On day 2 of CNY, we visited Sentosa's Flower festival. Starting from carpark, we realised a lot of people have decided to drop by RWS for their gambling kicks :p Dragons feature at every corner. Even dinosaurs are consider "dragons, as their Chinese name is 恐龙. We did not follow any itinerary, we head to the less popular joints for our photos. Some queues stretch to 20min, and we realised a lot of tourist request for multiple photoshoot ! One person, two person, whole family, then one person again! We should limit every group to maximum three photos. Look at the crowd ! Some of the setup will be recycle for Valentine's. Hot day, and kids miss their naps again, no wonder Yi is yawning. Only food and Fun will keep him awake. The usual photo booths, ideal for family portraits (but you have to squeeze with others). Do take more photos and join Sentosa Flower contest. It is a challenge to navigate through the crowd with our stroller, but somehow, we still manage to squeeze in opportunities for family portraits. (if you need to mount that tripod, do be careful as some kids might trip your precious camera over !) Before we head home, we decide to pop by Malaysian Food street for some snacks, but the queue put us off! Yes, we blogged about some delicious food earlier, but we are not going to enjoy more Queues :p Of all the dragons at Sentosa, this is our favourite. Made of lanterns, Dragon looks very impressive.
If you are interested in Sentosa Flowers ,the last day is 29Jan. We will recommend that you take the boardwalk, our carpark bill came up to $14 for 2 hours.
圣淘沙春节花会 (Sentosa Flowers 2012) will run from 22Jan to 29Jan 2012. We can see flowers (Spring 春), a Floral Dragon, and do bring your tripod along for all the photo opportunities.
Do you know that you can walk across to Sentosa from Vivocity via Boardwalk? We did it last year, and it was hassle free (entrance fee is only $1, besides carpark fees would be limited and expensive on Sentosa)
Magical, that sums up Daddy's experience. Imagine yourself inside Flower Dome at night, under the cool aircon, with plant and tree species from half a world away. Yes, we are still in HOT humid Singapore. If Singapore aspires to be a "City in a Garden", then "Gardens by The Bay" will be Singapore's crown jewel ! We are building a world class garden ! As part of Orchid Conference, we get to preview Gardens' Flower Dome. Cloud-Forest is the other dome.
Marina Bay Sands (MBS) look imposing from every angle. If you are coming from MBS, below paranomic view will greet you halfway across Dragon Fly bridge. This is the DragonFly bridge from another angle. However, Daddy came up from B2 carpark, so the first thing which you will be Astonished are the hugh SuperTrees ! They are TALL, up to 50m ! Inside the Dome, some of the Trees seem to touch the Glass roof ! There are a lot of cactus variety too. Majestic trees, but Daddy thought they look lonely :) Even the Glass walls are a piece of art ! Love how they slope towards each other, Aesthetic piece of engineering ! Twinkle Twinkle little stars. With the reflection and lighting, you can imagine yourself staring at the Stars in the galaxy ! It should be awesome to hear the raindrop hit the roof !
Adore the blue blue ambient ! As if Christmas has come earlier. We only need Flower Dome to SNOW to complete our imagination ! Looking at first photo, can you imagine celebrating White X'mas with your family in the dome !
Alas, Flower dome has to close at nine, Daddy only got 1 hour to capture his Christmas landscape.. but Outdoors prove to be another spectacle ! After Flower Dome, Daddy walks towards MBS to explore more shots. Adore the glowing and colourful SuperTrees !
The lights' reflections dances off the lake. Another colour spread , Red, Green, Blue, Yellow.
MBS with Blue underbelly, Gardens by the Bay offer us a different perspective of MBS towers. Maybe guests would like to draw their curtain, as DragonFly bridge will be popular with photographers ! Driving along ECP will be a new experience.
With MBS in the background, all the photos look imposing ! Daddy is wondering how "Gardens By the Bay" will look like, when you are high above at SkyGarden. People are paying $20 to go up MBS for a view of City Skyline, but Gardens will provide another perspective of Singapore !
Daddy has No doubt the SuperTrees, lakes and Domes will come together to form a picture perfect postcard !
====== ====== ====== ====== Things to take note..
- Temperature in the Dome is around 23degrees, ensure kids wear their jackets. There are quite a few low-walls, and a lot of pricky cactus. Hold on to your kids :p
- For photography, you need to stay minimum two hours in the dome to capture the ambience, and architecture. If you are into macro, add another 1 hour :p
- Ideally, you should have a wide angle lens, Daddy's kit lens (18-55) fail to capture Everything.
- Daddy suspects the carpark can accommodate 500 cars easily, but it will still be packed during events.
- In the evening, the passage way between MBS and Gardens can be better illuminated. It might be easy to get lost when navigating through the Gardens.
- Bring your anti-Mosquito spray, these pests like to linger near the waterway.
- Lastly, drive safe around Marina Boulevard, the roads are not level, filled with pebbles, and street lamps are dim. There are a lot of trucks and construction workers around the area.
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Preview of the Flower Dome and Heritage gardens, are but only a morsel to tickle your appetite. You can view map and future development plans here.
Daddy bid the SuperTrees good night ! Maybe one day, Npark will encapsule Gardens into a Snow Globe, that would be so cool :)
ps.. take a peep on how "City in a Garden" will be transformed. Exciting years ahead!
Love the entrance, with the overhanging what-plant (is it willows?) Disclaimer, Daddy has problems identifying the plant names, and find it even harder to pronounce them. Please look for your friendly botanist :p If you are into Macro, you are in Heaven !! So many flower, seed, shoots, roots, and even scrubs jostle to capture your attention. Scroll down to see what we found :) Orchid or Pitcher? Dancing Lady, can you spot her dress? Who forgot their Amsterdam clog ? Cutie pie Taiwan's landscape Papua New Guinea's Mask.
Orchids mania :)
Smiling broadly, as our kids are not around, giving us some quality time :p Even Mr President Tan drops by to view the beautiful Orchid blooms. Is this pod pregnant or does it look like a snail? Pink Butterflies ! This one looks nice, an Orchid too? This pitcher look-alike plant actually feeds on little mammals' dung !! Daddy prefers Mummy's companionship more than the flowery displays :) It is so difficult for us to Date with the kids swarming around us.
Bottles and miniatures Love the various shades of blues and purples ! They call this Tiger, but the spots look like Cheetah :) Orchid with goggles, too cute ! Love these twisters, like something you can find in your aquarium.
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Things to take note :
- Opening hours 1000 to 2100 After this Sunday, Gardens By The Bay will be closed, until 2012 Jun.
- Tickets are no longer available online. You have to purchase them at MBS. Long queues are expected over weekend.
- For those taking public transport, you can opt to take Orchid's free shuttle bus at MarinaBay MRT or at Singapore Flyer. Otherwise, you can take bus 97 or 106 from Suntec. More details can be found here.
- On weekdays, wheelchair and stroller have a fair bit of space to manoeuvre, but we suspect the exhibition halls will be packed over weekend. Space constraint applies to tripods too :p
- Go near to the Orchids. With so many people, it is easy for you to miss some flowers. Helpful Npark volunteers are onhand to explain and help with your queries.
- Lastly, take tons of photos !!! We do not know when Orchid Conference will return to Singapore again.
If you want to impress your partner, read up this Orchid guidebook before heading down. ...but for god's sake, DO NOT walk around Marina Bay Sands with this book :p
ps.. Daddy's photos are not doing justice to the Orchids, you have to see the exhibits upfront to appreciate the R&D, Grooming, care and passion behind each stalk of Orchid !
