Saturday 11th June 2016
Sean off to work early again. Susan and Carmel went for a walk in the nearby gardens – as if we really needed the early morning exercise after walking more than 13 kms yesterday and the day has not yet begun. Sean is finishing work around lunch and we will be off exploring again.
We waited for the thunder storm to pass before venturing out late in the afternoon. The 3 of us caught the MRT to Marina Bay Sands and went exploring the Gardens by the Bay, a garden that has been established across 101 hectares of reclaimed land. We spent hours in the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest – 2 huge climate controlled conservatories with thousands of trees, plants and sculptures. Oddly enough the first section we walked through was the Australian Garden so we felt right at home. Other sections included Mediterranean, South American, South African, desert landscapes and a special display called Lilytopia Flower Power Festival, hence the thousands of lilies. The Cloud Forest has a 35 meter waterfall with a jungle canopy aerial walkway.
We eventually left there at night fall and walked across to the Marina Bay Sands, the extraordinary hotel complex consisting of 3 towers with the boat shaped Observation Deck stretched across the top. We explored the hotel, the massive shopping complexes full of designer wear (many European and US designers we had never heard of), the Casino and then found a good viewing spot to watch the Water and Light Show.
Then it was time to go in search of some dinner. We caught a water shuttle across the bay and up the Singapore River past Boat Quay to Clarke Quay. We alighted and dined at a Persian Restaurant called Shiraz. We were entertained by belly dances, but more importantly enjoyed a great meal. The entire place was a buzz. There are simply thousands of places to dine all along the waterfront and there were people everywhere. The weather was really pleasant following the afternoon storm. This is summer time here – although being only 1 degree north of the Equator it is probably summer here all year round.
We walked 15kms today.
