[Kate] Three Things I Liked About Singapore

We are leaving Singapore tomorrow (the day I am writing this being Thursday, 22nd of March in my time zone).  We have sent about a week in this city, and now I am taking some time to write down three things I enjoyed about this unique city-state.

Here is the orange juice we got from the
vending machine.

1)  Orange Juice Vending Machines

We first tried out one of these things in the Marina.  Since we were all tired and hot, Cannon persuaded us to try out something that looked like a vending machine for orange juice.  We inserted two dollars, and watched as to machine's insides sprung to life.  It squeeze the juice out of oranges right in front of our eyes.  Then it sealed the cup and we grabbed a few straws.  The juice was delicious, partly because it was chilled and we were hot.  Later, Cannon and Grace tried out another orange juice machine, but that one cost us three dollars for the same amount of juice.  Still though, cool innovation!

2)  The Gardens by the Bay

By the Marina, there was an area called the Gardens by the Bay.  I loved it there!  Inside this area were so many cool things!  First of all there were these buildings called Supertrees, a title which fit them well.  Plants grew up their sides, and at the top they splayed out like their namesake.  One of the other main attractions were unique gardens inside giant "bubbles," made of glass, like oddly shaped greenhouses.  The first one we went to was the flower dome, where they had a lot of plant life that was considered exotic here.  But for us, it was a little strange to see a standard pine tree in there!  We also saw swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, and a whole host of other things we don't find strange.  One thing I loved about the flower dome were the sculptures everywhere.  Amazing artwork!  After the flower dome we proceeded to the Cloud forrest, which was literally a cloud forest environment encased in the same type of building as the flower dome.  So cool!

Below are a lot of pictures:

Here are Dad, Cannon and I in front of the Supertrees.

Here the the Supertrees from another angle.

Here is a sculpture of a gazelle in the flower dome.

Here is a sculpture of an eagle in the flower dome.

Here is part of the flower dome, and that silhouette
 on the right is a dragon sculpture.

Here are some cherry blossom trees from the flower dome.

Here is the cloud forest.

Here is the cloud forest from another angle.

Here is the cloud forest from another angle.

Here is the cloud forest from another angle.

Here is a close up of some flowers and plant life in the cloud forest.

Here is a part of the cloud forest.

Another view of the cloud forest (we walked along that walkway).

Here is a booth at a hawker center.

3)  Hawker Centers

A cool thing about Singapore were the hawker centers.  Since Singapore had banned people selling food on the street, these people formed hawker centers, a fun place to stop and grab a bite of traditional Asian cuisine.  There were so many options to choose from!  I tried Chinese the first day, then later had some Indian and a lot of other types of food.  I found I liked a lot of styles of Asian food, which was something I hadn't had much opportunity to try like this in the past.