As we gear up towards the weekend of our Golden Jubilee, it certainly feels like the whole Singapore is getting ready to celebrate!
One spot that has gotten all dressed up for the occasion is Gardens By The Bay, which last Friday launched its Singapore Stories Floral Display in the Flower Dome. Here you will find floral interpretations of 10 local legends, with orchids, including our national, flower the Vanda Miss Joaquim naturally taking centre stage. Over 8,000 orchids and plants in a plethora of colours have been used to recreate some vivid scenes from these stories.
The displays are creatively framed as Singapore stamps, with postmarks to tell you when the stories date back to! I thought the stamps were lovely visuals, drawing the eye to the displays, and they made for lovely photos too! That said, the displays did not always look best from the angle of the stamp so do get closer to get a better look.
Welcome to Singapura! Can you guess what scene this is?
It’s Sang Nila Utama! Here he spots the legendary lion after which our city was named, which you can see just at the edge of this pic on the left!
It has since been concluded that he could not have seen a lion as there were none in these parts, but the story has stuck, and hey, it does make for a great tale!
I enjoyed the fact that stories relate to 10 spots/landmarks that can be found in Singapore. These include some old tales that I remember from Social Studies lessons like Redhill, Radin Mas and Pulau Ubin, but also a number that I had never heard of, including a rather strange mythical tale involving a sorcerer in the forests of Bukit Timah that I was rather surprised to learn of! Noey enjoyed reading the storyboards and I would like to think that he learnt a little something about our local folklore in the process.
A view of the central flower field.
The display on Redhill, which was my favourite piece, featuring a rather appropriate red palette.
Bukit Timah — Do you spot Brani, the hunter who foiled the sorcerer of Bukit Timah?
Scattered around the Flower Dome you will also find scenes of old Singapore depicted in Paper Tole. I remember Paper Tole craft being very popular when I was a child and I had a number of paper tole pieces decorating my room then. So seeing paper tole being used was very nostalgic for me in itself! I’m sure the scenes too would bring back memories for the older generation.
Rickshaw puller paper tole display.
Amused by this kachang puteh cart, which reminded her of her own! Too bad this was just for display and we couldn’t eat any of it!
Aside from the display in the Flower Dome, the other event happening at Gardens By The Bay that you probably don’t want to miss is a special SG50 edition of Garden Rhapsody. The nightly light show at the Supertree Grove will take a nostalgic turn from 6 August, featuring popular Singapore tunes arranged by Bang Wenfu and sung by popular local singers such as Benjamin Kheng of The Sam Willows and iNCH, amongst others. There will also be special laser effects on 6 to 10 August.
We caught a preview of the show last Friday, and I really liked it. So did the watching crowd! Many of those watching raised their voices too and sung along as music filled the air and the lights twinkled. It gave me the feels, it did.
We rounded off the evening like we usually do, with food at Satay by the Bay. I actually like to pop by whenever we visit the gardens in the evenings as there is a good selection of food so we can usually find something to please everyone! Aside from satay (which is a must-have for us), there is also quite a few seafood stalls. Noey’s favourite are the BBQ Chicken Wings (Huat Huat), while I’m pretty partial to the Hokkien Mee (Geylang Lor 29 Fried Hokkien Mee). I think dinner here is a fitting end to a celebration of Singapore and what it has to offer.
- The Discover Singapore Stories exhibition at the Flower Dome will be on from 31 July to 13 September 2015.
- Local residents enjoy 50% off tickets to the conservatories during the Jubilee Weekend, and local senior citizens enjoy free admission to the conservatories till 31 August 2015! So this is the best time to visit!
- The special SG50 edition of Garden Rhapsody (with laser projection) is happens from 6 to 10 August 2015 at 7.45pm, 8.30pm, 9.15pm and 10pm at the Supertree Grove. Thereafter, shows without laser project will continue till 13 September 2015 at 7.45pm and 8.45pm.
*Special thanks to Gardens By The Bay for hosting us! Noey and Mei are dressed by Bossini in Bossini’s latest Frozen collection.
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