Singapore’s roar POWER
Clean, green city perfect F1 host
THE giant reptile scurrying across the track was a lucky lizard, it was nearly flattened by a Formula One car. – finished in that order but there was plenty of drama. Hulkenberg crashed at the start, four- time Singapore winner Vettel started last but finished fifth and Ricciardo was less than half a second behind the Rosberg. The best British performance came in a park before the race from Bradford’s TV magician Dynamo, who baffled and amazed crowds with his fabulous card tricks. Over the four evenings t here were performances f r o m Queen, Imagine Dragons, KC and the Sunshine Band and Kylie Minogue. A short taxi ride from the outdoor stage was the ultra-modern, comfy and quirky Quincy Hotel, whose immaculate rooms, 12th floor sauna, gym and infinity pool are the perfect places to relax after a day in the city. The Quincy also provides guests with free breakfast and snacks during the day. A bonus in a city rated the world’s most expensive.
Another way to take it easy in this city of 5.5 million people is to step into one of its gardens or forests.
There’s a clue to Singapore’s lushness on the road from sleek Changi airport. It is lined with mauve bougainvillea and huge canopied rain trees, some of two million planted since 1967.
But Singapore’s true green glory is in the Botanic Gardens, a Unesco world heritage site and an island of tranquility in the heart of the city.
Dynamic
The jewel in its crown is the spectacular National Orchid garden, an explosion of colour and scent celebrating the plant’s magnificent diversity in shape and size.
There are blooms named after Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher, which has a twist in it, perfect for a politician.
The gardens even have a rainforest with 120ft trees, little monitor lizards scratching about for food and air heavy with the rasping of cicadas.To the west the remarkable wooden Henderson Waves footbridge, 120ft above traffic, snakes off into forest walks while a peaceful cable car to the fun island of Sentosa offers equally amazing views.
But perhaps Singapore’s finest botanical achievement is the £580million Gardens by the Bay with its 18 giant metal futuristic supertrees, shaped like water towers, that give a multi-coloured light show and dominate the harbour skyline.
The man-made attraction also has two jaw-dropping giant domes. One features weird and wonderful plants, including some pretending to be rocks, and a 1,000-year-old olive tree. The other replicates a cloud forest complete with mist produced every two hours.
Singapore’s international photography festival coincided with F1 weekend and featured the work of Li Zhensheng, who risked his life by hiding negatives to record the terrifying truth of Mao’s murderous Cultural Revolution.
But perhaps the best way to see Singapore is from the viewing deck of 1-Altitude, which at nearly 1,000ft is one of the highest open air bars on the planet.
At night the amazing city is lit up like a Christmas tree.
Singapore has been through an incredible transformation in less than 200 years – from fishing village to sleepy colonial outpost to dynamic, high-octane city.
It used to be merely a pit stop en route to other hot spots.
Now in the race for tourists this city state is right up there on the starting grid. FACTFILE: Jon flew Singapore Airlines and stayed at The Quincy Hotel in Mount Elizabeth. For more info visit yoursingapore.com.