Singapore day 1 - ATW event

The around the world event for Singapore was billed as a “magical evening in the garden of flowers.” While we knew this would be somewhere in the Gardens by the Bay complex we didn’t really know how it would play out. We met in the Insignia Lounge at 4:20, but between herding the cats, getting through immigration, and walking through the Harbour Centre, it was nearly an hour before we were actually on the bus and heading to the gardens.

Arrival was very cool as we walked through the “supertree” grove on our way to the Flower Dome. The appetizer and cocktail area was a letdown, though, as it was in a foyer of the building. It looked, like I said to fellow “worldie” Jerry, like every other convention center I’ve ever been in. You know the look: industrial carpet, giant fat pillars breaking up the room, pop-up bar over by one wall. Fortunately we didn’t spend much time here and were ushered into a very large banquet room with a huge glass wall fronting the Flower Dome. Here we had our dinner while being entertained by local dancers (great) and a show band (fine…they did their best but honestly I think everyone would have preferred just chatting). After dinner we were able to walk out into the Flower Dome and wander around. This was really memorable, and Devin especially was really struck by it. This and the adjacent Cloud Forest are the world’s largest greenhouses. You’d think they’d be steamy, but they are shielded with double-thick glass and climate controlled to the point of being chilly, especially compared to Singapore’s weather.

In the end the event was nice, and it inspired us to want to come back the next day to see the Cloud Forest. But it wasn’t as special as Namibia’s event. On the other hand it wasn’t a 2-hour bus ride either, so that was nice.Read more