Seeing Singapore

Friday was our first port and since had a cold coming on and was still very much jetlagged, he decided to stay on board while went to the Singapore Botanical Garden (not his favorite thing to do anyway). Originally, I was to share a taxi with another couple but the wife had thrown her back out and was now confined to a wheelchair. Since it was raining lightly, they were able to get on a last minute tour with the ship where her wheelchair could be accommodated.

That left me on my own and my big plans were to see the Botanical Gardens and then head downtown where I had downloaded a walking tour. After leaving the ship on one of the first buses and from our visit before I knew exactly where to go for a ATM machine to get Singapore dollars, I was amazed to see it was already 11 AM. I figured that I would go to the nearby subway station and get to the Garden that way. They have underpasses to get across the streets and I was surprised when I got down there and found myself in a huge shopping mall that went up 4 levels and also went down 4 levels. The subway station was located on the second level down.

As I was trying to figure out the machine to get a ticket, one of the turnstile monitors was training a new person and she came over to show her how to assist passengers. She asked where I wanted to go and when I told her, she said “Oh no, you need to take the bus!” She took me to the concierge because I only had the $50 Singapore that I had gotten from the ATM machine and I needed coins to put in the bus meter. He suggested I buy something to get the change and since I needed to buy wine to donate to our Cruise Critic Cabin Crawl and Wine Tasting, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone. After I had gotten my wine and my change, the monitor left her post to the trainee and led me up the levels to get out of the shopping center and took me to the corner where we could see the correct bus stop and she told me which bus to take. Now that is service!!

The Botanical Garden was lovely, even though there wasn’t much color this time of year. But all of that was made up when I got to the Orchid Garden. The ship’s tours were all there and the courtyard in front of the garden was full of people waiting to go in. I bought a mocha blended coffee drink and sat on one of the tree seats watching folks as more and more busloads arrived. I knew one of the tours started at 1:30, so at least one busful would have to be leaving to pick them up, so I finished my drink and then walked to a couple of other sections of the park waiting for fewer people inside the garden. That didn’t work because there were just too many – I would have had to wait until the ship sailed. So I paid my $1 Singapore and waded in. The colors and variety of orchids was just amazing. They had other tropical plants but the showstoppers were the orchids. I have included a few of my favorites.












By this time the clouds were trying to break up a little and the heat and humidity were almost unbearable. The only relief I got was when I went into their “Cool House” where they had the varieties from the mountains that needed the cool mist for their sustenance. Of course, the heat was worse than ever when you came out but it was really nice while you were in there. I delayed by watching them place a plant into a hole scraped out of solid rock. I asked what the planting medium was and they said none. They spray liquid fertilizer on the leaves and then everything else was provided by the mist.



All of this time I had been lugging my shopping bag with my umbrella, jacket and 3 bottles of wine. My feet had gotten so sore that I decided that I’d better start back to the bus stop and make my way to the meeting point for the shuttle back to the ship. The problem was that since all the streets were one way, I didn’t recognize anything on the bus trip back because it was on a different street. I had no idea of where to get off, so I asked the bus driver to tell me when he was nearing the shopping center. He let me off within one block of the meeting point. I was so relieved that I stopped at the gelato shop and had a couple of scoops to celebrate. About that time I realized that I had a lot of Singapore money left over. The round trip bus ride was $2 and the Orchid Garden was $1; the coffee drink was $5.50; and a bottle of water was $2.50. A friend was on one of the bus tours and I had given him $12 because he didn’t have any Singapore money for a coffee drink. My feet just weren’t up to walking around the mall to spend the rest of the $50 so I just got on the shuttle and then spent the rest on little knick-knack stuff the vendors by the ship were selling.

Bill was well-rested when I got back and I was absolutely done in but I really enjoyed my day all by myself.

Barb