Generally in my stopovers in Singapore I revisit familiar sites, in my last stopover I thought I would venture into unknown territory. I had never been to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which proudly announces itself as a UNESCO Heritage Site. (I'll add it to the collection of UNESCO sites I've visited!) With a little bit of research I discovered that it's the only tropical garden that's an UNESCO site and one of three gardens on the listing.
The gardens on the present site were established in 1859, in its early years it worked to foster agricultural growth in Singapore. By the 1920s it helped develop orchid breeding and with independence in the 1960s it was an importance resource for Lee Kuan Yew's desire that Singapore become the "Garden City".
I caught the MRT and got out at the Botanic Gardens station and entered the gardens from that gate, at the opposite end of the gardens to the National Orchid Centre which I thought would be nice to visit. I ended up walking through a large part of the gardens, with a rest and drink stop at the cafe in Botanic Gardens visitor centre.
The National Orchid Garden is the only part of the Botanic Gardens where there is an entrance fee. It's five Singapore dollars.
Part of the Orchid garden there is a display of orchids that were named after world leaders, presented to them when they visited Singapore. Interesting to see who was represented!
There were lots of different orchids, but I'll restrict myself to just 2 closeups!
The gardens are lovely to visit and quite peaceful, I didn't cover them all as Singapore's heat and particularly the humidity makes for an energy sapping experience! Garden lovers, I can recommend the National Orchid Centre and perhaps a stroll around nearby, before retiring to an air-conditioned cafe/restaurant/hotel!
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