Day 3 - A Wonderful Day by the Bay

Today has been a pretty special day all round - probably one of my favourite days of the past few months of travelling. It started with a bit of a lie-in and a good breakfast, followed by watching the Blue Jays beat the Dodgers in a game that was considerably shorter than yesterday’s. This Jays team is pretty special and I am loving rooting for them from the other side of the world.

I then caught the MRT down to Bayside and spent some time wandering in the ‘Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands’. Given that this is one of MANY malls in Singapore, and not even the biggest, my mind was blown. It was huge. And also very upmarket. No wonder my debit card was hiding from me at the weekend, not wanting to come to Singapore with me… There was even a mini canal in the mall that you could take a boat ride on. I declined this one…

My first main stop on my ‘tourist hit list’ was the SkyPark Observation Deck, which is a pretty iconic part of the Singapore skyline. It was also the finish point of series one of Race Across the World, so I absolutely had to go up. The views were great and it really helped me to get my bearings. I especially enjoyed using the view to figure out the route of the F1 race!

My next stop was the Gardens By the Bay. The gardens themselves were nice, but I was most excited by the conservatories. There are two conservatories - the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome. Both are essentially massive greenhouses - apparently the Flower Dome is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest greenhouse.

I went into the Cloud Forest Dome first and had an absolute blast with the Jurassic Park theme!

After a quick dunch stop (I was on a mission!), I then went to the very pretty Flower Dome, which had a special sunflower exhibition on.

Next up was a walk further into the gardens to see the ‘Supertrees’. I am not even going to try to describe these - you can enjoy the pictures and Google if you wish.

I chose to do the Skywalk between two of these supertrees. This allowed me to get some great photos, and also to again get a better sense of space and place.

After a drink stop (there were plenty of these today in the humidity), I then walked back through the gardens (getting a couple of caches as I went) and walked across the Helix Bridge to the Singapore Flyer - the famous big wheel of Singapore; right by the start/finish straight of the F1 course! It is also right by an award winning ice cream shop - it would have been rude not to….

I knew I wanted to go on the Flyer just after sunset to see the city by night, and it proved to be a good decision.

There was quite a bit of faffing (‘an immersive history of Singapore’) before the wheel itself, but it was great to get one of these huge pods with just three other people. This meant we all got the best views, and even got to watch some of the light show at the Gardens by the Bay. I am probably going to go back to the Gardens another night to see it up close as it looked really cool.

The Flyer ride was about half an hour or so, and really worth it. It was also right by the F1 track so I walked along a bit of that (choosing not to run shouting ‘vroom’).

It was then back across the Helix Bridge to the ‘Shoppes’, where I was able to have an iced tea before the light and water show - ‘Spectra’ - that takes place in the marina twice an evening.

I do like dancing water, so this show was excellent for me! With hindsight, I might have got a better view further back, but I loved being right there, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was then back on the MRT and back to my hotel for a shower and a rest for my feet. It has been quite a day!