From terminal to terminal @ Changi

All good things come to an end and so this final post of  my memory making (first international) vacation. 

It was the last day and time to return to reality called home.We decided to leave to the airport early so that we would have ample time to go around the airport and its shops. For the 2.30 flight to KL, we had reached the Terminal 1 of airport at 11.OO. After the touristy formalities we were left wih a handbag, a backpack and 3 hours of time, it was  only then I looked up and I was wonder struck at the place around me!!

 Fantastically spic and span despite its many travellers and that beautiful arrangement that went up and down in sync which was called Kinetic Rain sculpture. Supposed to be the world's largest kinetic art installation you see the sculpture dance in precise and fluid movements. An awesome sight!!

We picked up the Changi guide, turned the pages and marked the places we wanted to see. It hosts endless fun and it was clear from the guide that it  is built to spoil a traveler with big screen TVs, free massage chairs, many food courts,innumerable shops, themed gardens, free wi-fi etc under its beautiful ceiling.

 The first one we marked to visit was the butterfly garden which we missed in Sentosa and so off we went to board the skytrain to T3, the place of the garden. From there we went in and out of the many shops and I realized what the husband all along had  said about “shopping at Changi” was true. I had deferred my shopping in the city thinking that I would shop at the much acclaimed and advertised  economical Changi’s duty free retail shops. My husband’s many warnings that Changi was expensive fell on my deaf ears then.

 No doubt the stores had exclusive and beautiful items which were not found in the regular stores of Singapore.  A Rado costed just 75000$ after discount. So shopping at Changi was out for me  but we walked in and out and updated ourselves in the various shops.  Then we took a sky train again to T2 and went posing in front of the enchanted garden, koi garden, orchid garden. The photos will sure remind of the blissful fun and our memory making vacation.

  We lived, breathed, ate and drank fun in the whole week and I could recall how much my teens managed and enjoyed this trip.I am sure they will remember this trip for a long time and even if they did forget the experience, I am happier knowing their memories have been noted here.

Some photos from changi. It never felt like an airport except the immigration and runway area. 

Click on it to feel the place

Beautiful gardens like this with a huge sunflower are good  photo spots at Terminal 3

                                    Indonesian tourism stall

                                The route to our most wanted garden since we missed it at Sentosa, ofcourse Sentosa would have been bigger than this but glad we caught a glimpse of this lovely garden too.

                              And here it is......1000's of butterflies flitting all around you and you find some on your own dress and hands too.

                                   They all live in such landscaped greenery

One of  her  best clicks my daughter  says

The pitcher plant i remember reading during my school days in "tinkle', i saw it live here. It traps any insect that hovers around the lid by closing and the plant eats the insect.

                        It truly is a shopholic’s paradise but for the extravagant and not for minimal shoppers like me. 

                 That's the beginning of terminal 2 which houses the orchid garden and enchanted garden

                            Glimpse of the enchanted garden with rain forest surroundings and Koi Pond

                                             Flower art within a narrow mouthed glass enclosure.   Beautiful Ain't it?

                                 Orchids orchids everywhere in hues of yellow,

Blue, purple, pink, mauve......totally in awe at this place 

                                                  The watch tower of Changi

                                                            Oh yes, it is an airport:)

A mesmerizing evening with" Garden Rhapsody" and....

In continuation with my post on "gardens by the bay".......

We were the last to walk out of the flower dome when the supervisor locked gate and there were very few people in the garden outside. 

We were walking on the pathway watching the supertrees displaying the change of lights. We found a viewing deck a few metres away and with darkness and foliage for company, we watched the dazzling display of lights against the dark sky.

The beautiful swirls and patterns the lights were making in rhythm with the music was mesmerizing. This is called the "Garden rhapsody" or the sound and light show of the supertrees.

The show ended around 10, we followed the exit sign to MRT bay terminal and we were walking past the heritage gardens and through the Singapore river bridge connecting us to Marina bay sands.

Yet again,  another mesmerizing view struck us. We stood on the river bridge in awe looking at the magical view. Infront of us was the illuminated Singapore flyer, on one side was the lit supertrees and conservatories and on to my left was the illuminated marina bay sands hotel and the water below was shimmering in the reflection of those lights.  What a multi-sensory delight!!  I stood there for sometime and found difficult to pull myself out of the view. The sights made the evening memorable.

We reached the MRT terminal in Baysands hotel but we decided to take a taxi since my daughter’s leg pain had worsened. She had a bad landing at the luge at Sentosa.

We travelled down two escalators  to take a taxi and....... OMG!!

What do I see!!! I mean,  were’nt the beautiful sundown sights of Singapore enough to make the evening memorable?

But no,Here there were canals on which gondola’s were parked. On either side of the canal were pathways for the luxury brand stores and the lighting around the place made the place like a dream. Unfortunately, we had no time to go around the luxury stores in that gondola or click photos.

I went to the help desk  counter to find the route for the taxi stand. He told us to take back the same escalator with which we came down.

Finally, we took an MRT to the hotel 3kms away to call it a day. And, what a day it was!

Definitely a mesmerizing evening to remember till my memory lasts.

Check the Garden rhapsody shots below

The supertrees are uniquely designed vertical gardens upto 50 metres tall. 

                                                                They have large canopies that provide shade in the day.

The super trees are embedded with environmentally sustainable functions. Some have photovoltaic cells on their canopies to harvest solar energy for lighting up the supertrees.

                            The OCBC skyway connects one supertree to another and acts a pathway for the visitor to walk around and have an aerial view of the place.

OCBC is  the name of the bank that sponsored the Garden rhapsody and pathway(Some oriential chinese banking corporation?)

                                          Wow! This sight from river bank is indescribable for me.

The singapore flyer, in front  a few supertrees and the lit conservatory to the left( notice the reflection on the river)

to my right was the marina bay sands park hotel , The mesmerizing composition of sights sent me into a trance.

It looked as though we came all the way not to take a taxi but  to see the basement of the hotel  which had the  dream sight (venetian canal).  All along our stay there,  we had planned to see the terrace of the hotel which had infinity pool and park. (we missed seeing the canopy park but were glad to have found the venetian canal)

My next post: Changi airport

Gardens by the bay

Gardens by the bay - a beautiful garden designed with environmental sustainability as its design mantra and touted as the top 10 best gardens of the world was our next stop on our travel list. Built from reclaimed land, it has two conservatories, 18 super trees and nearly 700,000 plants from all over the world(except antartica). The park opened in 2012 to the public was built with the vision of converting Singapore to “City in a Garden” from garden city.

After alighting from the monorail we took the MRT to Marina bay, hoping to reach the gardens in half an hours time. Only after boarding did we realize we were in a route that would go around Singapore and stop at Marina bay after an hour. We immediately realized our folly, got down at Outram station to change over to a short line. Yet again, we ended up 3kms short from the gardens. Since time was now a premium and the gardens would close by 9 , we hired a taxi. The taxi driver dropped us at the Gardens and told it would be open till 2 midnight. When asked if it was safe to travel at midnight, he said there are undercover police and it was safe to travel at night.

Happy about the closing hours we leisure walked the long pathway towards the ticket counter to submit our tickets for the conservatories. The guy immediately discouraged us from entering and said “it is already quarter past 8. You need atleast one hour for each conservatory, utilize your tickets tomorrow and get full value”.

We told him we would manage to see whatever we can in 45 minutes since we would be flying out of the city the next day.

So, you see we were right the conservatories are open till 9.p.m only and the taxi driver was also right, the gardens around the conservatory are open till 2.a.m. The entry fee is only for the conservatory and not for gardens which is free.

We divided the 45 minutes between the two conservatories and tried to do maximum justice to the value of tickets and time. I will let the pictures speak about the garden. I will be dividing this into 2 photo posts since i don't want to miss sharing some of the photos. But at the same time,i must say our camera got tired in the cloud forest and conked off, one of the lenses refused to work and moreover we rushed through the place. Can't vouch for the clarity and quality. Still i will share them with you all:) 

                           

The two conservatories you see along with the super trees and lakes like Dragon fly lake  constitute "Gardens by the bay". Much efforts have gone to plan and design for sustainable cycles in energy and water throughout the garden. 

From the gate to the conservatory, we walked through the pathway under the ceiling, but did not forget to catch the super tree in our lens. 

As one enters "Cloud forest" conservatory,  this is what awaits you . You are veiled in mist and look up to a 35 metre tall mountain covered with plant life from tropical highlands and also this is  world's tallest indoor waterfall. 

One can ascent the mountain by lift or take the  walkway designed like a ramp. We went up the ramp and descended by llift. This is the cloud walk where you walk amongst artificial clouds. 

                                 A Design of the patagonian express, railway station in Argentina adorning the mountain side

                                 All along the pathway up you find vertical forest.........

It would have been a treat for a botanist or anybody interested deeply in the subject. 

We simply enjoyed the  cool greenery, write ups  and rushed up towards the peak. while the 3 of us rushed up, my dot who was clicking photos was left behind.   Our camera got tired and refused to take good pics and my dot refused to budge from the place. From then on our hand phone took care of some pics.and we crossed over to the flower dome.

The flower dome replicates the cool-dry climes of region like south africa, california, spain, italy etc and so you have nearly 9 replicas of gardens from all the above countries. 

At flower dome , we were totally there standing in awe of nature. 

fascinating succulents.......all through the rim

                   

 My daughter was fascinated by these flowers and clicked nearly 10 pics of these from different angles. She found them to be like fairies. 

                                                  An evening in Paris

 That is the flower field which keeps changing its theme, this time it was french gardens, the hotel you see in blue is captured in full below

The beautiful lights in the ceiling of the hotel caught my attention and made a pretty sight from across the french garden. The photo does not do justice.

Some more flowering plants 

That is the french lily

Some of the trees from countries like senegal were shipped to  fit here. Some were too large to come in a shipping container. 

                         And this is the super tree taken during the sound and light show and the OCBC skyway. The evening did'nt end here, i have some more to say and show , i will post more pics  later.

Movie ride at Universal Studios:)

* A long visual post alert*


Sentosa beckoned us the next day too, but this time our playground was Universal studios(US).

Universal studios,Singapore   is a mini replica of  Hollywood movies and brings you some of the movies alive. You get a real feel of  the movies that you have watched on celluloid screen by experiencing  the  cutting edge rides based on the famous Hollywood movies Transformers, Shrek, Madagascar, Jurassic park, revenge of the mummy,  far far away, sesame street(spaghetti space chase)  etc.  The rides bring out myriad emotions  fear, thrill, fun, anxiety etc.,.  

Also, There are  interactive live shows, hollywood parade, characters meet and greet, street entertainment, lots of shops selling merchandise, hotels and mini cafes , a mini replica of hollywood ,  New York avenue settings etc.

After  our breakfast, we left by MRT to VIVO city mall. We booked ourselves on the monorail to ResortsWorld Sentosa(RWS). After arriving at RWS, we followed the indicators to US. We did some homework the previous night and we learnt arriving early would not see us as a part of lengthy queue.

The place is pretty big and although there were  navigation indicators it was better to know the  happening rides and show timings.  So, the first thing we did was to find a map holder.  We picked up  the free maps and orientated ourselves about the place.

 We decided to start our route anti-clockwise since we wanted to ride the Sci-fi movies first.

 I will make this a visual post again.  I will  share my thoughts and experiences below the pics. Fasten yourseat belts and harnesses as i take you along plenty of fun  with unexpected tumbles, swerves, fast Zips, sudden whips! I find it difficult to replicate my experience but will try. 

That's the beginning, right after the entrance, you are greeted by this globe

As you pass along such stores, you enter.....

...the first attraction.  we visited in "NEW YORK" was  sesame street, a ride into spaghetti space chase

The ride was through such beautiful thorough fares and suddenly there is a space chase and.....

...... we are thrown into space where you are among millions of stars( LED's), space ships etc. It was an amazing leap and left a happy feeling. a beautiful experience.

The next attraction was Sci-fi city and the most talked about and famous ride Transformer where you are part of the ultimate 3D battle to save earth from autobots.The above is the entrance, you queue through......

a tunnel where you have a glimpse of all the missiles used in the movie .The queue as you see was sparse since we were early visitors. This ride was a bit scary, so i often removed the 3d glasses. . One moment you are outdoors and suddenly you crash through a building's glass wall to indoors of a skyscraper. The crash amplifies the sense of speed. the ride is filled with exciting and scary moments where you also feel the visual mayhem through the 3D glasses apart from the water, steam and heat effects. 

After sci-fi city, we moved into Ancient egypt, where we rode a roller coaster "revenge of the mummy"with frightening mummies and ghosts. The next ride was Treasure hunters where we drove in an open jeep on the deserty sand of ancient egypt . We passed through treasures and wild snakes, scorpions etc.( forgot to take pics here) 

Next was the Jurassic park rapids adventure. A crazy rapids water ride through jurassic park where you find many dinosaurs. This rapid makes you wet since you pass through falls and there are unexpected swerves which drop the rapid into great depths. Many buy plastic raincoats from a dispensing machine for 7$. But we never felt the need, An exciting experience:) 

Another attraction in "The lost world" is a scheduled show called " water world". We came back here at 3.15 but spent the next few hours at ......

"Far far away" This had a beautiful castle which served as a backdrop for photos. The attractions here were a Shrek 4d adventure movie, an interactive donkey (eeyore) show which was boring and enchanted airways a mini roller coaster.

This is the water world show which had amazing stunts,live fire works, and suddenly as you are watching from the gallery, you find an aeroplane landing in the water. Absolutely thrilling show.

You see the fire in the water immediately after an explosion. The same scene is used in the movie "Khambakt Ishq"

We went back to far far away to see the live donkey show at 4.30. We expected the show too be very lively.

but the show of eeyore was boring, still we sat through the show

There were beautiful merchandise, chocolate shops and restaurants everywhere. Drinking water was also not a problem as there were many water fountains. 

                                                  The next attraction was "Madagascar"

Here we had an adventure cruise on a crate boat through the rainforests where we passed through many talking zebras, lions, snakes, giraffes etc., An unique experience but nothing adventurous as the show claimed.

Next was the hollywood attractions. We missed the beginning of the parade but caught up the final lap of the parade. There were many hollywood characters walking on the street,

This was my children's favorite Minion from "despicable me". we checked the merchandise, a small minion about 1" costed 7$. 

                        We signed off after clicking the Universal studio version of Merlion.

 After a tiring but interesting day we walked to board our monorail to vivo city. We were behind our schedule for Gardens by the bay.