First Stop - Singapore

Hello everyone. 

You may want to grab a drink before you start reading this very long post about the start of our holiday!!

Our adventures began in Singapore. After a long 13-hour flight, we arrived at our first hotel. As expected, the weather was still very warm and muggy even though it was evening. We were tired but still ventured out to explore for a while. Our hotel was located opposite a large food outlet with several places to enjoy. We tried some Matcha ice cream, which was new to us and was very refreshing.

Our first organised trip began the following morning, when we were picked up from the hotel by our guide for a foodie adventure. We were in a small group of 8 people, which made chatting together over delicious food a great experience. Chinatown and a very large hawker market were among the places we visited.  After wandering around, taking in the sights and sounds of fresh food for sale and many other small food stalls, where their owners were preparing more food, we were invited to sit down and sample some of the food brought to us by our guide. We certainly were not expecting the variety or amount of food presented. I'm not too adventurous with new foods, but I enjoyed everything that was provided, especially the dumplings!

We then moved on to sample food in an area called Little India before finally sampling some delicious ice cream.  

Continuing on the theme of food, there was one place we just had to visit while in Singapore - the famous Raffles Hotel. We had booked afternoon tea, which was a real treat. We were served a beautiful tiered trio of plates, all featuring sandwiches and sweet treats, along with an abundance of tea.

Afterwards, we joined a queue to enter the Long Bar for an iconic Singapore Sling and to soak up the atmosphere of the era, with traditional crushed peanut shells scattered on the floor. 

We were also fortunate enough to visit this wonderful Buddhist temple during our time in Singapore.

In the short time we spent in Singapore, we were also able to visit the famous Botanical Gardens, featuring the National Orchid Garden, as well as the Gardens by the Bay. It is easy to see why Singapore is known as the tropical 'Garden City'. Here are a few of our favourite orchids and other plants.

The other gardens that we visited were called 'Gardens by the Bay', which showcased a vast number of plants from around the world. In the centre of this paradise stands the Supertree Grove, a man-made futuristic series of structures that tower above the gardens and, at night, are also illuminated. 

Surrounding these trees are several themed garden areas, including Chinese, Malay, and Indian.

We visited two areas called the 'Flower Dome and the 'Cloud Dome', which were both giant air-conditioned glass houses.

Here are a few treasures from the Flower Dome.

Meanwhile, Cloud Forest has one of the tallest indoor waterfalls, which cascades down a man-made mountainside covered with exotic plants from around the world. You enter the structure at ground level and look up at the beauty of the tumbling water, then climb upwards along walkways inside the mountain before returning to ground level amid misted air. Currently, there is a Jurassic Lost World theme complete with impressive dinosaur animatronics and appropriate Jurassic Park music! 

It was a fun afternoon.

Looking beyond the Supertree Grove, the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel can be seen in the background, as well as the skywalk. 

We loved our time in Singapore and enjoyed the good weather, using their metro MRT systems, great food and the beautiful planting all around us. 

If you have managed to read to the end of this post, it might be time for another cup of tea. Thank you for visiting this small corner. Have a good week, everyone.

B x