Singapore Fact of the Day: The National Orchid Garden section of the Botanic gardens houses orchids named after the likes of Elton John, Jackie Chan and even Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela. More recently, Kate Middleton and Prince William were presented the Vanda William Catherine - a white and purple free-flowering orchid hybrid.This garden is also lauded as the world’s largest orchid display features over 60,000 plants and orchids. The more you know!
Yesterday was really fun. We got to visit the National Gallery, which housed many beautiful art pieces from Singapore artists, including some that are located on their currency! It also was built around both their previous city hall and Supreme court. This was the exact location that both the British surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 during WW2, and when the Japanese surrendered in 1945, exactly 44 months apart!
We also explored Singapore's botanical gardens! There we were able to snag some lunch, and I had a pasta dish with prawns! It was surprisingly good.
We also got to visit the Orchid garden, which is the largest garden of its kind. While I didn't get to explore it much, they had a VIP section full of orchids named after famous international celebrities that have previously visited the garden. Here are some pictures of some of the beautiful flowers I got to see!
We also got to see the coolest dragonfly I've ever seen in my life. I wish I could have gotten some better pictures, but you can still see the craziness of the wings.
Other wildlife we were able to spot were wild chickens and a monitor lizard. Those things are everywhere in Singapore!
One of the coolest highlights of the day though, was the weirdest mall I've ever been to. It was crammed packed with 7 floors of interesting stores. We had dinner at a conveyor belt sushi joint..the first one I had ever been to! Check it out!
We slowly scaled all 7 floors of the mall, and realized each floor got weirder than the last. We finally reached the top, which was the roof, and was befuddled at what we found. Only 3 places were there, and tons of teenagers in small circles hanging out on the roof. We saw a small karaoke bar, a prawn INDOOR FISHING spot, and a dog cafe. We couldn't stop laughing about how strange that floor was, but we will definitely be back for all three spots, most likely.
So as you can tell, my weekend was pretty great. The longer I stay in Singapore, the more I realize how incredible and amazing this place is. It is a complete amalgam of so many different cultures, and it's beautiful how they all celebrate each other perfectly. The next closest thing I've ever seen to this is in the United States.
Today, I will be getting the opportunity to see two design/animation firms. The first is called Farm, which work on a variety of design/architecture projects. The second is Crave FX, which are a VFX studio (super stoked for that). We will also get to see the iconic trees everyone keeps talking about. Can't wait to share all about it tomorrow!