Today is a very exciting day because we are visiting many iconic Singapore landmarks. On our way to the National Gallery, we passed by the SMU campus. I found this to be very interesting because on one corner all right next to each other was a school of business, school of accountancy, and law school. If I went to school in Singapore, this would be perfect for me!
The National Gallery Singapore is a large art museum. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was huge and probably the best museum I have ever been to. The first gallery I went into discussed the history of Singapore. There were so many historical artifacts that have been preserved for centuries. The next gallery I went into was called Story of the Forest. It was two dark rooms with a continuous screen of flowers falling and different animals. The next couple of exhibits showed how technology has progressed throughout Singapore.
I think my favorite exhibit from this museum was the World War II exhibit that specifically focused on treatment by the Japanese. There was information about the Propaganda War, irrational rations, and how Malays had to find alternatives. In this exhibit, there were three short videos played where individuals discussed their personal experience of living through this time. Their testimonies describe the horrors of Japanese soldiers taking over Singapore and the impact it had on their lives.
Something that also stuck out to me while at the National Gallery was how we as Californians expect everyone to know where we’re from. What I mean by this is that whenever someone asked where we were from, many people in our group would always respond by saying, “We’re from California.” But so many people on this trip did not know what or where California was. We would then have to say that we were from the U.S. So many of us just assumed that everyone knows where the U.S. is and the geography of our states. But how often are we just another country to everyone else in the world? I think that we focus too much on ourselves that we realize the world is full of so many other places and people.
For the afternoon, we spent our time at Gardens by the Bay. This very popular area contains two domes and the famous SuperTrees. My group decided to go to the Cloud Dome first which replicates a cloud rainforest. This dome was my favorite out of the two as it was so beautiful and peaceful to walk through. There were hundreds of different plants and flowers. The waterfall was also stunning and the mist was very refreshing. After walking along the lower level we proceeded to two additional walkways in the air.
The second dome was the flower dome. This dome contained different flower species from each part of the world. If I’m being honest, I was expecting this dome to be a little more exciting, but it felt to me that there were more trees and shrubs than flowers.
After the flower dome, we decided that we wanted burgers again so my group ate at Shake Shack located right next to the domes. We had some time to explore more around the area before going to the SuperTrees at night. We decided to head to the nearby mall which ended up containing only luxury brand stores. There was water flowing through the mall and boats that you could take a ride on.
Next, we went to the SuperTrees to prepare for the tree show at 7:45 pm. Dr. Chuah told us that we would not be able to go on the skywalk between the trees because it was too expensive. However, my friends and I decided that the price was reasonable for the four of us to go up to experience the treetops. We got in line and made it to the skywalk just in time as the lights dimmed and the light show began. Watching the trees change colors to the music while being up among the branches was such a beautiful experience.
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