Category: nature

Gardens by the Bay opening

Whether you are riding on the Singapore Flyer, swimming at Marina Bay Sands’ infinity pool or driving along East Coast Parkway, you will be able to spot Gardens By the Bay‘s (滨海湾花园) iconic structures like the SuperTrees, and the conservatories (Flower Dome and Cloud Forest).

Costing a cool $1 billion and spanning five years, Singapore’s latest Gardens for the people was officially opened last Friday. And we are telling you the night lightings and ambient is totally different from the day. The SuperTrees glow ! (pun intended).

We arrived on Sat afternoon, to be greeted by “Insects.” The performers don grasshopper, Ladybird backpacks, and kids were encouraged to pick up the loose balls.

Has Spring arrive in Singapore, nope, it is still 33 degrees :p

Grab your tripod along. There are so many vantage points to capture your family portraits.

This is one Garden build for families to enjoy.

As NDP is carrying out their rehearsals every Sat till 09Aug, you can see a lot of actions in the sky. The F15s Eagles were LOUD !

SengkangBabies is proud to Marina Bay’s amBAYssador, it gives us extra privileges at the Gardens 🙂
Gardens attractions are mostly free, except for the two conservatories and skyway. Do drop by Gardens homepage for pricing.

We started with Cloud Forest, as we have seen the cool waterfall and mist from news ,and other bloggers’ postings. Enjoy the spray of mist as you are welcome into another world, 100% different from humid warm Singapore.

The man-made waterfall seems to be cascading from a green mountain, we need to start from storey six and walk down the “mountain”. You will be mesmerized by the cascading waterfall. Someone say Cloud Forest resembles
Jurassic Park’s “Lost World”, we Love it !

As you follow the spiraling pathways downward, the glass wall allows you to peek out at neighbouring icons like Singapore Flyers and Marina Bay Sands.

The plants and landscaping are supposed to be the highlights in the dome, but Daddy thought the glass wall is an important feature. From any corner, you can just look up and be amazed at the amazing reflections.

Love the green reflections off the “mountain”! You do not realised how tall are the walkways unless you purposely try to look down. When you look up from the base, the feeling is surreal, you just conquered a scenic mountain 🙂

Six storeys, Six stories. Each floor offer another page to explore. Crystal mountain offers stalagmites.

Kids will learn about how our earth is coping with rising sea level, global warming etc. Will mother Earth still be around in 100 years? Will Singapore be submerged because the melting ice at both North South poles are raising the sea levels?

What happens when Earth’s temperature raised by another 5°C degrees in the next century? Kids will be exposed to the environment issues facing us today. The 3D projections at 5°C is Cool!

We pop inside Gardens by the Bay’s concept room, to find out more about Garden’s designs and functions.

Peep behind every window to discover another awesome sight !

We quickly pop into Flower dome, as time was running out. The conservatories and Skyway normally stop visitors from 2030 onwards. As we have visited Flower Dome at last Nov’s preview, we quickly headed to the central area to take more photos.

Outdoor, we headed back to the SuperTrees. Did you notice the yellow pathway linking the Trees? this is OCBC’s skyway, and day-entry fee is $5, L-O-N-G queue! You must make this your first stop at Gardens !

The SuperTrees will be illuminated in the evening. You must see it yourself to soak in the ambient. We can imagine the cool breeze if we are walking on top ! From 1945 to 2000, you can expect Laser shows too.

As we bid the Gardens good night, we notice more cars are streaming in. Gardens will close at 0200, in case you are in the mood for romance.

Thank you Gardens By The Bay, and Marina Bay for the invitation ! One day is definitely not enough to explore the Gardens. Daddy is confident the Dragonfly will agree with your tagline “Where Wonder Blooms!”

Follow this link for our preview of Flower Dome last Nov ( Day and Night offer different perspectives). More Flower photos are available at our fanfage.

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** Our blog are finalists in 2012’s OMY’s Singapore Blog awards, thank you for loving and supporting our blog 🙂

Pulau Semakau intertidal walk rOCks !

Mention Pulau Semakau, or Lorong Halus, and you might cover your nose.
These landfill sites used to be, and continue to be Singapore’s dumping grounds. But Semakau also house Knobbly starfish, which are bigger than our face !

Daddy has heard a lot about Semakau before, how National Environment Agency (NEA) manage to cultivate and sustain the island’s ecosystem. Semakau is proof that landfills are not always about Rubbish 🙂

There was a video campaign under Semakau and NSS end April, and Daddy has volunteered himself for Nature Society Singapore‘s (NSS) Semakau trip.

The early morning downpour at Pasir Panjang Ferry terminal nearly derail our trip.

We brought the glorious Sun to Pulau Semakau 🙂

We can learn about how Singapore’s rubbish are first incinerated at Tuas, before the ash are towed to Semakau. More about Pulau Semakau here.

After our briefing, we head out to one corner of the island for our Intertidal walk. Intertidal means we can walk far out to shore when tides are low, and explore the rich inhabitants.

Regulars to intertidal walk came prepared with stylish boots ! (SAF shoe is Daddy’s)

As we were delayed by the rain, we need to speed up and cut through jungle trail. Hello mosquitos 🙂

An amazing sight awaits us at the exit of the trail. Our eyes can scan the entire coastline. Start wading !

The water has risen (we lose an hour due to the rain), but still got pretty much to explore !

As Singapore is an island surrounded by busy straits and container ships. We can see heavy industries all around us. It is always amazing how our ecosystem continues to strive 🙂

No wonder this is intertidal walk. In low tide, all sorts of seafood sealife is exposed ! It is very therapeutic to walk ankle deep in the sea. We try to walk in a single file, so as not to disturb the ecosystem. Occasionally, our guide will shout “stingray” !

Knobbly starfish aplenty. This is the first time most of us have seen starfish so HUGH, and upclose ! Pardon our excitement, but we can spot a colony every ten steps.

Whenever we gather, we spot new interesting stuffs. NSS guides will help us to identify the shells, fishes, seaweeds and other organisms flourishing here at Semakau.

Daddy even spotted a hugh seabass (60cm) lingering around, it might be injured, and maybe it is from a nearby fishery farm?

Wildlife galore

Back on the bank, a lone mangrove. We can spot countless fiddler crabs hiding in the mangrove’s root. The morning’s exploration has been nothing short of eXcitement !

After our short rest at Semakau’s admin building, we went to checkout the island’s scenic spots.

Mangroves, fish-farms, and we can even spot Raffles Lighthouse (Daddy visited beacon in 2011Apr) from a corner.

Beautiful and tempting lagoon under the hot sun, but no swimming allowed 🙁
We even spotted a baby black-tip reef shark.

Pulau Bukom across the straits..

Walk further inland, and we can spot the island’s different plants and ferns.

Before heading back, we witness sunset away from Singapore mainland. Watching the sunset over the sea at Semakau can be an romantic experience, as there are no tall buildings to block our view.

Bye Bye Semakau, we will miss you! We overheard Yvonne (NEA representative) mention that she has been here five times, and every experience is different !

Additional tips for enjoying Semakau
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1) Your shoes will get muddy and dirty, do not bother to clean up, just enjoy the walk.

2) Walk slowly, as you do not want to minimise disturbance to ecosystem, and you do not wish to fall and let your expensive camera equipment swim !

3) Daddy would not recommend kids below 8 years old to visit. Semakau itinerary is whole day, and can be tiring.

4) For DSLR users, get use to manual focus, the constant ripples make it hard for camera to focus.
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City view from behind a field of lalang.

We can only enjoy Pulau Semakau’s intertidal walk, through NSS and NEA. If you prefer to catch galaxy star-trails, you need to stay over night with Tasos.

Daddy would like to thanks NSS (Ter Yang) and NEA for hosting us, and the friendly guides (Han Chong and Alice) for sharing so much knowledge with us.

Our blog cannot justify the beauty of Semakau, please drop by SengkangBabies album for more photos of the day itself.
–> Semakau Album

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** Our blog are finalists in OMY’s Singapore Blog awards, if you love our kids, Read our story, and Vote for us 🙂

* updated 2014OCt – Checkout other intertidal walks from Sengkangbabies too, Chek Jawa and Sisters’ Islands.