The initial plan was only to see the famous lights show of Supertree Grove in the Gardens by the Bay of Singapore. However, after we wandered around on our first day in Singapore, Dutchie and I noticed the efforts of the Singaporean government to promote “green” environment. We passed numerous parks here and there. It was pleasant to see, thus we decided to visit the two climate-controlled conservatories in the Gardens by the Bay as well: the Flower Dome and the Cloud Dome.

The Flower Dome replicates the climate from Mediterranean and semi subtropical climates like in South Africa, Australia, central Chile, California and south Europe.  Some unique plants that do not exist in Southeast Asia region are planted and preserved. Olive trees, cactus, Queensland bottle tree are available in this dome. Additionally there is also a flower field with garden and special event ornaments/decorations. The decorations are changing depend on certain festive. As our visit was near to Chinese New Year, the decorations were related to the festive.

The Cloud Dome offers a house for plants that grow in area up to 2000 meters above sea level. When we entered the dome, the first thing we saw was a waterfall! Impressive. The dome has several levels and surrounded by plants. Gosh, must be tough to collect those many plants from around the world and preserve them! The dome has lots of lights but at the same time it has cooler temperature. One thing that impressive, the energy use to operate the dome comes from solar power and bio-fuel from tree waste. I can even feel the fresh air when walking around the dome.

After strolling these impressive domes, we walked around and waited until it gets dark for the show lights of Supertrees Groove. There are some restaurants and cafes nearby to these steel Supertrees. The 18 Supertrees have different heights from 25 meters to 50 meters. The highest tree hosts a restaurant on the top where visitors can enjoy 360 degree view. Each tree has canopy with monolith lights. According to Gardens by the Bay official website, the steel trees are covered by 162,900 plants comprising more than 200 species and varieties of orchids, ferns and tropical flowering climbers.  I was super excited when waiting until Singapore gets dark to see the light show and it was worth a wait!

Practical Information

Bravo Singapore for implementing eco-friendly tourism! The gardens have educative values, enjoyable to walk through (runners can run around the gardens on specific jogging tracks), and most importantly, they use eco-friendly energy for the operational of the gardens.

Aerial View of Gardens by the Bay

Official Website: Singapore – Gardens by the Bay

The size of the garden is 101 hectare. It costs $773 million to build and place these millions unique plants from around the world.

Light show of the Supertree Groove is for free. It starts at 19:45 and repeats at 20:45. Do check Gardens by the Bay website for special events for different time schedule or extraordinary light shows to celebrate the event.

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