Welcome! To the Cloud Forest.. which keeps reminding me of Star Wars.. although that was a cloud city.. not a cloud forest. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of this place before.. I’d be amazed if you haven’t. Anyway, the Cloud Forest is situated in one of the huge greenhouses in the Gardens by the Bay complex.
PROTIP: You can buy tickets online in advance at a decent discount. Have a shop around on the internet, I managed to get a 25% discount.
It’s pretty easy to get to. Take the metro to the Bayfront station. That brings you out in the shopping mall under the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. From there, there are signs you can follow that point you to the Gardens by the Bay. Its a short 5 - 10 minute walk. As you walk to the Cloud Forest, you will pass through the Super Trees as we did here.
We’ll check them out later! For now.. onwards to Cloud Forest! The first thing that strikes you is the absolute scale of this place. You first encounter that waterfall (pictured above) as you enter and the scale strikes you. Its 7 stories to the top and there are a series of walkways you can wander once you get up there.
Before that happens though you walk around the ground floor area. You pass all sorts of sculptures, artworks and botanical curiosities (some art designed to look as flowers, and some actual flowers) on your way to the elevator that takes you to the top.
There's this dragon, that I imagined sounded a lot like Eddie Murphy..
Then there's this sculpture of an Orchid .. that reminds me of a woman's... ahem...
I don't even know where to start with this but it very much looks like the green man from celtic lore:
Strangely enough this one reminds me of man's ahem... I suppose this one's a bit more in your face (especially if you stand close to it .. j/k).
If you look up periodically you can see the walkways from the top floor. I couldn't wait to get up there to see what the view was like.
I don't quite know what this is but the shape and petals are just beautiful. There is a certain symmetry in nature that is just stunning. Patterns are dominated by the fibonacci sequence.. which also corresponds with 'The Golden Ratio'. If you want to see an example, just crack open a sea shell or something. Its in everything! I digress.. look at the pretty:
Ok so they call it Cloud Forest for a reason. I hear a hissing noise .. look up and see something coming out of the walkways.
Yup, artificial ski slopes eat your heart out.. this place creates artificial clouds! Its pretty cool.. its quite obviously just a bit of mist, but it really does create a glorious effect. Once you ride the elevator to the top you encounter a small pool garden with its only clouds and weirdly enough.. plants made of lego..
A wider angle of the same thing:
If you lean over the edge you realise you are now at the top of that waterfall you saw at the entrance .. and yup, down there is the entrance!
When we arrived it was raining and lightning was all over the place.. looking out the greenhouse you can see its still raining but the sun is coming down. You can see the super trees sticking out over the tree tops in the sunset.. We wanted to go up that walkway/skyway in daylight but I guess we'll go up there in the dark (if they open it - they close for bad weather).
You get a great view from up here.. even of the the other walkways that are lower down.
With the mist to form the clouds you almost do feel like you are walking the canopy of the jungle trees..
Within the large structure itself there are lots of exhibits too. One of the first ones we saw was on rock formations
It kind of resembles a cave which i guess was the whole point. As you go further down the levels you see other exhibits and they all have one overriding theme which becomes more in your face the further along you go. Conservation.. climate change and the ravages of man on the planet.. a lesson that even more desperately needs to be taught in Asia as their current practices are still unapologetically wasteful. Especially in places like Indonesia where everyone thinks the ocean is where you throw away your plastic.
As you come further down there are still some raised walkways that take you around. How lush is this place? I could have spent all day in here!
One final glance upwards before we head into the last exhibition places..
The last place we get to is a sort of basement level. Its also where the exit is, but before that happens.. you get a room with a video presentation on climate change, as well as exhibits on its causes and what can be done to mitigate it. Though many experts say its already too late. I rushed through there because I've heard it all a thousand times before and I'm not a climate change skeptic.. you don't need to convince me!
The final stop is some gardens in the basement on the way to the gift shop.
Its gorgeous and I love how they've incorporated lights into the display. But on top of that, they also have the world's smallest orchids on display.
So small you need magnifying glasses (conveniently arranged here) to see them! I tried to take a close up with the camera but it wasn't quite working and I was holding up the line. Its ok .. it's not the first time I have tested someone's patience.. just ask .. well .. ANY woman I've ever had a relationship with!
So after this little cave garden exhibit we come to the end of the Cloud Forest. Just before leaving though my GF needed to make a bathroom stop .. so in very traditional fashion I was left standing outside the ladies toilets holding her handbag.. alongside three other men. This is our fate in life. Anyway, as we are standing there waiting for our significant others to reappear this guy confidently strolls into the ladies toilets. We all looked at each other in silent agreement that this won't end well for him and lets not embarrass him further by pointing and laughing when he comes out. Sure enough, a minute later he comes out looking rather sheepish.. and we all point at the entrance to the male toilets with a knowing smug, yet understanding grin. It probably came across as mocking .. oh well. He should have read the sign before walking in!
That was my tour of the Cloud Forest at gardens by the bay in Singapore. Its a wonderful place, of course there are two greenhouses, the other one being the Flower Dome .. and if you could only choose to see one I would recommend the Cloud Forest. But that is my personal preference.
!steemitworldmap 1.284152 lat 103.865803 long Cloud Forest - Gardens By the Bay in Singapore D3SCR
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