Happy Father’s Day everyone!
This week I’m wrapping up my series on Singapore, and we’re going to step away from Asia for a while altogether, but I wanted to end with this image, because it’s frankly one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen. Allow me to explain.
Singapore is nicknamed the “Garden City” – and rightly so, the city is brimming with lush cityscapes and gardens throughout. One of my favorite places to visit in Singapore are the bio domes, which are these massive, multi-story indoor gardens at the Marina Bay Sands. They’re absolutely incredible. Beyond these, however, there are numerous other gardens, including another personal favorite, the National Orchid Gardens. The latest addition, however, is really something else. The picture above is the brand new “Terminal 1”, at Changi International Airport – known as The Jewel. I say “terminal”, because it’s not actually – technically – a terminal, but it is at the airport and connects directly to three of Singapore’s terminals. The almost 1.5 million square foot facility is both a shopping mall (all the highest-end brands are here) and, yep, a giant garden. The central point of the gardens section is this massive fountain that falls from the roof and down into a donut-shaped infinity pool (it looks as though it drops into eternity from the ground level), which then travels through a clean funnel down to the level below the ground floor. The fountain, as you can see, is surrounded by all sorts of greenery, sky bridges, a monorail system that connects the terminals… It’s really one of those things you just stand and stare at and think “what in the world??”.
I had meant to get to the Jewel for a visit on various occasions while I was in Singapore, but I seemingly always had something else to do, so I decided to just go to the airport extra early so I could have a look around. Honestly I wish I’d gone sooner so I could have explored more. It’s totally worth seeing and a new iconic site within the beautiful country.
Well speaking of beautiful countries, next week Picture of the Week returns to the United States. COVID-19 and the global shutdown have given me the opportunity (i.e. forced) to do a LOT more local exploration, and so I’ll be sharing the fruits of that.
More next week!
–Dan Thompson