Hello again! Whenever I travel, I check out attractions in the country that I am visiting that require no entrance fees if possible, that way I can maximize the use of my finances and use them where and when necessary.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a 158 year-old tropical garden which is located on the fringe of Orchard Road. It is the only tropical garden to be honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site only in July of 2015. There are only 3 gardens in the whole world listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Singapore Botanic Gardens is one of them.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens is accessible by subway, bus, taxi and every other mode of transport. Most convenient of course, is the subway, and one can take the Downtown Line and get off at the Singapore Botanic Gardens station.
There are several entrances to the garden, and it could take at least a couple of hours or more to explore the whole place. We definitely stayed there at least that amount of time, we just left because we got too tired walking around.
The gardens are expansive. There are four entrances to the gardens namely the Tanglin Entrance, the Tyersall Gallop Entrance, the Nassim Entrance, and the Bukit Timah Entrance. The gardens are divided into sections as well.
The gardens cover a total area of 82 hectares, and clearly, one can stay here for a whole day just exploring the whole place. We were unable to explore everything as our feet gave up on us. Nevertheless, I will share what we saw through pictures.
I believe this is part of the Swan Lake. The Swan Lake has been called as such because of 2 swans from Amsterdam that glide gracefully on the waters.
This is the Evolution Garden. The Evolution Garden was created to become an educational attraction by showcasing how plants are crucial to man's survival.
The artificial 'trees' you see behind us are replicas of the ancient Lepidodendrons or giant club mosses. So they really show how earth evolved and the plants through time as well.
Here in this picture, a young earth is shown, complete with a mud pool to represent volcanoes spewing lava. Going through this area is actually very informative as it describes how, as time passed, calcium deposits and such things were formed, making way for organisms to grow, blah, blah.
Not sure what these were, but they were also in the area.
A represenation of a volcano? Can't remember exactly.
Natural boulders and some artificial ones were used to create an authentic atmosphere. Today students as young as kindergartners visit the garden to learn.
I think this is one of those calcium deposits formed after the volcanoes erupted, ha ha. So in time, trees grew, making the earth habitable.
It could look kind of spooky if you don't know that it is the Evolution Garden, it's a good thing there are descriptions here and there that share information about the area.
Here we see giant ferns interspersed with the artificial trees. Cool, right?
It was fun walking around, checking out the information, taking pictures and joking with each other.
Moss. I know. All of us know it. I don't get to see it everyday though, that's why I took a picture.
There was also the healing garden, where different species of plants are showcased which have medicinal properties.
Pineapple. Where do I start listing all its benefits? It has anti-inflammatory properties, due to its bromelain content.Bromelain is also known to be an anti-cancer agent. Pineapple is very rich in vitamin C, beta carotene, copper zinc and folate. These are just some benefits of this amazing fruit.
This one I have no idea what it is. And even if I read about it, my memory is blank, so I'll just show you the picture, ha ha.
This was the first time I have seen this kind of papaya. The possible health benefits of eating papayas include a reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, aiding in digestion, lowering blood pressure and improving wound healing.
There were many more medicinal plants but of course I did not take pictures of all of them.
I took pictures of various flowers though, some flowers that I remember from my childhood, others flowers that I have not seen before.
This tree, meanwhile must have fallen due to a typhoon or something but survived. Judging from its trunk, it is quite old, so it must have been there at the beginning of the garden.
I had to take a picture of this as well, though it is neither a plant or a flower.
While walking around, there are lots of trees that provide shade and make nice photos.
We truly enjoyed our time exploring. It is just a shame that we could not check out the entire place, as there were so many other things to see in the other sections.
My sister just had to 'climb' the fallen tree, as this may be the only tree she can climb, ha ha ha!
This is the trunk or the base, not sure what it's called of one of the giant ferns.
It was a very sunny day when we went there, so we were grateful for the shade that the many trees around provided. Otherwise, we would have been baked, depleting our energies faster.
I definitely had fun looking at and enjoying all the sights and smells of all the plants and flowers we came across.
There are also benches scattered all around for people to rest and relax in. But no matter how long you sit, you would still have to get up and continue walking.
The colors, the smells, the discoveries, the memories they evoked made it all worthwhile visiting this garden.
There were just too many varieties that sometimes you just pass them by unnoticed.
This is a boulder that the moss and the vine is growing on.
The gardens is a place where they do research and cross culture different breeds of plants, especially their orchid garden, which we did not get to see, sadly.
It was so tempting to just lie down on the grass and sleep. We saw several people having picnics and just relaxing as well.
Of the area that we were able to explore, I think I can safely say that this has got to be my favorite part.
There's just something so serene, so peaceful an atmosphere and appearance that just makes you want to keep gazing at the horizon.
I have many more pictures but I will stop here, and all I will say is that if you ever go to Singapore, this is one place you don't want to miss. One tip though, plan ahead and check out the sections you want to visit, that way you get to see what you really want to see.
As for us, we exited in another part and there was no subway station from that part, we had to painfully walk back again to find the subway station entrance.
So long and stay tuned for more travels! If you want to read more articles like this, you can check out this page.
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