After walking through the giant body at the Singapore Science Centre, I took a 15 minute walk down the street to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens.
My interest in gardens can probably be traced to my childhood; my grandmother and my mother both had gardens in their backyards, and I have distinct memories of visiting public gardens like the Japanese Garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Singapore's gardens are quite expansive, set up on the same gigantic tract of land as the Science Centre and its accompanying museums.
The massive Jurong Lake Park basically covers everything; the two gardens are on separate large "islands" in the middle of the lake. Much, but not all, of the lake has a trail/path for people to exercise themselves and their pets. In the photo above, the garden is on the opposite side of the lake; the white sign is on the trail around the lake.
Entering from the east side, the first thing you encounter is the large pagoda.
The lake itself is beautiful too.
You can go in and up the pagoda.
Next to the 7-story pagoda is a short philosopher's path.
The path is lined with statues of great philosophers and leaders.
Continuing counter-clockwise through the garden, I next came to the twin pagodas.
While they are apparently being renovated or are just closed to the public right now, they are quite beautiful sitting on a pier in the lake. Apparently whatever construction work is going on will stop affecting these pagodas in the middle of 2016.
This is my first stone boat, and it's very attractive at a distance. There is a tea house nearby.
Reaching the west entrance to the park, the Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum is a paid attraction which promises, among other things, mutant tortoises.
I didn't go in the turtle museum, but there is a carp pond in the structure that's right at the west entrance. (The turtle museum and tea house are nearby.)
There are a few large bridges between the islands and "mainland" and between the two islands. This, I believe, has 13 arches. Sorry, you can't see them here.
This might be my favorite picture of my garden set.
Reaching the end of the "loop" for the island, there's a long peninsula which leads to the bridge, which then takes you to the Japanese garden. Along the way you'll come across the bonsai garden and Garden of Abundance.
The Garden of Abundance is filled with fun statues, including one of 10 sundials scattered around Singapore.
I believe this is the Bai Hong Qiao (White Rainbow 13 Arch Bridge). I do know that this bridge links the two gardens.
Ah, I'm back in Japan!
I spent most of my time at this garden around the large lake. Yes, the island in a lake has a lake of its own. (Plus a pond back near that red gate.)
Oh, and the lake in the island in the lake has its own islands too.
A series of bridges takes you from one to the other. There's a white bridge with a zig-zag halfway through.
Plus a pair of red arched bridges. They are slippery when wet!
This might be a nod to the floating torii in Miyajima, in Hiroshima.
This area has a large artificial rock "beach" which helps you get closer to the water and animals living in it, plus a pavilion. I'm very glad there was a pavilion here because:
Downpour. It rained hard off and on all day - once on my way to the science centre (and I some while I was inside, too). And again the skies opened up, so I took refuge in the pavilion to relax while nature ran its course. Actually, if you examine my lake shots, you'll see that several show signs of raindrops hitting the water.
It would have been nice to have had clear or nicely cloudy skies, but I saw all I wanted to see on this trip so once the rain stopped I walked back to the nearest MRT station to take me to my next stop.
Speaking of MRT, here is a picture inside the Chinese Garden MRT Station. Take a look at the floor and how clean it is - no gum or trash to be seen. There isn't usually much trash (if any) in Japan's stations, but the floors aren't as clean as this. Amazing, huh?
The Chinese Garden MRT station leads right to the east entrance of the Chinese Garden. There is a bridge between the Chinese and Japanese gardens, plus additional west entrances for both gardens. Walking to/from the Science Centre takes 15-20 minutes despite being right next to each other due to the layout of the gardens and the size of the park.
The park is open daily 6 AM to 11 PM, and admission is free. The Turtle and Tortoise Museum doesn't seem to be worth the approximately $5 entry fee but I haven't been inside to verify anything. However, it's open 9 AM to 6 PM.
Keep in mind that the renovation works should be completed by mid-2016. Until then, expect various attractions to be closed.
