Asia/Australia 2013: Singapore sights II

by | Mar 1, 2013 | International Travel, Travel

Wednesday
Our morning goal was to see the Singapore Botanical Gardens, and knowing the warmth that midday would bring, we got an early morning start. The gardens were about a 30 minute MTR ride away, and then a 20+ minute walk across the park.

On the way to the National Orchid Garden we took a slight detour to enjoy the rainforest walk.

rainforest walk roots

Then it was on to the orchid garden, one of the largest in the world. The garden was spectacular with lots of flowers (and shade!) in every color and size.

delicatepurpleyellow orchidsred spray prchidsgray orchidspray orchids

Crimson Sunbird
Crimson Sunbird, the national bird of Singapore

waterfall waterfall

Monstera deliciosa orchids

We thoroughly enjoyed the orchid gardens and would definitely recommend it as a morning excursion.

Neighboring the orchids are other parts of the National garden, including a ginger garden and palm grove.

bannana
bananas!

ginger
ginger

swamp dweller
water monitor basking

National Botanical Gardens

With the temperature rising we walked back to the MRT and traveled to the Marina Sands area, where we had heard about a Lego exhibit at the ArtScience Museum.

Art Science Museum

Each exhibit in the museum has a separate admission price, and our tickets were checked no less than three times. ‘The Art of the Brick’ was an exhibit by a New York artist who creates incredible sculptures out of Legos.

exhibit entrance

Handsblue figure

Face Offsmall figures

T-Rex made out of legos!

Author Blue Note

Though a bit pricey the exhibit was awesome and the last room held boxes of lego parts where you could build whatever you liked. Coming out of the museum we took some additional skyline shots.

Singapore

water lilies

And then back to the hotel for a midday siesta.

At 5:30 we ventured back out, this time to Little India for spices. As we left the MRT we instantly felt the difference as Little India was definitely more bustling and a bit dirtier than other parts of Singapore, with more market activity right on the sidewalks and some of the only street hawkers we experienced in the country.

garlands in Little India

We made our way up Serangoon Road, with Leandra finding a few interesting new spices enroute, to Mustafa Centre. This department store is best described as a Harrods crossed with a Walmart and was an amazing experience- labrynthian, multi story, and crammed with everything. The grocery section was great and we bought several bags of chips.

Mustafa
multiple floors of goods at Mustafa

so many snacks!
so many snacks

Later that evening we headed back to China Town to experience the night market a second time in search of a few small gifts. Just like Monday night it was crowded and colorful.

plastics  China Town wares
well stocked with colorful trinkets

Our time in Singapore was packed with sights and lots of walking. We liked the overall feel, from the politeness of people to the lush green plants on most streets, and we plan to return on a future Asian adventure.

Our Itinerary

2024 Trips

San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Valencia, Spain (Mar)
Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)

2022 Trips

Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)