Where I'm At

Not only are there impressive and innovative public projects in Singapore there are some interesting commercial buildings as well. One of the newer ones is the Marina Sands Hotel. It has three towers, and a big ship like structure balanced on the top. Guests of the hotel can use the infinity pool on the 57th floor, which gives the illusion that you would just float away over the roof edge.

If you aren’t a guest of the hotel you can take an elevator to the 56th floor and enjoy the views of the city. Up there we were even way above the Singapore Flyer – the Ferris wheel across the river. We spent some time taking pictures and even could get a peek at the famous pool (from a vantage that shows no one is in danger of floating off the edge.)

Among other things Singapore is a city of shopping centres. Orchard Street, the high street is lined with them, luxury shop after luxury shop. The Marina Sands has an attached shopping and convention centre. Its not just that it is huge,nor that it has every luxury and mid-level shop you can think of. The scale is huge – it goes on for blocks and blocks. The interior spaces are vast. Oh – and there’s a skating rink in the food court.

When we were in Japan we were impressed by the size and number of department stores. Here it is the shopping centres. And everyone is saying ‘Hah! Wait until you see Dubai…’

Amazing stop number three at the Gardens by the Bay was the Cloud Forest Dome. When the doors opened we almost were blown back by the huge gust of cool damp air. We were facing a seven story mountain, covered in plants, from which waterfalls. All this under glass. It was so surprising! The idea of this dome was to replicate the cloud forest and the mountain before us was planted with the appropriate flora. We took an elevator to the top, where there were ponds and pitcher plants. A terrific view out over the park and the city in general. Besides the waterfalls pouring off the mountain there were big walkways shooting out from the sides, allowing us to walk out, several stories up, and look back at the mountain.

As we worked our way down the mountain the vegetation changed, and inside the mountain was a display about crystals – like being in a cave. Everywhere were orchids and flowering plants. And it was deliciously cool and damp – a real pleasure to be in. After days of tremendous heat and humidity it was a relief to actually feel a little bit chilled.

Once we left the park it was off to see yet another wonder – a hotel…

After we left the trees in the Gardens by the bay we headed to two giant domes which contain gardens. Being that we are in a tropical city of heat and humidity it makes sense that the powers that be would create an enormous structure to house examples of Mediterranean climates and gardens – right?

The dome is constructed of a series of huge arches, from which the glass ceiling/walls are suspended. This allows for an enormous enclosed space with no pillars or supports – it alone is very impressive. First thing upon entering we saw a very impressive display of trees from the baobab family – examples from Argentina, Africa and Australia – all full grown. All interplanted with appropriate vegetation and supported with interesting pieces of art. Being the Easter season there were also seasonally appropriate flowers and decorations.

It was when we got to the area where they had olive trees that we were really stunned. Huge, ancient olive trees – hundreds of years old – a whole grove of them. Where did they get them and how did they get them here? The whole project is an example of what tons of money can do, I guess.

Given the staggering heat and humidity outside it was lovely inside, though I noticed many women huddled in shawls. Amazing and beautiful as it was – it was about to get even more so!

Day two in Singapore left us speechless, gawping like real bumpkins. I hardly know how to tell you all about it, and I fear that the pictures won’t nearly tell the story, but here goes…

We set off for the ‘Gardens by the Bay’ (you need to ask Mr. Google about this one for the full story..). First clue should have been the subway connection. To pass under the 6 lane highway we took an underground walkway the was probably four car lanes wide, marble floor, two stories high, mirrored walls. Maybe its a 5 star emergency shelter in another life?

Anyhoo, we arrived at the park. In the distance we could see huge artificial trees. But first we had to cross Dragonfly Lake, with its enormous dragonfly sculptures. The trees are made out of metal pipes and are arranged in a grove. Each tree is covered in vegetation. In the centre is the tallest tree – it has a restaurant up near the top. Three of the smaller trees are connected by a bright yellow arial walkway – sort of a canopy walk. We took the elevator up and marvelled at the view out over the park and the city. Up close we could see how all the plants were attached and watered – the whole structure is quite the engineering feat.

Off in the distance we could see the Marina Sands hotel, the garden domes and a huge statue of a baby laying on the lawn.

Here are some pictures and I’ll continue about the garden domes in my next post.

Singapore is a city full of amazing buildings and public spaces. The shopping areas are incredible – they go on and on and on. But there is also a beautiful botanical garden, and in it there is a fabulous orchid garden. We spent several hours walking about the gardens and learning about orchids (and the ginger plant family. Did you know that bananas, ginger and bird of paradise plants are all from the same family?) Anyhoo – orchids. There are sure a lot of them and they’re coming up with new ones all the time.

Our first stop on our cruise is at Koh Samui Island. Not that long ago this was a place that no-one had heard of – even the Thais didn’t come here. But in the past several years it has grown in popularity and is now the second most visited location in Thailand, surpassing even Phuket. We took a tour around the island – it is quite small and we saw most of it. Lovely white sand beaches.

Our tour included a visit to an elephant park, where we went on a ride on an elephant through the forest (much less strenuous than our previous elephant encounter. Wilf played a quick game of soccer with one young elephant lady and was rewarded with an elephant massage for his efforts.

We also visited the aptly named Big Buddha and enjoyed a lunch ashore. It was (allegedly) 10degrees F cooler than Bangkok, but even 94 is a bit much for this gal – our cool cabin was looking very good by the end of the day!

In which Wilf tests out the telephoto lens (and enjoys the view) at a restaurant on Koh Samui.

If you’ve followed our adventures in Japan you know that finding things was a never ending issue for us. No street signs, signage we couldn’t read – it was an adventure every time we went out and we relied a lot on the kindness of strangers.

Bangkok has been much easier. I will say, though, that the Thai language is completely impenetrable – I can’t even tell where the words begin and end. And English is used as a ‘design element’ much less than in Japan, so we don’t even see that many English words about.

There are street signs, however, and on major streets and in tourist areas the name of street is written in Thai and in Roman characters. What a relief that was.

We wanted to go to a particular restaurant near our hotel – it is a Chinese restaurant famous for its sea food. Our hotel made us a reservation. Because this restaurant is so famous for its food other restaurants have set up with the same name and it is not uncommon for taxi drivers to ‘accidentally’ take tourists to the ersatz Sanboom Seafood restaurant. We knew it was near by, and armed with an address we actually found it on our first try. Of course as you’ll see from the picture below their signage made it pretty easy for us once we were in the area.

Besides their generally good food their claim to fame is curry crab. Out on the sidewalk are dozens of plastic baskets full of crabs, all tied up and nestled in damp newspaper, awaiting their turn.

Eating crab and whole fish with chopsticks isn’t easy, but man was it good!

Jim Thompson was an American architect who came to Bangkok towards the end of the Second World War. He loved the city and returned to live there. He became interested in a local community of silk weavers and created a company to market their products. If you’ve ever read ‘Threads’ or ‘Vogue Patterns’ magazines you’ve seen the ads for his company. He introduced a wide range of silk products to the west and the company continues to this day.

He built himself a beautiful home on the edge of one of the canals in Bangkok. Actually, he had 6 traditional Thai homes brought to the site, and with his architectural skills he created a really interesting Thai/Western hybrid home. And then one day in the mid-sixties he went to Malaysia for a visit with a friend. While the friend was napping Thompson went out for a walk – and vanished. Not a peep since then. Many theories abound, but no one knows. The company continues, and his house and art collection have been preserved and can be visited. No pictures in the house itself, but in the gardens they had demonstrations of silk processing and Thai dancing. There was also a gift shop full of lovely things….

Since the 1980’s Khao San Road has been the epicentre of Asian backpacking culture. Everything the intrepid backpacker could need all on one street -cheap hotels, money changers, American fast food, t-shirts, laundry, you name it, you can get it here. Now days its slightly more upscale, but not really.

And it leads to scenes like this: