Singapore: Day 5 (Gardens By The Bay) & Day 6 (Flying Home)

Day 5: Gardens By The Bay

I better finish up the final last 2 days updates on our recent Singapore trip before my memory starts failing me.
(WARNING: PHOTOS OVERLOAD TRAVEL POST!)

Day 5 itinerary was to the Gardens By The Bay. I've always wanted to visit there as I've seen gorgeous photos of the scenery and the nature.
And so, we took the MRT to Marina Bay, and then transferred to the Circle Line, and alighted at Bayfront station.

Took the Underground Linkway to Gardens By The Bay.
The linkway was so empty early in the morning when we reached there.

Love the vibrant plants and flowers wall decals in between the mirrors on the wall.

 

Upon reaching the exit, saw that there were still a slight drizzle. So out with the hats and umbrellas to walk towards the buggy station there.

We paid S$4 each for hubby and me for a buggy ride to the conservatories. Kids were free.

On the way there, saw these famous Supertree Grove. Really lovely.
Prayed that the rain would stop later so that we can take some nice photos here.

We stopped just outside the conservatories, while I went to buy the entrance tickets. We then had a light breakfast there with some of the buns and cakes we bought from Novena Square at the basement of our hotel earlier.

After that, we went to the first conservatory: The Flower Dome.
It's very huge, and I was surprised to found out that it was air-conditioned. (Air is cooled at the lower occupied zones through chilled water pipes in ground slabs, while warm air is vented out at the top). I failed to take note of that when I was doing research. Silly me.

Anyway, it's a place of perpetual spring, with really beautiful and unique blooms.
The Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy.

While hubby and I strolled Khye along, Shern was running in front of us, admiring the beautiful flowers and plants.

Shern and the flowers.

Shern had no problem posing for the camera as he was in such a good mood.

Look at Shern giving the trees a hug, and was even doing a dance.

Below photos are all of Shern and the blooms at the Flower Dome.

Shern posing while sitting on some steps, and even sitting on the floor.
I didn't stop him as he was really enjoying himself.

A photo of Shern with me and Khye.

Erm...more photos of Shern with the colourful blooms!

Shern was also on the lookout for purple flowers because purple is his favourite colour!

Shern even made a new friend, an uncle who was from Australia. They were having a lengthy conversation for the rest of the way. haha.

Ok, some photos of the flowers without Shern. Beautiful huh? Really vibrant the colours.

And after about an hour in there, we decided to go to the next conservatory.
Shern was fascinated by the automatic doors.

Next, the Cloud Forest.
Enter the Cloud Forest, a mysterious world veiled in mist, entirely different from the Flower Dome.
The moment we entered, we were greeted by the world’s tallest indoor waterfall showcases plant life from tropical highlands up to 2,000-metres above sea level. behind that was a 35-metre tall mountain covered in lush vegetation.

It was very misty and cold in there because of the splashes of the giant waterfall. Shern was shouting and jumping in glee.

Khye was amazed.

We asked a passerby to help us take a family photo in front of the waterfall.
You can't really see from the photos, but we were quite wet from standing so near the waterfall.

Then, we glanced up the mountain and I was in awe of its lushness. It's like a vertical garden. So pretty.

Shern got a bit tired by then and wanted to sit in the stroller to rest his little legs. He was tired from all the jumping and running around in the Flower Dome I suppose.

And then, Shern saw the most amazing thing that got him up from the stroller, and we were stuck there for the next half an hour.
What's that?
A huge train display! Complete with tracks and station and houses and even passengers.

Even I'm impressed. There were 2 trains chugging along at the same time on the tracks.

So needless to say, Shern was so fascinated with it. He stood there behind the bars, with his eyes transfixed, and watched the trains chug along, going round and round and round.

He was contented just standing there, watching.
Since we were not rushing for time or anything, and also we knew how much he loves trains, we just let him be. We let him stand there for more than half an hour. Hubby, Khye & I were sitting at a nearby bench relaxing, while Shern had his train fix!

 

Even then, we still needed to pry him away.

Then we looked up, and saw that next we would be walking along those skyway.

So before taking the elevator up, we went to the toilet.
Khye was asleep by then as it was already his nap time.
See how good is babywearing. Khye napping without fussing at all. He was so contented and happy there that he just fell asleep when he wants to.

Then I suddenly realized, both Khye and me were in almost the same shades of blue, so thus I took photos of us like these. :)

Took the elevator up to 7th or 8th floor. Straightaway felt that it was so much colder up there, almost chilling. As I didn't know it would get too cold, I'd only dressed all of us in shorts and light cooling clothes, so totally not prepared for this weather.
Luckily I'd got a pair of socks and long pants for the baby, but nothing else for the rest of us.

This is a garden scenery of some sort up ther, with totem poles and all.

Then we started walking on the skyway.

Shern's feet showing how high we were up the skyway walk.

Hubby strolling Shern along in front, while I babywore Khye who was still fast asleep.

Watching up close the verticle garden on the mountain with the difference species of plants. Very pretty.

Look at the headphone sign there. You can actually rent a headphone which has a guide to tell you all about this trail.  But we didn't get it. Not sure if it is free or with a fee though.

Reached a place showcasing some stalagmites.

Then continued our walk on the walkway. Stopped by when Shern spotted the train.

These photos show the skyway walk and how we walked from the top to the bottom of it.

The skywalk poking in and out of the beautiful mountain.
Somehow these steel skywalk doesn't look ugly with the nature.

There were still some storeys to go where there was a warning that the temperature could get as cold as 3 degree Celcius. We decided to skip that as we were all not properly dressed for the cold temperature. And we have 2 kids with us. The last thing I want is for my kids to fall sick during travel.

And so we left the Cloud Forest.
Saw a kiosk selling ice cream called Seventh Heaven. They didn't have chocolate flavour, so Shern asked for chocolate drink instead.

I scanned through their menu and ordered for him Milo Dinasour (which means Milo drink with heaps of Milo powder on top).
But it came out so horrible that we asked them to redo.

Hubby saw them make the Milo drink with cold water, and that was why the Milo powder couldn't be stirred and mixed in. And that was why our drink tasted so sandy.

After the other girl remake our drink, with hot water this time, then after stirred and mixed in only she topped up with ice and Milo powder. End result: ok to drink this time but ntg spectacular. Preferred the ones at Mamak stalls back in Penang. Shern seems to like it though.

Khye woke up by then, just in time for us to take some photos of the Supertrees at the gardens before we headed home.

These unique trees of up to 16 storeys in height can be found all around the Gardens - twelve at the Supertree Grove, while the remaining six are placed in clusters of threes at the Golden and Silver Gardens.
These are the ones that are in clusters of threes.

One of Khye & I, and the other of Shern & Hubby.

We could see dark clouds started filling up the sky, looked like it was going to rain. I find it quite pretty with the grey clouds as the skyline.

This is Shern posing with the unintended Wong Fei Hung kungful style.

Shern showing us how wide and big are those Supertrees.

And how tall they are!

 

Another view from another angle.

We took the buggy back near to the entrance of the Underground Linkway.

Took some gorgeous photos of Khye while in the buggy.
Khye wearing his sunnies and he looked so sunny. ;)

Erm, a grumpy face for you which says 'Hey mum, enough of the camera!'!

These are some of the views I managed to snap from while in the buggy.

This should be the Supertree Groove.

Twelve of those Supertrees here, with the OCBC Skyway, a 128-metre long walkway with a height of 22-metres that connects two Supertrees at the Supertree Grove.

What a gorgeous view with the Marina Bay Sands building behind.

A lower angle where you can see the green grass.

And this stunning sculpture by British artist Marc Quinn. A giant white baby that seems to float over a grassy knoll.

Just before we walked back to the MRT station, we spotted a lake nearby. Not sure what is it called. But I love photos overlooking a lake. So we stopped for some photos.

Shern.

Me and my kiddos.

My baby and I.
Khye sticking out his tongue, and on the other laughing happily.

Ok, hubby's turn. :)

After that, we went back to our hotel.
Hubby needed to run some errands at the bank again and that was about 3pm. And this time, I was not needed there to sign the documents, so I stayed at the hotel with the kids.

They kids took a 1 hour nap and then I decided to bring them to the hotel pool. It was actually quite a windy day so I was a bit apprehensive for them to swim, but I was glad that there was a heated jacuzzi pool.

So the kids spent some time soaking in that heated jacuzzi. A nice lady got hold of Khye for me (I forgot to bring his float!) so that I can take some photos. 

While Shern spent longer time in the warm pool with his arm floats on, and with his toy train,

I took Khye out from the pool and wrapped him around in a towel.

Then I just let him played with the toys while I watched over Shern nearby.

After a while, I got them changed back into their clothes and gave them a snack. Shern got a packet of chips I got from the hotel, and Khye some baby puffs. Khye was not very interested in his puffs though and was eyeing his bro's chips. lol.

It was nice to be sitting on the deck chairs and feeling the breeze while eating chips.

Ok, Khye got frustrated because he wasn't getting any chips from his bro, so he played with his bro's sandals instead. :P

My kiddos enjoying themselves.

A packet of Lays, a mandarin orange, a bottle of water and some toys. Perfect evening in the breeze.

Shern is still into wheels (favourite is trains though!) and he was wheeling his car on all surfaces he could find.

Got up a mini hill on the pool grounds and tried to wheel his car down.

By the time hubby came back it was almost 7pm.
I was going to nag him for taking so long, but then he came home with a packet of huge strawberries. It was cheap too. And sweet. I usually only take Korean strawberries but these were swee.

We got hungry, and we just remembered that after we complained to the manager about the collapsed baby cot this morning, the manager gave us access to the Club facilities, in which they have Happy Hours of free snacks and drinks from 7-8pm.

So we went up the Club House and saw this pretty night view.

We had some finger food. We ate a bit too much as we were hungry.
Spring rolls, Teriyaki chicken stick, fruit salad, and various berry tarts.

And I had a Strawberry Daiquiri Cocktail while hubby had a Singapore Sling Mocktail.
Shern requested for a Chocolate Milkshake. All of us were happy with our drinks. 

Chilling out at the Club Pool area. Yes, they have their own special pool.

Hubby reading the papers, Shern wheeling his cars everywhere, and Khye cruising around.
Where's me? Well, being the mummy, I had to make sure both of them don't fall into the pool, so I'd no time to flip through the mags. But

Shern enjoying his Chocolate Milkshake to the max.

He even went to sit in one of the deck chairs and brought his milkshake there to drink. Talk about enjoying!

Khye on the other hand was cruising and crawling everywhere, and he was fascinated even with these emergency floats.

After that, we went for a short walk nearby at the Novena Square before the shops started closing for the day.
Shern loves this poster (told you his obsession with trains!) so I took a photo of him with it and I post it here so that he can look at it anytime in my blog post. ;)

Went back home to pack as we would be leaving Singapore the next morning after breakfast!
Goodnight Day 5.



Day 6: Flying Home

It was the day of our flight. We went down for our buffet breakfast (given to us complimentary by the manager yesterday). Look at what Shern ate.
He had some noodles and a sausage, and waffles with chocolate sauce and also a bowl of Milo cereals.

After breakfast we checked out and took a cab to the Singapore Airport.
Saw this interesting display at the airport.

Even Khye was mesmerized by it.

So we all took a photo with it.

Met up with SIL and BIL again for lunch, and then it was time to board the plane.
Shern gazing at the planes while waiting to board our flight.

It had been a wonderful 6 days 5 nights Singapore Trip for the 4 of us!

We all enjoyed ourselves superbly!

To read more about our Singapore Trip, read click here.