Hort Park is not a new place in Singapore. I think it's been around for at least a couple of years - maybe 3 I guess. I remembered because I was then working in my ex company which was nearby. Back then, I don't really feel like hanging out near my work area after work or on weekends, hence I did not visit it...until recently.
I remembered I was on a bus that passed by it a while ago and it struck me that I DO really want to go and visit. Text-ed my high school/secondary school mate Maggie whom I knew had visited before and I asked if she would like to go with me.
Hort Park is relatively unknown to tourists. When a tourist thinks of Singapore, they would think of the Zoo, Botanical Gardens, Chinatown, Little India and possibly other touristy places. Unless you are really a nature lover, and really want to go to all the nature places in Singapore, then Hort Park might pop up in your research. With that said, I would definitely recommend and bring my overseas friends here for a visit
IF they are into flowers, nice gardens, beautiful landscapes and quiet nature.
The Christmas decorations were still up near their main signs leading to the entrance of the park
As described in their website, Hort Park is a one-stop gardening hub that brings together gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities under one big canopy in a park setting.
You can even pay to learn to farm. I saw a few people doing that! It takes a little walk to get into this Hort Park, but it was nice. The air was fresh and invigorating that morning. The wind was cool, it was a beautiful day. It must be the negative ions. Maggie told me about negative ions and the good things about it :) That's why I love walks, gardens and flowers.
Near the entrance, I was immediately attracted to this cute seat!
This path is calling out to me....actually it leads to the washrooms ;)
Can't resist taking this photo! A christmas flower arrangement! Love the wood planter.
The main building has a customer service office. In there, you find products for sale. Plants, bags, some souvenirs can be bought there. Another really interesting thing to me was a "showroom". The showroom was segmented into a living area, kitchen, dining, bedroom, study, bathroom area. What it aims was to show the public how you can make your living surroundings more nature friendly. It was really interesting to see how they decorate the area with plants, fish tanks and with some other innovative, stylish ways.
Like this...
Stylish decor
This is so pretty!
I think the park had something special for Christmas. I saw they have kept most of their christmas decorations in the warehouse/store area. I MUST remember to visit this again next year near Christmas time to see what they have specially put up for Christmas. Over in the dining area, the Christmas dinnerware and decorations were still on the table.
We left the showroom and started wandering around the area. I saw these plants that lined the wall as we made our way to the basement area.
I was upset though, when Maggie said there used to be a flower shop in the basement, I would so love to visit it! But I think business had been bad and so the flower shop is gone. All that is left are just some function rooms, where people can hold weddings or function/events there.
We passed by and saw a few very pretty walls like this.
We then continued our walk into the park. It was nice to see how they segment it into different themes-Chinese, Balinese, Peranakan etc.
I remembered the Balinese one most because this thing stood out most to me. Put a massage bed under the shelter, alongside with some frangipani flowers and it would look like an expensive outdoor day spa. :)
We passed by this place where it looks like a greenhouse. Maggie told me beforehand that nobody can enter it, but you can look through it and see all the beautiful flowers in there.
We saw a staff outside and asked if we could enter and he said yes. We found out it was a butterfly garden!
There were just many flowers and butterflies inside! Many people came here too. This is the most busiest place actually.
Another shot!
We spent quite some time inside here. Don't know why, but I think there is something calming to see butterflies flying all around.
Pink flowers make my day!
We then walked to the greenhouse. Along the way, Maggie told me the plants in the greenhouse were going to be transported to
Gardens by the Bay which would be opened soon in June 2012. I read from the internet that it was as big as 101 hectares or
177 football fields. Would you believe that? I'm really excited now and I would want to visit there when it's opened.
We saw a few green houses and even though we can't go in there, but we stood outside and marveled at the different species of flowers. Some of the green houses were cold (air conditioned) which was necessarily for some of the plants that can only survive in cool climate.
I tried taking a photo of this pink flower from the outside of the green house.
We made our way back to the entrance, where we rested our feet and then continued with the walk.
We walked up the suspension bridge and was going to embark in another walking trail.
However, part of the bridge was closed due to repair works so we could not continue our walk that way. It would be reopened in late Jan 2012....so we said we will come back for this part of the walk when the bridge is re-opened.
Which explains why this is Part 1...
Would you like me to blog about Part 2 of the nature walk? Please write in the comment to let me know.
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed this nature walk with me.
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