gardens by the bay + artscience museum

Our first view of Gardens by the Bay at 9:30AM on 26 October 2013.

Flower Dome and Cloud Forest off in the distance. So much long walk. Such humidity. Wow.

After what seemed like an epic journey, we paid SGD28 each and entered the climate-controlled paradise known as "Flower Dome".

It was Deepavali when we were in Singapore, so there were quite a few elephantsss.

In a nutshell, the lower level of Flower Dome is about flowers...

While the upper level is full of cacti.

Flower Dome is the nicest place to hang out in Singapore. I could have spent hours in there, just strolling and sitting, sitting and strolling, and staring at baobabs.

But we were getting hungry, so it was another trek back to The Shoppes at Marina Bay to have lunch at Din Tai Fung.

After our xiao long bao fix, we checked out the ArtScience Museum-- SGD28 for the first ticket + SGD21 for the second if you use American Express to pay. The main event "Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb" as well as National Geographic's 50 greatest photographs were very impressive, but I enjoyed "Essential Eames" most of all.

The best part was getting to sit in the most comfortable chair in the world. My neck, my back and my butt didn't want to leave.

But we had to go. We still had to explore the second dome, "Cloud Forest".

Compared to Flower Dome, this was not as awe-inspiring. Well, I suppose for students it's all very educational but for me, an artificial waterfall is not a big deal. Or maybe it was just getting late and I was tired.

Still, Gardens by the Bay as a whole is definitely worth a visit... or two. We spent practically the entire day there and barely scratched the surface. The humidity wore us down and we had to take lots of breaks which of course meant less time to see everything. I would recommend a two-night stay at Marina Bay Sands to fully appreciate the Gardens, the ArtScience Museum, the SkyPark, the Shoppes and the casino.