After a really good night sleep we were up bright and early and ready for breakfast. When we book hotels we always go for a ‘breakfast inclusive’ rate in advance as hotel breakfasts are expensive when you pay for them whilst at the hotel. We were staying at the Carlton Hotel and we were really impressed with their breakfast buffet! Lots of fresh fruit, an amazing omelette station and so much choice. It was also very clean! Izzy opted for an interesting mix of egg fried rice with pancakes & chocolate sauce!

^{Our first breakfast at the Carlton!}

We had tickets for some of the exhibits at Gardens by the Bay so we set off on our walk from the hotel to the gardens which was about 30 minutes. The walk was lovely as it went through the War Memorial Park and along the Marina – although it was very hot!

^{The walk from the hotel to Gardens by the Bay.}

The Cloud Forest

We decided to visit the Cloud Forest first – a huge indoor exhibit featuring plants from cloud forest habitats which are normally about 2000 meters above sea level. We were worried it would be hot inside but it was fully air-conditioned and it was lovely to escape the heat! As we entered we were greeted by a huge waterfall and then we spent quite a bit of time wandering around the plants. The mist was due to be turned on at 10am so we wanted to remain on the ground floor to see the mist effects.

There was a tour group in front of us and the guide was taking lots of ‘Instagram worthy’ photos of the tour guests – so we followed from a distance copying all their photo locations!

^{Exploring the exhibits in the cloud forest}

^{Waiting for the mist to be turned on!}

At 10am the mist came of and it was sprayed from the balconies at the top of the dome and from all the flower beds.

^{Cloud Forest in the mist!}

We then headed upstairs to the balconies to view the forest from above.

^{Cloud Forest from above}

We discovered a couple of interactive rooms where there were videos of flowers and animals on the walls and floors that changed or moved when you touched them which we all thought was quite cool. Also, as it was very quiet we had the rooms to ourselves.

^{The ‘Hidden Forest’ in Crystal Mountain}

^{The ‘Hidden Forest’ in the Cloud Forest Gallery.}

The Flower Dome

Our next stop was the Flower Dome which is a huge conservatory that holds the world record for being the worlds largest greenhouse! Luckily it was air-conditioned.

^{Entering the Flower Dome.}

We had a wander around and the flowers are all very impressive but it was not our favourite location. However – we really liked the Japanese Garden as all the cherry blossoms were in bloom.

^{The Japanese Gardens in the Flower Dome}

OCBC Skyway

The final activity we had tickets for in our package was the OCBC Skyway which is an aerial walkway 22 meters above the ground giving views over the gardens and marina. We really enjoyed the skyway and as it was high up there was a lovely breeze which kept us cool!

^{The Skyway}

We returned to the hotel for the afternoon via a shopping centre where we picked up some take away noodles for lunch. We spent some time in the outdoor pool – despite a thunderstorm looming – before returning back to the marina to watch the light show again. Izzy found us an amazing viewing spot for the show on tik tok.

^{Watching the light show again!}