I considered just staying in Taiwan for my one week Chinese New Year vacation, but then I came to my senses and realized money spent on travel is always well spent. So I planned a whirlwind trip to Singapore and Malaysia - in only 5 days! It got off to a rocky start, with 10 hours in the Taipei airport, waiting for the fog to lift. However, once I finally got into Singapore, I eventually got all the details worked out of a nap in the airport, an MRT into the city, a walk to the train station to leave my bag, and then a taxi to my first stop: The Singapore Botanical Gardens. Walking through the gardens ended up taking much longer than I thought it would, because I enjoyed it so throughly. Here I am, finally realizing that the nightmare that was winter 'break' was over, and I could officially relax, put on my sunglasses, and stick a flower in my hair!

My artistic interpretation of the Frangipani flowers. 

Real picture of Frangipani. 

The garden was full of many colour of Frangipani, these were my favorite ones, although they weren't close enough to the ground to get a close up. 

The Singapore Botanical Gardens.  

The Botanical Gardens had a very European feel in parts, including the lampposts. 

Me, at the Botanical Gardens in Singapore, on the first day of vacation. 

Welcome to the Tropics! 

The Botanical Gardens in Singapore has a huge section of natural rainforest, and it's right in the middle of the city. I loved it, because I've always wanted to explore the rain forest, and this was just much more convient than booking an Amazon Jungle Canoe Excursion. Plus, this jungle in the middle of Singapore had conviently paved path, so I didn't have to worry about stepping on some posinious snake.

The Botanical Gardens were full of tropical flowers that I had never seen before!

A fascinating flower, called the Cannonball, that grows on the trunks of trees, and just kind of shoot out at you! 

Tropical Flowers 

Another tropical flower. 

Lily Pond. Notice the turtle trying to wiggle up onto the big leaf in the front left of the picture. 

The Lily and the Turtle. 

Well after a short night's sleep on the plane to Singapore, my first day of sightseeing in Singapore was tiring. The massive sun and heat was especially draining. So when I was wandering through the Orchid Garden, at high noon, I just had to stop in this little shady green spot. It was quiet, and still, and it just screamed: "Take a nap here!" So I used my purse as a pillow, kicked off my flipflops and had a good hour long nap here. 

The view from my little naptime bench. 

This is the flower of Singapore, surprise, an orchid.

 

 

 

Orchid and tree god. 

These orchids were in the "Cool House" - pretty much the opposite of a green house. See, if you live in Singapore - it's hot all the time, and you have to make a house to keep the plants that grow up in the mountains. These are orchids that grow on trees up in the mountains. Did you know that? Orchids grow on trees, well, not like it's an Orchid Tree, or anything, just a tree, that has orchids growing on the trunk - does that make sense?

A more realistic yet slightly less magical view of the orchids. 

These were my favorite hybrid of orchids, named after Margaret Thatcher. They were beautiful shades of mauve and rose, and the petals were spirals. Stunning!