Singapore is a city-state full of hustle and bustle, and just occasionally it's nice to wind down from that. The Botanic Gardens, 25 minutes walk, or 5 minutes taxi ride, from one end of the inimitable Orchard Road, is just the place to get that relaxation you need.
With free entry into the Gardens a huge area of peace and quiet opens up to you, and it's easy to spend all day there (as we did). Even easier given the fact that they are open from 5 in the morning until midnight.
As with most botanic gardens the space is divided into vaguely 'themed' areas. This meant that we started a walk around passing through a rainforest, on to a ginger garden, through a palm tree valley, before sitting by a large lake to rest from the incessant Singapore heat. We had already been in the gardens a couple of hours, and only seen about a quarter of what was on show!
A sculpture area provided some added interest, and then there was the National Orchid Garden. You have to pay five Singaporean dollars to get in here, but it's worth it simply for the history surrounding the state's national flower. So many here were named after famous people who have visited the gardens that you can't help but feel like you're walking in some impressive footsteps.
Here the gardens are more landscaped, with concrete walkways spiralling up and down a hill, giving some shade from the sun.
Walking back out into the open there is still more to explore and get lost in, arriving upon a number of lakes, the last we saw full of beautiful black swans. By now the feet were beginning to tire, and we were longing for some air conditioning.
We headed back to the main entrance, and realising how hungry we were after all of the walking stopped at the visitor cafe at the entrance. Here, for only a few dollars, we ate far better than you would find in the UK at a visitor attraction. My prawn laksa, the spice actually combatting the heat in the air, was simply superb.
And so we headed back to the hotel, walking the 25 minutes, the theory being that we'd walked so much during the day anyway that another 25 minutes couldn't hurt.
This visit really did add to the enjoyment of the trip as a whole (we love Singapore anyway). It was a moment to get away from the constant movement of Singapore, and in such a huge area you never felt like things were too busy at all (apart from when we walked through the set of a Bollywood movie - seriously!).
To think that this relaxed area can be offered for no admission fee, and that the work of the Orchid gardens can be seen for only five Singaporean dollars - I'd have to put this as a must for anyone visiting the city who is starting to get tired of the never-ending shopping and hustle.
