Roger and Stephen in Singapore: Supertrees

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

Prince William and Catherine in Singapore

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Singapore as part of the Diamond Jubilee tour representing the Queen. The Royal Couple are in Singapore till Thursday and are staying at Raffles Hotel.
Yesterday they had an orchid named after them in the National Orchid Garden and also viewed the orchid named after Princess Diana. The new orchid is a Vanda orchid and is purple and white in colour and is called Vanda William Catherine.
Today they visited the new Gardens by the Bay and a crowd of about 3000 were hoping to catch a glimpse of the Royal couple near the Supertrees before they went into the Cloud Forest dome to climb the mountain.
I was certainly melting in the crowd and my photos show the Royal couple were feeling the heat also !

No need for a sign - just follow the crowds

One of the school groups

The Supertrees

One way to get noticed!

The press were fond of her

The crowd were given flags to wave

A small section of the press

Part of the crowd

The Duchess arriving

Just before the walkabout in the heat

Helped being tall

The walkabout

The Prince was very talkative

Zoom lens came in handy

Getting Hot

Needs an Isotonic drink

The Duchess was all smiles

The Duchess

Thursday, 5 July 2012

Gardens by the Bay

Last Friday saw the opening of Gardens by the Bay South which is part of Singapore's new billion dollar Gardens by the Bay. Built on 101 hectares of reclaimed land, the gardens comprise of three areas - Bay East, Bay South and Bay Central. Bay East is also open and Bay Central is still being developed.
The Government hopes the gardens will become iconic like London's Hyde Park and NewYork's Central Park. The Gardens are located next to Marina Bay and can be accessed by train, bus and taxi or by a walkways from the Marina Sands complex.

Gardens By The Bay South is the largest of the three gardens and occupies 54 ha.The gardens consist of 2 conservatories - one a cool - dry climate and the other a cool -moist climate. These conservatories house over 226,000 plants.
Throughout the gardens are 18 Supertrees that are structures that have vertical gardens up the stems and the tops of the Supertrees house solar panels to harvest electricity for the gardens.The Supertrees are also connected by an aerial walkway. One of the Supertrees is also going to house a restaurant that will open latter this year.
The gardens are also themed and the themes include - Heritage Gardens and The World of Plants. Heritage Gardens celebrate the the history and culture of Singapore and include an Indian, Malay, Chinese and Colonial gardens.
The World of plants showcases the World of Palms, Secret Life of Trees, Fruits and Flowers, Discovery Gardens and the Web of Life.
Two large lakes also feature in the garden and they act as a filtration system for the runoff water from the gardens before the water is filtered back into the Marina Reservoir.