gardens, as well as hidden photovoltaic cells which harness the suns energy to supply the power to light up these trees at night. After dark is when the trees are at their best but they are still pretty spectacular during the daylight hours as well.
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Supertree Grove
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Gardens by the Bay at night from the observation deck at Marina Bay Sands Hotel, the two bio domes on the left and the Supertrees scattered about.
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We visited Singapore over Christmas which meant that there was a large Christmas Lights display in the gardens as well as the Supertrees.
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The Supertree Grove is visible for free from numerous places around the gardens, but if you want to walk the elevated walkway connecting some of the trees then there is an entrance fee. The walkway connects six of the Supertrees around 22 metres above the ground and gives a good view over the rest of the Gardens by the Bay precinct. For viewing the Supertrees you're better off looking from the some of the free spots I think (like the elevated walkway coming over from the metro at Marina Bay). Apart from being a stunning sight, the Supertrees also made good reference points as we wandered through the gardens after dark, although with Marina Bay Sands jutting into the night sky nearby we were never really going to get lost. With this visit to Singapore being over the Christmas period the gardens were also home to some fairly impressive Christmas themed light shows which complemented the Supertrees.
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The Skyway that connects some of the Supertrees.
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| The Skyway is good but I think that you're better off saving your money and checking out the Supertrees from ground level. |
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Something that probably isn’t as well known is that the Gardens by the Bay also feature some world class public art. Probably the most famous and visually impressive is Planet by Mark Quinn. Planet is a sculpture featuring a seven tonne baby seemingly floating above the ground. It’s not just the work ‘Planet’ at Gardens by the Bay though, the gardens feature over 40 installations scattered around the grounds. Most of the public art is free to access, although there are a few installations inside the bio domes of which you need to pay to access.
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The Pamela Hat by Manolo Valdés.
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Probably the most well known work is Planet by Mark Quinn.
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This Kingfisher is part of an installation featuring three kingfishers called, wait for it...a Trio of Kingfishers.
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| Dragonfly Riders by Dr Elsie Yu. |
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The Dirt.
Gardens by the Bay is a great spot, sure you have to pay (a fairly modest fee) to enter the Cloud Forest, Flower Dome and the elevated walkway between some of the Supertrees, but there is also heaps of free stuff to see and do as well. The gardens are a great place to chill out in the late afternoon and evening as the sting goes out of the tropical sun, the view back towards the CBD across the water each night as we wandered back to Marina Bay Sands was a stunning attraction in it’s own right, I think. As I’ve mentioned before, Gardens by the Bay also has it’s own food hawkers and while you’ll definitely find cheaper hawkers in Singapore, it’s hard to beat the tropical ambiance in the gardens.
Relevant Posts.
Singapore, 2017.
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