It's time to visit Gardens by the Bay again! We arrived at around 9am, when the traffic was still smooth and the car park was empty. First we walked around the outdoor gardens, savouring the lavish greenery. We went to the OCBC Skyway as well - walking along the stretch of hanging bridge that swayed as the wind blowed. It's said that the walkway is as high as the canopy in a rainforest, 22 metres above the gardens.

OCBC Skyway

By the time we finished with the Skyway, it was hot enough to make us rush into the cooled conservatories.

inside Flower Dome

Flower dome was still impressive. But it's not as cool as last time we went in during the preview, even though there was next to no crowd this morning. The flowers were not as grand as I remembered either, especially the orchids. And some of the flowers looked rather pathetic. Maybe it was partly because the preview was held in conjunction of garden festival last time, I'm not so sure. Whatever it is, the flowers were really colorful and pleasing to the eye. Interesting benches were scattered around the garden, a nice touch.

Pretty flowers

I was looking forward to entering Cloud Forest, as it was my first time. Having given our tickets at the gantry, we walked in and the automatic door opened. We were immediately greeted by a strong gush of wind carrying water droplets from the waterfall. A lasting first impression indeed!

Visitors are advised to follow certain route, which displayed prominently at the start of the path. First, we took the lift to level 6, and then climb or take another lift to level 7 - the Lost World. It was a small garden with very shallow pond and flowers here and there - nothing really special.

Then we walked down the Cloud Walk and took escalator down to Waterfall View. It was a lookout point which was just at the side of the waterfall. From here, the sources of the water could be seen really clearly - big pipes. A very clear reminder that everything's superficial.

Inside Cloud Forest Dome

Next stop was called Crystal Mountain. Cuttings of stalactite and stalagmite were displayed across an area. Mirrors were hung at the ceiling, giving more effect. Honestly speaking, it wasn't that great -seeing the actual ones inside natural caves beats this experience hands down.

Another escalator ride brought us to Earth Check - audio and video presentation on how global warming is happening. Further down, it was +5 Degree - a short clip presenting the effects when global land surface temperature raises 5 degrees, projected to happen in year 2100.

Walking out from the darkened 'movie theatre', we reached the Secret Garden. It was somehow similar to the Lost World, but Secret Garden's slightly bigger and nicer. It had shallow pond, flower displays and animal statues.

Having read some articles and blog postings regarding this dome, I was expecting a cold temperature, as they were saying that the temperature drops significantly at the top of the 'mountain'. I even brought sweater and jacket with me. But it turned out we did not need the additional layers at all. I think I could even survive in the dome while wearing shorts. And I am not someone who can tolerate cold well, to begin with.

So after seeing both domes, I'd say that if I had a chance to visit only one dome, I'd choose Flower Dome. The Cloud Forest gave a good first impression but it went downhill from there; there were plenty "reminders" that the whole thing was man-made, especially the holes at the "mountain" that showed pipes inside the structure.

Food-wise, there were a number of choices in the garden area. Seventh Heaven offers interesting ice cream flavours, some of them with flower theme. We chose Lavender Caramel and Lychee Martini ($4.50 for a scoop, $7 for two). Lavender Caramel was interesting, strong lavender flavour with slight tinge of caramel. But after eating a few spoonful of it, it got boring. Lychee Martini contains vodka, but the alcohol taste wasn't that apparent. I could not taste the lychee either.

Lunch at Verandah

We had lunch at Verandah, a bistro conveniently located along the way between visitors' centre and the two domes. We were starving and we did not want to travel far for lunch, and the sky was darkening really fast. So we settled with the Verandah. It offers some Asian dishes and some Western dishes. We tried wok-fried seafood noodles which turned out to be hokkien mee served in a large white plate.    They did truffle fries nicely. However, the fried fish fillet turned out tasteless and the wagyu beef patty did not taste like wagyu at all. The burger bun was hard. Their good points - attentive service, free all-you-can-drink water, nice decorations and ambience. Overall, not a recommended place unless you've no other options.