RETROSPECTIVE 2018 - SINGAPOUR - 1/6
With the month of July, the holidays are announced, a truce for the nursery and the garden. This year, we decided to have fun and go where our heart tells us to go for quite a few years already.
I remember commercials on Liberty TV, for those who remember, with the qualities of the Singapore Arboretum. Yet at that time (2003 or 2004), Gardens by the bay and the famous Marina Hotel did not exist, any more than the ArtScience Museum.
From June 31, our plane takes off from Frankfurt, taking us to Dubai and finally to Singapore. The adventure begins.
From June 31 to July 13
GARDENS BY THE BAY
Undeniably, the image of Singapore is this:
A high-tech city, at the forefront of technology, much more modern than our old medieval or ancient carcasses, which make, however, dreaming asians. They dream of Europe, but they are not inspired by it. They are determined to look to the future in which they are already living.
But their futuristic city is in more ways than one:
Because Singapore is also this: An exuberant jungle where human works are inspired by nature. it is no longer a question of producing, constructing and throwing away, as we are still doing too much in Europe, but of creating harmony, observation of natural rules, mimicry and, above all, profound respect.
SUPERTREES GROVE
The Supertrees Grove is, without any questions, the symbol of these 101 hectares of gardens. Like natural trees, they bring beneficial shade when the sun is at its zenith, but not only.
They host an atypical flora in an original conservatory of ferns, vines, tillandsia, bromelias and rare orchids, sometimes endangered.
They are equipped with a specific technology, contributing in various ways, to supply the park with energy, via photovoltaic cells; to recover the rainwater, but also to cool the greenhouses via an inverted heat pump system. Each evening a sound and light show completes, magically, the different functions of these sculptures. it is no longer a question that a work, whatever it may be, has only one function. It is important to entertain and entertain the crowds, to attract tourism, but this unique will is not enough in Singapore. This lucrative demand must also be adapted to an ecological framework for recycling. The project is complete and effective.
Everywhere, at Gardens by The Bay, the supertrees are part of the landscape.
Marina bays Sands. From the top of this hotel you can access a unique view of Gardens By The Bay.
WALKING IN THE GARDENS
In Singapore, it is an existential choice to respect the Earth and all its components in an equal way. Nothing is better, everything is important. Also, the space left to the plants is preponderant. The city-state has understood the stakes of the 21st century and also the essential role of plants in safeguarding life on earth. They are omnipresent, in the city, are an integral part of all amenities. they are pampered, cared for and respected. A modern city for a possible future is a city where the plant is an essential element. They produce the oxygen we breathe, absorb pollution, filter the water we drink, cool the air in hot weather and protect us from wind and rain. They maintain the land and protect it from erosion, they feed and shelter, bring fertilizer, regenerate and generate life.
How can we still slaughter them today in Europe, systematically heralding them?
The gardens of the bay are organized. it is true. A nature under the hand of human so that everything is beautiful. Rich of a British heritage, Singaporeans have kept this dexterity to shape the landscape, to choose the richest varieties to create balanced paintings, to infinity.
The fun aspect is never put aside. it is important to challenge children and make them aware of the ecological issue and the role of the plant kingdom in our society today.
The choice of varieties is also important. it is necessary to set up attractive, robust, voluntary and generous plants. They must also be highlighted in order to give them the optimal conditions to give themselves. the win win bet is won.
The politics of this state of dictatorship is astonishing, heckles the apprioris and makes us think in a very strange way.
From water, life is born. The lotus is one of the amblemes of the city. The plant nourishes and shelters life, this urban turtle will not dispute it. She absolutely does not envy our aquarium turtles.
A kingfisher.
Keeping the plants is important in Singapore, you understand it and make it known too. For this purpose, in the park, two greenhouses can be visited. They are very different from each other:
CLOUD FOREST
Is certainly the one we prefer. It tends to synthesize an exuberant nature, wild, crazy. With its waterfall of 35m foaming, it plunges us into a huge universe.
FLOWER DOME
More flowery, necessarily, it is more colorful, sometimes too colorful. The messages that can be read through the stagings, sculptures, are nonetheless revealing. A real human lesson.
A day goes by at Gardens by the Bay, filled with dreams for tomorrow.
We will come back two more times during our stay.
