Singapore

 It’s a transition day: guests got off at the end of this segment of the trip with all their suitcases, new
guests boarded with all their suitcases, over a hundred rooms/suites needed to be thoroughly cleaned
to prepare for new tenants, almost 200 crew got off and were replaced with newbies.

Then there are those of us who are staying through. Some had tours sponsored by the ship. We chose
to get a private tour guide who would take us wherever we wished to go. That means that we needed
to decide WHERE! We invited two others to join us and they offered ideas, also.

When we got off the ship, it took close to an extra hour to get ahold of our guide who had somehow
gone to the WRONG port to pick us up. He didn’t speak much English, we didn’t want to use phones, his tour company is always competing for good online ratings…what chaos. But we finally were united.
First stop was popular for locals and tourists: Mt. Faber Cable Car underneath of which our ship had
docked!!! Imagine an airway system of cable cars that land at various destinations, each of which is its
own delight—one stop was an amusement park, another a trail to hike, etc. A person could spend the
entire day taking cable cars to something new. Fascinating in this huge city. Our photos will show that
we overpassed our ship a few times. We’d never viewed it from above. The day was clear enough that
vistas were rewarding.

Second stop was also near the harbor: Gardens by the Bay. Google it, if you have time. We chose to

buy tickets for inside gardens only and it was a fantastic choice since the day was so hot. The first dome
was called the Flower Dome. Inside was the largest enclosed glass greenhouse in the world filled with
native trees from around the world and blooming plants. The large trees and the healthiness of all plant
species was simply jaw-dropping. The lower level was decorated for a Viking Christmas of all things.
Little placards gave snippets about Viking history as our favorite Christmas music played in the
background. 

Dragon Flower

Unfurling Fern

Wooden Antelope with Jerry and Bonnie

These trees were spread throughout the area

dragon poised for liftoff

An idea of scale

Four floors of falls with a banshee at the base.

The second dome was called the Cloud Forrest, a fancy oblong dome that was a rainforest

with walkways at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom to view everything from everywhere.
Immediately upon walking in was a floor-to-ceiling waterfall. Life-size recreated props were hidden or
displayed throughout the trees/fauna of Africa, Australia, Israel, etc. One of the tiger-beasts surprised
me by growling at me. My scream made all three of the others jump. Surprised me, too. 

If you saw Avatar you may remember how the plants and flowers reacted when walking through the forest. In the theater they have it set up so when you walk on the floor it is like walking through that forest and the floor responds like the forest plants do in the movie. Very cool. We took way too many photos. Sorry.