While riding on the MRT, we noticed a rather strange sign…
What, you may ask, is a durian? Well, here is what the Smithsonian Magazine has to say…
What, you may ask, is a durian? Well, here is what the Smithsonian Magazine has to say…
If you’ve smelled a durian even once, you probably remember it. Even with the husk intact, the notorious Asian fruit has such a potent stench that it’s banned on the Singapore Rapid Mass Transit. Food writer Richard Sterling has written “its odor is best described as…turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away.”
A small minority, though, love the smell and taste of the fruit. Anthony Bourdain calls it “indescribable, something you will either love or despise…Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.”
A small minority, though, love the smell and taste of the fruit. Anthony Bourdain calls it “indescribable, something you will either love or despise…Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.”
Our MRT journey was straight to Bayfront station, from which we made a beeline to the Gardens on the Bay. We walked past the Supertree Grove, and were soon at the two spectacular domes, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. We took a pause here, and went into the café for a cuppa.
We went first into the Flower Dome, the largest glass greenhouse in the world. Inside here are spectacular displays of plant life from many world locations, including Australia, South Africa, the Mediterranean. There are magnificent displays of orchids, which seem to be a bit of a theme here in Singapore.
Amazing wooden sculptures of a eagle and of a dragon!
The succulent collection — 'Aloes in Wonderland'
A few Australian representatives!
Then we went into the Cloud Forest, slightly smaller, but significantly taller glass greenhouse. This contains the world's tallest indoor waterfall, falling 35 metres from the upper levels of the 42 metre Cloud Mountain, itself an intricate structure completely clad in epiphytes such as orchids, ferns, peacock ferns, spike- and clubmosses, bromeliads and anthuriums. The upper level (The Lost World, which has a spectacular collection of carnivorous plants) is accessible by lift, and then you can walk down a meandering path all the way down to the bottom of the structure. The climate in the dome replicates the conditions 2000 metres above sea level.
Examples of carnivorous Venus Fly Traps and a Pitcher Plant
From here, we took a shuttle bus back to near the bridge across to the big hotel, the Marina Bay Sands, and found our way round to the lift up to its observation deck for a good birds-eye view of the whole area. Magnificent!
WE then went down, walked through the spectacular foyers of the hotel and to the MRT station beneath it, from which we took the train back to Orchard Street and our own hotel.
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