When people talking about Singapore, most of us will think about Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay or Orchard Road. But actually Singapore have many beautiful place that not many tourist really spend their time exploring. One of them is Chinese Garden.
A few days ago I decided to visit this place because I wanted somewhere peaceful after busy working days. The best thing is, this place is completely free to enter. I was honestly quite surprise because the garden is very well maintained and much bigger than I expected.
Once I entered the garden, I immediately saw the beautiful traditional Chinese buildings, stone bridges and a huge lotus pond stretching across the area. Everything look so peaceful. Even though there is many HDB buildings around the area, once inside the garden it almost feel like you are far away from the busy city.
The weather on that day was quite funny. At first the sky was bright, then slowly dark clouds started covering almost everything. I thought the rain would come very soon. Suddenly the sunlight broke through the clouds and the whole lotus pond become golden. It was really beautiful. I didn't stand there looking only. I was actually running here and there trying to capture as many photos as possible before the rain started.
One thing I always admire about Singapore is how clean their public places are. This garden is free for everyone, but I hardly saw any rubbish on the ground. The lotus pond also looked clean and the walking path were very comfortable.
Many people come here during evening time. I saw many people jogging around the garden after work. Some family bring their children for evening walk. Some people cycling while enjoying the cool weather. There were also elderly people exercising around the park. Even with many visitors, the place still feel calm and relaxing.
I think this is one of the reason why Singapore become such a prosperous country. They don't only build beautiful places, but they also maintain them properly. There are many free parks, gardens and photogenic places around Singapore that everyone can enjoy without paying entrance fees. It really improve the quality of life for people living here.
Of course, I also think the people's mindset play a big part. Most people understand that public places belong to everyone, so they try to keep it clean. Singapore is also famous as the "fine country" because the rules here are quite strict. If someone throw rubbish or damage public property, they can receive heavy fines. Some people joke about it, but honestly maybe this is one of the reason why public places stay so clean and beautiful.
While walking around, I noticed many families taking photographs around the traditional Chinese buildings. I even saw a few people wearing traditional Chinese outfits for their photoshoot. The scenery really match their clothing and make the whole place look like an old Chinese painting. Everywhere I looked, there was another beautiful corner waiting to be photographed.
Actually Chinese Garden is much bigger than what I show in this post. There are still many interesting buildings, bridges and hidden corners that I didn't have enough time to explore. Just opposite this place is the Japanese Garden, which is also very famous. I wanted to visit there as well, but unfortunately the weather had another plan.
Not long after taking my photos, the heavy rain finally started. I had to wait under one of the sheltered pavilion together with other visitors. Luckily, rain in Singapore normally don't last very long. It come suddenly, rain heavily for a while, then stop like nothing happened. It almost feel like the rain just playing around before moving away.
Even though I couldn't continue exploring, I really enjoyed my visit here. Sometimes we always searching for expensive attractions, but simple places like this already enough to create beautiful memories.
Next time I definitely want come back again and spend more time at the Japanese Garden. From what I can see from outside, it look just as beautiful as Chinese Garden, maybe even more. I think it deserve its own post, so hopefully I can share another adventure with all of you very soon.
Thank you everyone for reading my little journey today. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoy taking them. See you again in my next ASEAN Hive adventure!
