Botanic Gardens and Beijing Plans

Yesterday I decided to visit Singapore's oldest national park, the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The gardens have more than 2000 species of vegetation - everything from rain forest and fruit trees to cacti and spices. By far the best part of the park is the Orchid Garden, where most of the photos below were taken.

It's hard to see the sign, but this one is the Singapore Orchid.

As I walked through the Orchid Garden, I just kept thinking about how much Aunt Mae would have loved walking around in the midst of all the beautiful flowers. (Aunt Mae was my babysitter/surrogate grandmother for those who didn't know her, and she was an avid gardener even up until her 90s).


I also liked the Bonsai section. Check out these baby Bonsai trees! So cute, and also gnarly.

There is also an area called the Evolution Trail, which simulates vegetation throughout the earth's history. I think the turtle in the pond was a bonus.

The guide said it would take 3-4 hours to do the entire thing and I suppose it would if you stopped and read every single sign and walked as slowly as some Singaporeans do. I had done everything within about an hour and a half (though it was about 2 before I was able to walk back to the taxi stand on the opposite side of the park). Still, enough time to get a nice little sunburn from my scoop neck shirt apparently.

To even out my tan (ha), I spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool researching Beijing flights and hotels. We chose the Grand Hyatt Beijing because it's more likely to have a high proportion of English-speaking staff, as well as its proximity to some of the highlights we want to hit. Now I just need to book our hotel in Bangkok and a few tours, and we'll be all set.

Then last night I joined Mindy and her husband, Jonathan, for a fun party at one of their friends' homes.

I'm not exactly sure what today holds other than quite a bit of rain apparently, some more travel research, and a BBQ with Whitney and Josh tonight. Maybe I'll get caught up on all my photos for Facebook and Snapfish. Maybe. Bye, lah!