A good finish to our first full day in Singapore (Thursday) – a stroll to the fringes of the CBD for a cheap meal at the Maxwell Street open air food stalls. We chose laksa, which seemed innocuous enough. It was so hot it almost stripped the enamel off our teeth! On our return walk we detoured through the Chinese night markets where we sat and ate a plate of cut mango, dragon fruit, melon, pineapple and pawpaw.
Today was absolutely wonderful; we travelled on land, sea and air. We spent the morning at the newly opened ‘Gardens by the Bay’, which is almost indescribable. It currently occupies 54 hectares, with a further 47 hectares under development. We took a half-hour ride around in an electric buggy and saw wonderful recreations of landscapes around the world, but the highlights were yet to come. First was the huge Flower Dome, about one hectare of gardens, totally enclosed under glass (and air-conditioned!) and containing such beautiful trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses from all around the world that the whole spectacle almost took your breath away. Then to the Cloud Forest, which took you into the vegetation and plant life of parts of the world that are actually in the clouds. When you walk into the Cloud Forest you are confronted with a 35-metre-high waterfall, then after getting to the top (by the stairs or a lift), you make your way down walkways around the ‘mountain’, viewing the representative flora at various levels. The signage and videos were heavily slanted towards the impact of humans on this environment, so it also sends a good message. We also took a walk along the Skyway, which is a narrow, open walkway suspended between the large metal trees that had been sculpted into the landscape. These metal trees also act as solar panels. The walkway is 22 metres above ground level, so this was a bit of a challenge – but we were yet to top that!
After lunch at the gardens we headed across the Singapore River and took a ride in the Singapore Flyer, a 165-metre-high wheel (similar to London’s ‘Eye’) taking 30mins to complete its revolution. It provides spectacular views over Singapore. We followed this with a Singapore River cruise, alighting at Clarke Quay for the short walk back to our hotel. Tonight we are heading back to the Maxwell Street food stalls, but this time we’re going to try the barbecued stingray, which was recommended to us by a taxi driver (and he should know!).
Tomorrow – the long flight to Frankfurt; late arrival and overnight in a hotel near the main railway station, then our train journey to Berlin on Sunday morning.
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