Singapore Travel Guide: Day 2

Day 2 in Singapore was a day filled with nature, something that the city-state prides itself in despite having an uber-modern infrastructure and architecture. Unlike living in NYC where you are immersed in concrete unless you venture out to Central Park, in Singapore there’s nature easily accessible both in the downtown core and in the outskirts of the city. The green in Singapore is truly something to romanticize about the city.

Inside the Flower Dome - just look at these colors!

We started our day at the Gardens by the Bay, located downtown by Marina South, where there is a massive conservatory housing some of the coolest flora and fauna. Inside the Flower Dome, vibrant flowers and plants of various species inhabited the greenhouse - I have never seen so much color and texture in one place. If you love flowers, you’ll fall in love here.

Depending on the time of year of your visit, there may be different installations in the Flower Dome. When I was there during Chinese New Year, there was a lantern/traditional umbrella art installation (pictured right). If you stood right below the art, it looked as if thousands of orange umbrellas were descending upon you. Quite a magical experience and definitely made for a beautiful picture.

If you got tired of walking, there was also a little red temple inside the conservatory where you can sit and relax for a bit (pictured left).

The next complex in the Gardens by the Bay is the Cloud Forest, which is a giant lush mountain filled with tropical plants, with a pathway running through and around it, allowing visitors to be immersed in the vegetation. There was also a waterfall and the whole dome was air-conditioned allowing you to escape the Singaporean heat.

Probably the most picturesque place I have ever visited and the most instagrammable of all the places in Singapore, the Supertree Grove sits outside of the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, with a direct view of the iconic Marina Bay Sands. This was probably the place that made me most want to come to Singapore. You don’t have to just take in the view from below, as there’s the OCBC Skyway that connects the giant “trees” near the top, allowing visitors to get an aerial view of the Gardens by the Bay as well as a close-up view of the vertical gardens.

I recommend visiting on a weekday or during an off-peak time on the weekend to avoid the crowd, as there can sometimes be a long queue for the Skyway. You could also consider visiting at night-time, which I have heard is a completely different experience, when the trees light up and sometimes ticket concerts play in the gardens.

I really had to conquer my fear of heights to walk the Skyway and get this amazing view - definitely worth it even if I was shaking and holding onto the railing the whole time!

Infinity pool atop the Marina Bay Sands hotel

Lunch: To end our amazing few hours by the Marina, we went to the most iconic place in Singapore - the Marina Bay Sands for lunch at the rooftop restaurant CÉ LA VI. This in my opinion is really the best way to experience the MBS if you are not staying at the hotel as a guest since you won’t have to pay a fee to get up to the top and can relax at the restaurant that’s not as crowded as the observation deck. Unfortunately, dining at the restaurant does not grant you access to the infinity pool as that’s for hotel guests only. Still, I highly recommend visiting the restaurant to enjoy the great view, food, and service.

After lunch we swung by the color district of Rochor, which is can be nicknamed Little India. The crowd and narrow streets weren’t really my scene, but I did manage to capture the colorful historic landmark - the House of Tan Teng Niah. The house is a brightly-painted Chinese villa built in 1900, now converted to a store.

As if the flora and fauna at the Gardens by the Bay weren’t enough, we visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens in the afternoon, the only tropical garden in the world to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here you can wander through the lush, verdant landscape exploring different species of flowers and plants. And if you’re lucky, you might see some roosters wandering around the gardens.

My honest recommendation is to spend more time at the Gardens by the Bay than the Botanic Gardens, simply because the architecture at the Gardens by the Bay are unlike any other gardens you’ll see elsewhere in the world.

For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant in Clarke Quay - I wasn’t particularly impressed with the place so am not sharing any pictures here. Day 3 of my Singapore travel guide will be posted in a few days, so stay tuned for that!

TravelPage SongJanuary 4, 2020gardens by the baysingaporeComment