Traveling with Michelle: Day 9: Gardens by the Bay and Toy Story 4

Today we slept in. So nice! And again, I had a cold shower. :( I think I figured out the problem, though (hopefully!). Randy ran to the local 7-11 (downstairs in our building), then to the supermarket next to it for some breakfast rations. They didn't have much; we ended up with fruit, white bread, and a giant box of cocoa layer cakes (it seems that they had a superabundance of these giant boxes). After fortification, we headed to the Gardens by the Bay which is where every tourist in Singapore goes. Joshua and I wanted to take the subway, but Randy wanted to walk. They took about the same amount of time. Joshua wanted the subway for the air conditioning, I wanted it because I knew we would be doing a lot of walking around the gardens once we got there. Randy convinced Joshua to walk, so it was 2 to 1. Google maps gave us the ugliest route imaginable. We were very dispirited by the time we got there. The heat index today is 98 degrees. Get ready-- a lot of photos today!

The view from our apartment window!

Things we saw along the way

The famous Singapore skyline

Gardens by the Bay is interesting. It is a huge park with two main attractions and many spaces spread out (Imagine a Singapore Central Park). You could seriously spend several days to see all of it. We went to the Flower Dome first. We had read mixed reviews. It has about 30,000 plants with a seasonal display in the center. The current display is roses. Not my favorite, but not horrible. It was cute with little castle ruin walls and towers as backdrops. Around that are paths full of succulents, baobabs, and gardens from different areas of the world (Australia, South Africa, California Mediterranean and South America). It was interesting and pretty, but didn't live up to my expectations.

tiny succulents

succulents

curly, lady's hair succulents

baobab trees

yet more succulents

The rose display

Pretty color

More succulents

fuschia

Roses

Then we went to the Cloud Forest (also in a dome). It features a "majestic" 35-meter waterfall in front of a large hill structure covered in plants. It has supposedly the world's tallest indoor waterfall. After viewing the waterfall and walking around the base of the hill, you take an elevator to the top for the Cloud Walk, It is on an elevated walkway near the top of the hill and is supposed to simulate the plants you would find in a cloud forest. Then you go down a layer to the treetop walk--another elevated walkway. Down again to the secret garden for moisture-loving plants and ferns. Down again to watch a video called "+5 Degrees" about global warming. It is on a giant screen that also displays on the floor. So when you are in a forest, the screen has the trees and the floor looks like a forest floor. Pretty cool. The down again to Crystal Mountain (kind of dumb), then to the Lost World. Cloud Forest was way better than the Flower Dome.

The waterfall

An orchid

An orchid display

Display of carnivorous plants

Cute sculptures

Shameless selfie

The waterfall from above

Perfect bunch of flowers

Joshua

the crystals

Tons of kites were flying over the bay

Secret garden

secret garden

Joshua reluctantly getting a photo with a giant snail

Then we walked out to the Supertree Grove. They look like they are from Avatar. They are actually ventilation shafts with solar panels around the top rims. They have plants growing up the "trunks". Filling the area today was a Children's Festival which seemed to be an advertising gimmick for Toy Story 4 but had a lot of free activities for families with young children.

We stopped at a McDonalds in the gardens and saw this sign

The Supertrees

Marina Bay Sands Hotel (as featured in the movie Crazy Rich Asians)

How the gardens are helping the environment

Next we went on the 22-meter high OCBC Skyway which is above the Children's Festival in the Supertree Grove. Joshua is in love with the Singapore Skyline so he was over the moon being up so high to see it. When we went up it was getting close to setting and we lingered to see the park and skyline lit up.

Very happy boy!

The Children's Festival below

Note the blue ball going down the track

The skyline

At 7:45 and 8:45 each night, they have a light and sound show. This one had a Toy Story 4 theme with the charaters appearing on clouds that they hung in the trees. It was pretty cool. When it was over, we took the subway back to near our apartment. It was nearly 9:00 by the time we got back.