12 Happy Happy Singapore - Flower Pavilion

Sailing into Singapore was not as spectacular as it should have been. The skies were grey, and the haze deadened the colours so your photos looked like they were taken in Greyscale.

   
Docking was at the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal, and it has come a long way since we visited in 2014. Access to and from the port is now easier with the opening of the Marina South Pier MRT station, but be aware that it is an approximate 600m walk from the Terminal.

 
If Singapore is trying to discourage visiting ships, they are doing a good job about it. Immigration required face to face processing in the Terminal and the dreaded zero count before anyone was allowed back on. Another little Singapore gem was that you were only allowed to disembark and board
just once throughout the whole day. An hour of our port time was lost as a result, and that is not counting the 30 minute earlier all on-board time, which we are sure is a result of the departure formalities.

 Not wanting to waste too much time we jumped into a taxi and headed to Gardens by the Bay. Our plan was to visit the two pavilions. It was a well spent $12 (Sing $) for the taxi ride, and as there were 4 of us, quite economical.

 
We visited the Flower and the Cloud Forest pavilions at a cost of $28 per person. Senior tickets only apply if you are residents. The Flower pavilion was magnificent with gardens representing different regions of the world. A massive undertaking considering many of the olive and boab trees looked hundreds of years old.

 

It was begonias being showcased in the Flower dome today, and the display theme down the centre of the hall was "Under the Sea". The heat, humidity and greyness of outside was soon forgotten with the cooled temperatures and displays bursting with such vibrant colours.

The Cloud Forest pavilion was quite different with a more Jurassic feel. A man-made mountain rises up in the middle covered in plants that you would expect to find in any lush rain forest. A waterfall spanning from top to bottom sprays water to keep you cool. An elevator takes you to the top then
you follow the spiral walkways with different displays of flowers, crystal and other vegetation, that eventually brings you back down to the bottom. Reluctantly we left the coolness of the pavilions to venture out for the rest of our day.

I can't visit Singapore without purchasing at least one pair of shoes.. not to worry, I bought three!!
We caught the train to Chinatown where I knew exactly the shop I wanted, then it was on to Clarke Quay where we had a lovely lunch on the river before embarking on our little Singapore tradition, a Bumboat river cruise.

For the 45 min river cruise the cost is $25 (Sing) per person. Such great photo opportunities of many of the Singapore highlights - we would recommend this trip to everyone. Time was not in our favour today, so it was back on to the train and back on the ship for our 5pm all on board, but a 6pm sail away.

Step Count: 184,370 . An impressive 44,000 steps over target.