Bridge to nature

January 22, 2016

Following a visit to Singapore, Syed Tashfin Chowdhury  writes about some of the top tour venues in the country that is providing entertainment and knowledge to tourists

Photos by Naila Hossain

The tourism sector of Southeast Asian countries have been experiencing growth since the nineties. While Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar and many others have chalked out ambitious plans to attract foreign tourists to their countries over the past five years, others like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and so on are already enjoying revenue from the sector that rises almost every year.
Recent statistics on tourists have shown unique findings where, besides Westerners, there has been a growth in tourists from other countries of Asia including South Asia, Middle East and Africa.
In a bid to provide the best experience to tourists, communication and infrastructure in these countries have been developed in a formidable manner. For example, you can go to any part of Singapore by using a combination of the subway (MRT) and the bus routes. Google maps can come to great help in helping tourists plan on the various ways they can reach a destination faster with the funds available to them.
Also, besides promoting their own culture, traditions and cuisines, these Southeast Asian nations have also adopted several surefire ways to offer the most exciting list of venues that tourists would love to witness and experience.
Some of these include attractions related to nature and environment like zoos, bird parks and so on, where besides providing entertainment to those at attendance, the venues also provide plenty of knowledge.

Gardens by the Bay

One of the top tourist attractions is currently ‘Gardens by the Bay’, which is popular for the colourful Super-trees whose photos most people have seen on the internet.
Getting to the garden may prove rather difficult as it is near the Marina Barrage. The commute may include a subway ride that can drop you off at either the Bayfront or Tanjong Pagar stops depending on which line you are taking (Circle Line or East-West Line).
Or you can try to hail a bus that will drop off a few metres away from the venue itself. No matter which public transport you avail, you’d have to walk which can be a great exercise.
The garden is a cluster of five different facilities together housing over 500,000 species of plants.
There is the ‘Flower Dome’, which features some of the most unique collection of flowers. Through regulated temperatures, a range of plants from Mediterranean, Australian, South American and South African regions are on display here.
I have learnt that the exhibits here are always changed every few months, thus attracting locals as well as foreigners.
But I cherished the ‘Cloud Dome’ or Cloud Forest which has an artificial waterfall that is boasted to be the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. While climbing the walkways, tourists can also marvel at how environment survived in the not-so convenient climate on mountaintop forests at sea level.
Then there is the ‘Supertree Grove’ which include trees over 25 to 50 metres tall. These are vertical supporting a range of ferns, orchids, vines and other plants, which are essentially creepers.
Each of these Supertrees are designed to function as a real tree through photovoltaic cells to echo photosynthesis and contribute energy to run the park. These trees also collect rain water during Singapore’s frequent heavy rains and channel it throughout the park wherever irrigation or fountains are needed.
The grove is also popular as light shows are arranged here twice daily.
Also featured at the ‘Gardens by the Bay’ is Heritage Garden that tells the story of Singapore through the story of plants in the Heritage Garden.
There is also ‘Dragonfly Lake’ where visitors can learn about the aquatic ecosystem.
Visiting all the areas will take anyone between five to six hours. If hunger strikes you during this time, you can always grab a drink from the local souvenir stores. In case you are famished, try moving towards ‘Satay by the Bay’, a food court that includes halal and non-halal cuisine within affordable price ranges.