A city in the garden
The Gardens By The Bay are part of a strategy of the government of the city-state of Singapore to transform the garden city into a city within the garden, so that the quality of life of the inhabitants can be improved by green corridors. The park landscape along the sea and at the Marina Reservoir serves as a natural recreation area for the city's population.
It comprises a 101 hectare park area that was arranged on artificially filled up land in the central district of Singapore. In 2019, over 12 million people visited the site.
Lightshow in the night
First I visited the Gardens at night. Together with my Indonesian buddies Anya and Bonnie I went to the light show "Garden Rhapsody" which is held 2 times every night. First we had to find the entrance of the huge complex. We had relied on the Indonesian man, because he had already visited the gardens; but somehow we had got off at the wrong stop.
Over a narrow back passage we finally found our way in and even found a good seat from where we had a view to the huge artificial trees. For 15 minutes, the trees glowed in different colours to the beat of the classical music that was played. Really well done!
Spending the whole day in the Gardens
I enjoyed the Gardens so much that I went there the next day to have a look at them by daylight. I spent almost the whole day there, exploring the garden itself, the domes and the Super Trees.
The Largest Greenhouse in the world
The entrance to the gardens is free. You have to pay to visit the two Flower Domes, which you should not miss. The larger of the two domes features the largest glass greenhouse in the world, covering an area of over 1 hectare. In it, mild, dry climate conditions are created. Plants typical of Mediterranean or semi-dry climates are shown. These include, for example, the Chilean araucaria, olive trees, the Canary date palm, baobab trees, the Chilean honey palm or the woolly palm and others.
The dome has changing themes, when I was there, a part of the dome focused especially on the Chinese New Year and the upcoming Year of the Pig.
Cloud Forest & waterfall under a dome
In the neighbouring glass house called Cloud Forest, the vegetation zone of the tropics is recreated at altitudes of about 1,000 to 3,000 metres above sea level. A 35-meter-high tower construction represents a mountain covered with typical representatives of its flora, such as orchids, bromeliads or flamingo flowers. From the top flows the highest artificial waterfall in the world.
Huge Super Trees using renewable energy
Another impressive construction are the Super Trees, plant-covered steel structures with heights between 25 and 50 meters. Among other things, they are used for the cultivation of rare plants. In addition, photovoltaics are used to generate electricity for lighting and cooling systems, rainfall is collected to irrigate the plants and some of the trees serve as cooling towers for the cooling systems in the greenhouses.
They are connected via the OCBC Skyway, a 128 m long skyway that offers close-up views of the 12 vertical gardens of Supertree Grove.
