Botanical Garden and Marina Bay Sands

On Saturday morning, I had to pack all my luggage and check out before joining the others for the day. It was my last day in Singapore o I left my suitcase at reception and put my hand luggage and changing clothes in Mba A. room. And then we set out for breakfast in the food court 2 blocks form the hotel, grabbing bread and buns at a bakery, and water at 711. There was not much opened, maybe because it was a bit early for a Saturday.

We headed out by cab to the Botanical garden for a picnic. it is north of town and looks pretty vast on the map. However it turned out the part we stayed at is very walkable. We met up at Swan lake, which was very refreshing with its shaded shores. I really needed to stay int he shades are the heat was once again getting to my system. I was amazed at people jogging at 11:00 in the sun...

 

The grass was a bit wet so we ate on a bench beside the pond, watching the turtles swam about. To digest, we started a stroll toward the orchid garden.  the greenery smelled sweet and the air was not scorching hot, even if I was mopping my forehead evry so often.

 

 

It was hilarious how on the map everything looked so far away, and then in reality we were barely 5min walk away. We got to the Orchid Garden quite surprisingly within 10minutes walk, passing by a misty small waterfall a very long banana set. We didn't visit the Orchid garden because it wasn't free, so we raided the souvenir shop instead...typical :)

Outside, a group of ladies and not so young men were dancing zumba, twisting their hips and torso to latin and club music. it was fascinating and quite shocking for me as they were not shy of the passers by at all, the same way people would to tai chi in the park quite simply.

Having finished browsing about we headed out to Marina Bay sands, the newest hotel/mall/casino development in town.

The inside was all white with huge glass walls letting the daylight inside and giving a soft light to the whole lobby. A group of 4 musician were playing lassical Chinese instruments in the lobby.

We couldn't really appreciate the shops in the mall because they were all completely out of our budget, and most of them weren't even opened yet and in construction. But we walked across some entertaining Las Vegas-like characters.

 

There was a nice view of the bay and the financial district from outside the hotel. After a while we took the bus to go a bit across the water toward the performance art building, which architecture is inspired by the durian fruit.

 

There is a grand view of the structure of Marina Bay sands from the outdoor stage. We rested a bit in the building and outside while the sun was setting slowly.  We also walked towards the sea lion, symbol of Singapore, so play in the shades and takes in more view.

 

We probably walked more towards Bugis mall, wherewe had an early dinner in the food court. I had a noodle dish, which the chef freshly made by cutting the noodle from a big dough. So hot and yummy! And dessert was in a popular street in the area, with all kinds of eateries, in a shop called Atchoo or atchoum. mango sago and a chinese jelly that helps digestion.

And with all the food and love from those friends, I was sent away back West, to the land of col and snow...I cannot remember what I did in the plane as I was too full and sad to leave....