As many of you know, I have a little bit of an infatuation with orchids and have used them as subjects for years. On my way home from Cambodia, I spent 3 days in Singapore and visited their amazing botanical gardens and orchid house.
I don’t really have much to say about Singapore. It’s bland. As soon as you take your first sweaty step outside the airport you get the feeling that they’ve scrubbed and banned and restricted all of the cultural flavor out of the city. For such a diverse city of 4 million, it was boring. It was like being in a twilight zone Bangkok. Everything was too neat, too clean, too perfect. The two things that they have gotten right, their botanical gardens, and the ‘hawker markets’. Hawker markets are basically permanent food festivals, open 24hrs, where you can choose from 10-15 different stalls selling all kinds of food. By far the cheapest option in pricey Sing. I would have taken a photo of a hawker market, but as with everything else in Sing, you’re not allowed.
Anyhow, I spent an afternoon at the ‘Orchid House’, not a house, but more of a huge park of orchids. Thousands of varieties and thousands of hybrids. No need for an indoor enclosure like Montreal, the sticky 90% humidity was perfect for the flowers.
Here are some of the photos.
Amphitheater in the Botanical Gardens.
Bird of paradise
These oncidiums were everywhere. They used them as border flowers.
Not an orchid, but super cool!
The ‘cool house’, a misted enclosure that was pure heaven after sweating through my clothes.
Yes, they have FIELDS of orchids!
Oncidium archway
The view from my hotel room. Please note that there isn’t a spec of litter.
Same view at night.
Boat Quay
Looking across Boat Quay at the government sector.
Just before the rain.
Rain!
