1/12/2015. I called an Uber this morning to take us to the children's treehouses at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. We pulled up. Closed Mondays for maintenance. Never mind that the website says open every single day of the year from 5am to midnight. So I asked the driver to take me to the children's water park at Marina Bay Sands. Also closed for maintenance. By this time we'd been in the car for 45 minutes, so Don and I had bonded over our bad luck.
I asked him what it was like to be Singapore born and raised, and he sighed. "BORING. So boring. Everybody my age (28) feels the same way. We all want to leave. Mainly to Australia, because there you don't have to be rich to have a great life. Here you must be loaded. If you are between 18 and 35, the only way to pass the time at night is karaoke. That gets old." Then, like it had only just occurred to him: "You know what? There's no opportunity for vice here. And when you're my age, that's what you need. That's what you want."
By this time we had reached Cloud Forest, a destination Don had chosen for me since I didn't want to strike out three times. It's a six-story indoor mountain covered with flowers. An elevator expresses you to the top and you take a spiral ramp winding around the outside. The mountain itself is encased in a glass and steel dome.
The kids loved the idea of getting to go inside a mountain, taking an elevator to the peak, and running down a ramp all the way to the bottom, sniffing flowers along the way.
The peak when you get out of the elevator. Covered with ferns.
A waterfall on one side of the mountain makes it breezy and noisy.
On the way down the ramp there are landings where you can get close to the mountainside.
Little Javanese totems applaud you on your progress.
Happiness is ... these three colors together.
At the bottom you're greeted by these darling Japanese maples.
One last sniff before we go.
Rebecca Trafton
January 12
Good morning, beautiful Jayne. It's a rare day in Boulder-- so dark and gray (a light rain through the night? on top of snow? ugh!) that I can barely remember what Boulder blue skies, the norm, are like. But you bring the sunshine with this post (even if I may not be able to identify each and every! Thank you for that special notation.) Of course this reminds me of taking Max to the U S Botanic Garden during our open air bus tour of Washington. He was so engaged! And I see that same expression of fascination here. This post is a wonderful counterpoint to the food one (more of that, please!) and I just keep thinking of the richness-- in every sense-- of the experience you are sharing with your children. Keep writing! Keep writing! (Keep exploring and talking with those uber drivers and learning and sharing....) Back to my lemon tea and New York Times. But please know you've started my day off with such a gift. So much love, Rebecca
Jane B.
January 12
The gardens look really amazing, Jayne. I can totally see why a kid would love something like that. And, well, I think I would, too. I'm trying to figure out how big the white baby sculpture is? And, how it relates to the Garden Mountain, hmmmm..... Anyway, I do love the juxtaposition of the baby to the skyscrapers in the background. And how it pops off the green background. That is very cool.
So how are you doing? Are you still running on full speed from here to here to here? Or are you getting to stroll along and take some deep breaths and let it soak in that you are halfway around the world from NYC? I do hope you are going to get at least 1-2 days of Jayne-Goes-Exploring time just for yourself. From over here, it feels like you've been going full speed ahead since, um, October! I love checking to see if you've posted. It is such a delight when the photo pops up and it's not one I've seen. Thank you a million times for sharing your Adventure with your fan club. Can't wait to hear about another amazing dinner or lunch you have soon. ~ TOJ