Shifting sands and futuristic trees….

‘And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.’ Frances Hodgson Burnett

Having stayed at Marina Bay Sands on previous work visits to Singapore, I was uneasily conscious that this whole waterfront development was built on ‘reclaimed’ land.

Across the bay, the famous Merlion, the mascot of Singapore since the 1960s, which once guarded the mouth of the Singapore River, had to be moved in 2002 due to significant development in this area of the city – effectively moving the mouth of the river. The wonderful Raffles Hotel started life as a privately owned beach house in the early 1830s and those who’ve visited Singapore would know that it’s nowhere near the sea today!

On previous visits, the Gardens were incomplete so I was keen to visit this most unusual park consisting of 3 gardens and covering 101 hectares in the centre of Singapore. The park is part of an admirable plan by the Singapore Government to raise the quality of life for residents by ‘enhancing greenery and flora in the city’. Yes please.

Included in the Park are two giant conservatories; the ‘Flower Dome‘ featuring flower gardens from around the world and nice for a wander, and the other, more spectacular ‘Cloud Forest’ where the cool moist conditions of tropical mountain regions from South East Asia to South America are replicated with eerie effect.

In the Cloud Forest, I felt like I was entering a Jurassic world with a central waterfall and lizard-like statues peering out from behind the foliage. Of course this effect was soon dispelled by the presence of hoards of other visitors, but on a dark night…

A lift takes you to the top of the dome and you then circle your way down on aerial pathways, past wonderful displays of tropical plants with fantastic flowers which cover the mountain, the waterfall spraying moisture into the air and keeping you beautifully cool.

Stunning wooden sculptures set amidst exotic flora…

I didn’t spend long in the Flower Dome but one adorable statue reminded me of Christopher Robin…

Back outside and I was keen to see the Super Trees – I’d deliberately gone late in the afternoon so I’d be there when they were lit up, having seen amazing pictures from friends who’d already visited.

The Super Trees are tree-like structures of steel standing between 25 and 50 metres high and are the first things to grab your attention as you approach the gardens.

Not just decorative, these super tress are giant vertical gardens fitted with environmental technologies that mimic the ecological functions of trees, harnessing solar energy to power the lighting and also collecting rainwater.

The central Super Tree ‘grove’ hosts nightly sound and light shows to the delight of locals and tourists – particularly children.

I was ‘lucky’ enough to witness retro music night and watched as the trees pulsed to the beats of ‘If you leave me now’, Boogie Wonderland’ and ‘Waterloo‘…. special!

Electric fireworks if you like, though I think I’ll stick with the real thing…

I only spent a few hours here on this visit and have seen only a small portion of the gardens so far, but I’ll definitely be a regular visitor – the time spent amongst the (real) trees and beautiful lawns acting as a soothing balm to counter the effects of life in an otherwise concrete jungle.

Some thoughts on reclamation of land …

I first became aware of the practice of land reclamation on visits to Hong Kong,  when, on each visit, Kowloon seemed much closer to Hong Kong Island!

It turns out, it was, literally, closer.

Hong Kong has been reclaiming land for years with around 60 square kilometers of land having already been created by 1996. In fact, legislators in Hong Kong had to pass the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance to protect an increasingly congested harbor from disappearing altogether.

For many land-poor Asian countries, and Singapore is a good example with an original land size of only 58,000 hectares, territorial expansion is an essential part of economic growth. Since 1965 the size of Singapore has increased by 22% or 13,000 hectares, and the government has a target of adding another 5,600 hectares by 2030, stock piling sand to ensure they’re able to meet this target.

This sounds fine in theory, until you discover where the sand is coming from to enable this expansion.

Regional neighbours like Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia have been exporting sand for years, both legally and illegally and are increasingly coming under pressure from environmental groups both internally and globally due to the devastating environmental consequences of massive dredging including damaging coastal ecosystems, pollution, loss of beaches and threatening the livelihoods of fisherman to name just a few. The export of massive quantities also results in a reduction of the exporting countries territory.

The practice is very widespread in Asia, with Japan and China reclaiming huge areas, and, ironically, Singapore is now concerned about 2 huge Malaysian land reclamation projects close by in the Johor Strait.

What goes round comes round…