I ♥ Singapore!

This time last week I was enjoying time out in Singapore! This is a montage of pics taken at the beautiful Singapore Botanic Garden. Click to enlarge to see a little more detail!



We also went to the zoo but my camera wasn't playing ball that day so these are a couple of shots of my favourite tiggers from a previous visit .

Marina Bay Sands Skypark

And I forgot to take my camera when we went here. So stupid of me as it was such a spectactular view:( This is the Skypark at Marina Bay Sands. Click on photo if you'd like to read more about this amazing place.

I ♥ Singapore!

Babies!!

Do you remember this? Its one of two glass jars full of baby orchids that I bought from the Orchid Gardens in KL back in February. You can read about them and see more of my orchids here.

Last week I thought it was time to release them!

So, I began by gently easing the plantlets out through the neck of the jar and then washed off the agar that had been their food for the last months.

Sorting. That took a while and in the end it was a case of the survival of the fittest , as there were so many babies and only 20 pots.

Ready with soft Sphagnum Moss.

All planted up

and outside in their nursery for the first time. Hope they do well!





I'm going to have quite a wait though till the plants produce anything like these beauties. It could take from two to ten years before I see any blooms! I'll keep you posted on their progress.

Pretty in Pink Edited

I made another mosaic from photos of my garden. This is how it was a few weeks back when all the orchids were blooming - wonderful! Sadly both orchids and bougainvillea are taking a blooming break at the moment, so the garden isn't as colourful :(


I then decided that the 1st mosaic was an overload on the senses so I swapped the pics around, cut a few out and I think I prefer this smaller version - what about you?

Flowers really do intoxicate me. ~Vita Sackville-West

Orchids

We visited the lovely Orchid and Hibiscus Gardens on Sunday and picked up some beautiful plants. Aren't these gorgeous!! You can view more photos of the gardens at my Flickr site.




And these are little Orchid babies!! They are growing in Agar in their nursery bottles which are sterile and airtight. Later I will need to pot them up. I've got an instruction sheet from the orchid grower and also did a bit of research on it on the web. Wait for this ... it can take anywhere from 2 - 10 years for them to flower!!!! You obviously need a bit of patience for this hobby then! I will keep you informed on their progress.

Weekend in Singapore

We've just had a whirlwind weekend in Singapore! Well, it's not that far away - just a comfortable 5 hour coach ride. We went to look at a car we'd seen for sale. And very nice it was too - so we've bought it! Now we have to wait for all the paperwork to be in order before we can import it into Malaysia - by all accounts this can take anywhere between 3 weeks and 3 months - sigh!

That done we checked into the hotel on Scotts Road then headed off to see how much Singapore has changed since we were living there 20 years ago! In a nutshell - it's changed a great deal!



Orchard Road, a favourite area for shoppers, now has even more malls, is way too crowded and incredibly noisy. Not our idea of fun so we were glad to turn off into peaceful Emerald Hill, a conservation area where many of the lovely old Peranakan houses have been renovated to provide contemporary living spaces, bars and cafes.











That evening we ventured a little off the beaten track again to Rochester Park where pre-war colonial black and white houses sitting amid lush tropical greenery have been converted to chic eateries. We enjoyed a delicious al fresco Italian meal and can thoroughly recommend this venue to anyone visiting Singapore!




Next day after breakfast we headed for the zoo. Singapore has one of the very best in the world and we enjoyed a few hours with the animals in beautiful surroundings. Here you can get up close to the animals in their natural habitats - dens are 'open' (well, almost!) and there are lots of monkeys swinging freely through the trees and parrots posing for photos! In addition to the inmates there are many beautiful varieties of orchids and other flowers and trees here, some of which I can't identify! We didn't have time to do it all but the white tigers cooling off in the water were definitely the highlight!