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| Garden by the Bay with the domes and "trees" |
Singapore is a great modern city/country. The Garden by the Bay is a more recent development in Singapore. I did not think I would like a garden made out of metal trees, but boy, was I wrong. It really is an amazing place. My wife, Marie and I have visited Singapore a few times, but the last time we were there together was quite some time ago. The now iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel, with the top deck spanning the three towers, had not been built last time we were there. The Garden by the Bay had also not been built yet. The Garden by the Bay is pretty much part of the whole Marina Bay Complex development.
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| Marina Bay Sands Hotel |
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| Large "trees" |
When I attended the IUMS congress in Singapore in 2017, this was held at the convention centre which is part of the Marina Bay Sands Complex. So I spent the week at the Marina Bay Sands complex.
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| Icon hotel now a landmark in Singapore |
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| Light show |
After one of the days at the congress, the students and I visited the Garden by the Bay. The main feature of this Garden are the massive artificial trees. These are now covered with epithets and they have become a wonderful niche for many plants. They have become their own little ecosystems. I guess that this was the idea from the start! In the evening there is a sound and light show at the "trees". Really well worth the visit. Everyone sits around the "trees" and enjoys the show. The oppressive day time heat of Singapore has also been broken by the time of the show, so it is very pleasant just to sit and enjoy the show.
Apart from the artificial trees, there are also beautifully laid out gardens and different ecosystems. The garden spans some 100 hectares of reclaimed land. There are ponds with some Victoria water lilies in. There are the largest water lily and originates in the Amazon. Then there is the dry area, which has been covered to protect the plants from the rain.
There is also a beautiful Chinese garden withe the typical Chinese feature of massive, interesting rocks forming the centre point of the garden design.
Another feature of the Garden by the Bay are the two massive "glass houses". Unlike other glass houses in the worlds, these are cooled! Not much need for a hot house in Singapore. The entire Singapore is a "hot house" with orchids growing along the streets! One of the conservatories is the "Flower dome". This is the world's largest columless glasshouse. The Flower dome is 1.2 hectares in size. This conservatory replicates cool dry climates and features plants from the Mediterranean, Australia, the semi arid regions of South America and South Africa.
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| Victoria lilies |
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| Night time in the Garden by the Bay |
The other conservatory is the "Cloud forest"dome. This represents the cooler forest regions above 1000 meters which can be found in South America, and South East Asia.As I have been to the real Cloud forests in Ecuador a few times, I did not go into these domes. The cost was quite high to go in and as we had limited time, the group of students and I decided not to go into the domes.
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| Garden by the Bay |
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