Gardens by the Bay: I Broke Every Rule the 1990s Taught Me

Adults gave us some pretty straightforward instructions for surviving life. In the 1990s: Never get into a car with strangers.

Then the internet arrived, and sometime in the early 2000s the rules expanded: Never talk to strangers on the internet.

Absolutely fucking not.

Fast-forward to my first trip through Singapore.

It’s approximately 1:13 in the fucking morning.

I’ve got a long’ish layover at Changi Airport, Singapore is sitting right outside, and sleeping in an airport sounds considerably less interesting than making questionable decisions.

So I pulled out my phone.

Opened an app.

Used the internet to summon a complete stranger with a car.

Then I got into it.

Technology is incredible.

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DESTINATIONS: Gardens By The Bay

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MY MOTHER WOULD HAVE BEEN SO PROUD

I didn’t really have a plan.

Almost everything in Singapore was closed because normal human beings were asleep.

I just wanted to see Singapore.

So I essentially bribed my rideshare driver to forget whatever he thought this fare was going to be and become my personal tour guide for a couple of hours.

“Take me somewhere cool.”

This is generally how episodes of Dateline begin.

Instead, he drove me around Singapore.

And somewhere in the middle of this completely unnecessary post-midnight adventure, he pulled up near Gardens by the Bay.

Holy.

Fucking.

Shit.

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WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE?

My first view of Gardens by the Bay wasn’t during some beautifully planned golden-hour photography session.

There was no itinerary.

No tour.

No research.

It was after 1:00 AM.

Everything was closed.

The gardens were dark’ish.

And suddenly, towering out of that darkness, were enormous artificial trees that looked like somebody had given a landscape architect unlimited money and a DVD of Avatar.

What the fuck am I looking at?

The Supertrees.

Giant vertical gardens rising as high as roughly 50 meters above Singapore.

Covered in actual plants.

Connected by elevated walkways.

Illuminated at night.

Standing beside one of the most futuristic skylines on the planet.

Singapore had apparently looked at regular botanical gardens and decided: Not enough cyberpunk.

I instantly loved this place.

And I instantly loved Singapore.

Which was slightly inconvenient because this was supposed to be a layover.

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GODDAMMIT, NOW I HAVE TO COME BACK

That’s the danger of escaping the airport during a long connection.

Sometimes you discover somewhere you actually want to visit.

Singapore is particularly good at causing this problem because Changi Airport is ridiculously close to interesting shit.

You can spend your layover wandering around the terminal.

Or you can violate every piece of stranger-danger advice your childhood provided and suddenly find yourself staring at giant illuminated mechanical trees at 1:13 AM.

I know which one I’m choosing.

That first drive through Singapore gave me just enough time to realize I hadn’t given myself nearly enough time.

So I came back.

Then I came back again.

And eventually I started exploring Singapore during normal human operating hours.

That’s when Gardens by the Bay got even better.

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APPARENTLY THERE’S MORE HERE WHEN IT’S OPEN

Returning during daylight revealed something shocking.

Gardens by the Bay is actually a garden.

A fucking enormous one.

The waterfront complex spreads across more than 100 hectares beside Marina Bay, filled with landscaped gardens, lakes, walking paths, massive glass conservatories and, of course, those gigantic alien trees.

During my first visit I essentially saw the trailer.

Now I could explore the whole movie.

More importantly: I could photograph the shit out of it.

This place is photographic crack.

Wide-angle looking straight up the Supertrees.

Telephoto compression against Marina Bay Sands.

Reflections.

Architecture.

Plants.

Night photography.

Blue hour.

Golden hour.

The Singapore skyline.

Eventually your camera starts wondering whether you’ve noticed Singapore contains anything besides these fucking trees.

It does.

There’s even the Merlion at Merlion Park, where Singapore built a half-lion, half-fish creature that continuously vomits water into Marina Bay because apparently giant robot trees weren’t weird enough.

But if I’m picking one place to photograph repeatedly?

Give me the trees.

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THESE THINGS ARE ACTUALLY ALIVE. SORT OF.

The Supertrees aren’t just enormous metal sculptures with some landscaping glued onto them.

They’re vertical gardens.

Thousands of plants grow across their structures, turning each one into a bizarre combination of architecture, horticulture and engineering.

Some incorporate environmental systems supporting the gardens, including solar-energy collection.

Which is possibly the most Singapore thing imaginable.

Normal city: “We planted a tree.”

Singapore: “We constructed a 50-meter artificial tree covered in living plants that collects solar energy and lights up at night.”

Okay.

Show-off.

At ground level they’re enormous.

Get underneath one and look straight up and you finally understand the scale.

You can also walk between some of them on the elevated walkway, which gives you a completely different view across the gardens.

But if you really want the badass view…

You’re going to need to spend some money.

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PRO TIP: STAY AT MARINA BAY SANDS

Right beside Gardens by the Bay sits Marina Bay Sands.

You know the building.

Three enormous hotel towers with what appears to be a gigantic surfboard balanced across the top.

Architecturally, it looks like someone was assembling skyscrapers and accidentally left a cruise ship on the roof.

It’s also expensive.

There are countless cheaper places to stay in Singapore.

Ignore them for a night.

Stay here.

Especially if you’re photographing Gardens by the Bay.

From the upper floors, you get this absolutely ridiculous perspective across the gardens toward the Singapore Strait.

Suddenly the entire complex makes sense.

The Supertrees become part of a massive landscape.

The conservatories look like enormous glass seashells.

Ships sit offshore.

The city wraps around everything.

Sunrise can be spectacular.

Sunset can be spectacular.

Night is spectacular.

Basically, Singapore refuses to turn the fucking lights off.

Bring a wide lens.

Bring a telephoto.

Bring enough memory cards.

You’re going to need them.

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YES, THE ROOFTOP POOL IS WORTH THE STUPID PRICE

And then there’s the pool.

The Marina Bay Sands infinity pool is one of those places you’ve seen approximately seventeen billion times on Instagram.

Normally that’s enough to make me immediately suspicious.

I’ve traveled enough to know that many famous Instagram locations are approximately 14% as impressive in reality once you remove the influencer, Photoshop and drone that’s illegally hovering somewhere nearby.

This isn’t one of them.

The pool is fucking awesome.

It’s 57 floors above Singapore.

You’re floating around looking across one of Asia’s great skylines while trying not to think too deeply about the engineering involved in keeping several hundred thousand gallons of water above your hotel room.

And here’s the important part: The infinity pool is reserved for hotel guests.

You can’t just wander upstairs, buy a cocktail and jump in.

You need a room.

So yes, Marina Bay Sands is expensive.

Yes, you’re paying partly for the novelty.

And yes, the rooftop pool alone is worth doing once.

I’ve wasted considerably more money on considerably stupider shit.

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SINGAPORE ALSO PUT A MOUNTAIN INSIDE A BUILDING

Then you have the Cloud Forest.

Because apparently giant futuristic trees weren’t sufficient.

Walk into this enormous glass conservatory and you’re greeted by a giant artificial mountain covered in tropical vegetation with a huge indoor waterfall pouring down the side.

Read that sentence again.

Singapore built a mountain inside a greenhouse.

Then put a waterfall on it.

There are elevated walkways curling around the mountain, mist drifting through the conservatory and plants growing across almost every available surface.

It’s absurd.

I’ve photographed waterfalls where nature does everything possible to destroy both you and your camera.

At Tumpak Sewu in East Java, water seemingly comes from every direction while you scramble through a jungle wondering why waterproof camera equipment isn’t actually waterproof.

At Madakaripura Waterfall, staying dry is less of a goal and more of an adorable fantasy.

Cloud Forest gives you the waterfall experience with air conditioning.

No questionable jungle trail.

No slippery rocks.

No leeches.

Civilization has finally achieved something worthwhile.

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AND THEN THERE ARE… FLOWERS

Next door is the Flower Dome.

Plant people will fucking love this place.

There are gardens representing different climates around the world, rotating floral displays and enough carefully maintained vegetation to make whatever is slowly dying beside your kitchen window look deeply embarrassing.

My botanical knowledge is slightly less sophisticated.

That’s a palm tree.

That’s a cactus.

Those are flowers.

That’s probably a fern.

Excellent.

Fortunately, I don’t need to know the Latin classification of a plant to photograph it.

And there’s plenty to photograph.

The entire conservatory is beautifully designed, meticulously maintained and very Singapore.

Nothing appears accidentally placed.

Nothing looks neglected.

Nothing is held together with duct tape.

As someone accustomed to exploring abandoned places where everything is actively collapsing, this level of competence is slightly unsettling.

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THEN THE SUN GOES DOWN AND EVERYTHING GETS WEIRD AGAIN

Gardens by the Bay is impressive during daylight.

But night is when Singapore turns the bullshit knob all the way up.

The Supertrees illuminate.

Marina Bay Sands lights up behind them.

The skyline comes alive.

The gardens glow.

Everything suddenly looks like Earth approximately 300 years after humans finally figure their shit out.

This is when you want the camera.

And despite returning several times and photographing Gardens by the Bay under much better conditions, there’s something about that first visit I still love.

Maybe because I wasn’t expecting it.

There was no carefully planned itinerary.

No TripAdvisor checklist.

No tour guide holding an umbrella.

No Instagram research telling me exactly where to stand.

Just me.

A stranger from the internet.

His car.

And some enormous glowing trees appearing out of the darkness after midnight.

Every adult from my childhood would have been horrified.

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THANK GOD I IGNORED ALL THAT EXCELLENT CHILDHOOD ADVICE

The 1990s taught me never to get into cars with strangers.

The 2000s taught me never to talk to strangers on the internet.

The 2010s apparently decided: Fuck it. Let’s build an app combining both. YOLO!

And somehow that’s how I discovered one of my favorite places in Singapore.

That late-night layover could have been completely forgettable.

I could have stayed at Changi.

Found a chair.

Played with my phone.

Attempted to sleep.

Waited for boarding.

Instead, I summoned a stranger from the internet, climbed into his car and bribed him to drive me around a foreign country showing me cool shit.

He showed me Gardens by the Bay.

I came back repeatedly.

I photographed the hell out of it.

I stayed at Marina Bay Sands.

I swam in the ridiculous pool.

And Singapore became one of those cities I genuinely look forward to returning to.

So maybe our parents weren’t entirely wrong.

Don’t get into random cars with random strangers.

That’s still generally excellent advice.

But if an app gives you his name, license plate, star rating and a little animated car showing exactly where he’s going…

Apparently all bets are off.