the newly reopened
s'pore botanic gardens


you can pay $5.00 to re-discover the singapore botanic gardens. you get to tour the newly re-opened and re-developed gardens in this one-hour walk through the tanglin/heritage core. highlights of this tour include the new main gate, the heritage trees, the saraca stream walk and the new public reference centre.

i was at the botanic gardens this morning to do my own self-discovery tour. parking for the 1st hour, between 11.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m., is free. after the complimentary one hour, you pay two cents for every minute your car is parked there.

saw more tourists than locals around the gardens but at the food court, it was the other way round: more locals than visitors. the 19th century tembusu tree, not far from the swan pond, is still hanging in there. people, especially children, still climb onto its overhanging branch.

in the vicinity is a huge kapok tree with its spreading buttress roots. this reminds me of the kapok tree near the old monk's hill secondary school. when it was in bloom, the kapok would fly all over the place.