KAREN & THE CONSTABLES

After breakfast by the pool, we decided to take a walk down to the marina and visit the Gardens By The Bay in daylight. The gardens are outstanding, with an aim to provide a sustainable, enriching, conservation and leisure space for all.

Singapore were hosting the Grand Prix shortly after our visit, so an extra special effort had been made to give visitors the wow factor. The gardens themselves were beautiful, but there were additional silk lantern sculptures everywhere which made it really special.

But, by far the most amazing sight was Supertree Grove and the 22 metre high OCBC walkway that formed a path between them, giving spectacular views. The park (including the grove) is free to visit, but there is a charge of around £2-3 for the walkway. A word of warning, there is a little wiggle to that walkway, but the views are worth it!

The Supertrees are around 25-30 metres tall and are covered in plant life. They also have important eco-jobs to do, with some harvesting solar energy.

In the afternoon we wanted to explore further afield so we visited Chinatown and Little India.

We spent most of the time walking the streets, in awe of the beautifully adorned temples and brightly coloured buildings. These areas are great for shopping, including souvenirs, jewellery, food and fabrics.

In the evening we joined the first of our pre-booked tours, a Night Safari and Dinner at Singapore Zoo. This would become the first of three visits as Wildlife Reserves Singapore is split into 4 different parks, Singapore Zoo, River Safari, Jurong Bird Park and Night Safari.

We dined at a table with other visitors from all over the world, discussing where we’d come from and what had brought us to Singapore and where everyone was headed to next.

We started off with a guided tram ride around the park which was really good as they knew where everything was and which side to look out at, and then we walked around the trail. The Night Safari was better than I had imagined as I had worried we weren’t going to see many animals at night, but it was really well laid out with lighting where it was needed on the paths and in the enclosures.

The one thing that did disappoint me was that, due to the time we arrived, we had to make a choice to either visit the whole park or watch some shows is the amphitheatre. We were informed by our guide that, if we wanted to see the shows, we would have to queue early as they fill up quickly and people are turned away. So we made the decision not to waste time standing in a queue for a show we might not even get into and see some animals instead!

In hindsight we would have arranged this trip on our own as it was quite easy to access the zoo on our own by train and we would’ve had more time to see the whole park and fit in a show.

Afterwards we headed back to our hotel, the Fairmont Singapore, for cocktails. They looked spectacular and were very strong!