Day 4 - Singapore/Bali (26th September ‘24)

simonmtalbot

Oct 1, 20242 min read

Updated: Oct 2, 2024

Last day in Singapore. Our flight to Bali was at 5.30pm so we had the morning to do a few more bits. We thought the biodomes in the Gardens by the Bay complex might be worth a visit and we were right.

We left our luggage at the hotel and headed there by cab - it was hoofing it down again and so we didn't want to spend the day drying out.

There are two biodomes - one called 'Flower Dome' and the other called 'Cloud Forest'. Not being a particular fan of things botanical, I was surprised by how great both places were. We popped into to the Flower Dome first. They have different themes running, and we visited a few days in to their 'Carnival of Flowers' theme, which is a nod toward the carnival of flowers that happens in Toowoomba in Australia. It had displays of plants and flowers from all over the world (UK, California, Japan etc), but many from Australia. It is very similar to Kew Gardens. However, inside the flower dome there is an exhibition called 'Impressions of Monet: The Experience' which is a multi-sensory experience where you wander through fairly dark rooms filled with lights and visuals of Monet's painting along with music. In the main room you could sit on their beanbags and look up at the ceiling and watch the floor to ceiling screens. Quite relaxing! After sitting there for a bit of time, we headed over to the Cloud Forest which was the dome next door.

The Cloud Forest was incredible. It has the worlds tallest indoor waterfall, which falls from the top of a 'mountain'. The plants in here were arranged so that those that grew at the top of mountains were at the top and the plants that grew at the bottom of mountains were at the bottom. As you worked your way up (and down) the mountain you can see how things change at different heights. There is an elevated walkway that takes you alongside the 'mountain'. It was very photogenic and quite stunning.

When we finished in the Cloud Dome we grabbed a bite at an outside food court nearby and then grabbed the metro back to the hotel.

We headed to the airport and grabbed our flight to Denpasar. When we arrived we were bombarded with offers for taxis, however we opted for booking a taxi through grab - though we later discovered Gojek is the more widely used app.

Our driver got us very close to our villa - but not quite the villa. It took us a few minutes of wandering down an alley in the dark past some neighbourhood dogs and cats to find it. We got to the gates to the villa and found our home for the next 9 nights. It was stunning.

We dumped our bags and jumped straight in the pool to freshen up. The holiday part of the holiday had finally begun!