National Gallery of Singapore

Our friend George Barbour told us that this new museum was a must see and he is right.  We spent much of our second day visiting this fantastic museum.   It is a new visual arts institution and contains the largest collection of modern art in Singapore and SE Asia.  Actually the museum is contained in two national monuments--the former Supreme Court and the former City Hall buildings which are adjacent to each other.

Supreme Court Left and City Hall Right

Atrium Between Buildings

City Hall Courtyard

We took a tour of the a special exhibit in cooperation of the Centre Pompidou "Reframing Modernism."  It contained art from both SE Asia and 20th century European masters.  The picture below is of a very large (10x 30')  lacquer work done by Vietnamese artist, Nguyen Gia Tri.

ERP--Entry Road Price

We encountered these signs all around the CBD and could not figure it out until one night when we took a taxi.  The driver explained that this is a system to monitor all vehicles as they enter the central area of Singapore.   A fee or toll is charged all vehicles and this fee is dependent upon time of day.   Our taxi driver has a screen on his dash which tells him the current rate and a portion of the fee was a surcharge on our fare.   The objective is to reduce traffic in the busiest areas.  What about it Seattle?

BTW they drive on the left side of the road in Singapore, a carryover from British Colonial days.

National Orchid Garden

Our most favorite part of the Singapore Botanical Gardens is the National Orchid Garden.  Founded in 1928, it contains 1000 species and 2,000 hybrids. It easily takes several hours to see the entire garden.  These are just a few shots of the hundreds of orchid plants found in the garden.

Cool House Containing High Elevation Specimens

 

Singapore Botanical Gardens

This is our third trip to Singapore and each time we have visited this spectacular garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We found our way on the bus and despite extraordinary heat, humidity, rain and thunderstorms, we spent most of the day there. The garden was established in 1859 and has thousands of species of plants from all over the world.  There is a Ginger Garden, a Rain Forest, Healing Garden.   Since most Singaporeans live in high rise apartments and condos parks such as this are very popular and well maintained.  

Rain Forest

Arrival in Singapore

Our flight was uneventful and we were both so happy to see our FOUR suitcases tumble off the conveyor belt.  While the suitcases were not large, we still brought a lot of stuff including several knitting projects, backgammon and scrabble games and a few books and lots more shoes than we might normally take on a trip.   We found our hotel, Lloyds Inn, on the internet and were pleased that it was quite satisfactory for our four nights stay.  It is called a minimalist hotel, mostly concrete with small, efficient rooms and fairly large bathrooms which are actually outside each room.   Each room is air conditioned and then the bath is not! Unusual but works quite well!   The inn  is centrally located  just north of the CBD and close to the MRT.  I had a pretty hard time adjusting to time/travel, etc. the first day and believe me this picture doesn't at all reflect the way I felt.   I barely made it a few blocks to an outdoor cafe where we had a little dinner and Gin and Tonics.  The weather has been unusually humid and hot and even the locals are complaining.   

Transit in Hong Kong

Spending a few hours in Hong Kong before flying to Singapore. Thanks to business class we both had a good nights sleep on the flight from YVR which was 13 hours,

On Our Way!

First leg...Horizon to YVR!

After going through many "to do" lists we are ready to go. We fly to Singapore via Vancouver and Hong Kong.

Despite rush hour we arrived at SEATAC in record time thanks to our neighbor Cailin Reeder Freeman.  And had time to relax and catch our breath before the short trip to Vancouver.  

We will fly overnite to Hong Kong (13 hours) and then on to Singapore arriving around noon local time.  Singapore is 15 hours ahead of Seattle.


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