The hidden cactus garden at Singapore Airport

I had heard that Singapore airport has some outdoor garden areas within the airport grounds, and last time I went through Singapore airport (12 years ago) I didn’t see any trace of one, although I was aware of them. So this time I was determined to find one.

I went on one of the free internet computers there and I found out that the terminal I was in has a garden, and it is called the cactus garden. Then I went searching for it. I found a map which showed that it is upstairs, so I went upstairs and couldn’t find anything that looked like an outside garden. I asked a lady at a desk and she said that I needed to go back downstairs and find another upstairs section. I followed her directions and found myself in another upstairs area that still didn’t have a garden. I asked another person that was working in a restaurant there, but I couldn’t understand his English very well.

I went back downstairs and was beginning to think that maybe the cactus garden would continue to elude me. Then I saw a sign for a smoking area. It’s not a place I would normally seek out, but I thought that it would have to be an outdoor area, so maybe that’s where the garden is. I went upstairs again and finally found it! They only allow smoking in a small part of the garden, so I was able to wander through it without having to put up with nasty fumes.

I probably spent about half an hour searching for the garden, and only five minutes wandering through it! I would have liked to have spent more time there, but I needed to go back to the gate for boarding my plane. Anyway, after I went to all that effort, I hope you enjoy these photos I took there.

Me! Yes, I made it there and this is the proof!

Scenic photos

Here are some of my favourite scenic photos that I took in Scotland. I’ll let you enjoy them without further comment.

Waterfalls

Waterfalls look great. Here are a few photos of waterfalls that I took in Scotland.

The series of falls here form a part of a salmon leap. The salmon leap up these falls as they travel upstream.

Scottish village life in the old days

At the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, there is a replica of what a highlands village would have been like in around 1700. I really enjoyed seeing similarities between it and village life in PNG.

Village houses:

A straw broom:

A woven basket:

Some seats and a fireplace:

Firewood and a basket with stones (o vasu tao bau!).

Temporary camp accommodation for when people were travelling:

Flowers of Scotland

As I travelled through Scotland, I really enjoyed seeing the flowers that were in bloom at the time and took the occasional photo. Here are some of them for you to enjoy too.

This is a rhododendron bush. It reminded me of Bougainvillea plants. The flower is completely different really, but when you see it from a distance, and while flying past it in a bus, it looks a bit like a Bougainvillea, so that made me happy because Bougainvillea plants remind me of Bougainville as they grow well there (although the plant originated in South America).

Neolithic sites – or in other words: really old places

It was really interesting to see some Neolithic (very old) sites at Orkney and to imagine what it would have been like to live back then.

Skara Brae is probably the best preserved Neolithic village. You can see what their houses were like, and I’d love to be able to go back in time and just see people going about their daily life in that era, although I’m glad that I didn’t live then – I like our modern comforts.

The Broch of Gurness is actually from the Iron Age (thanks Wikipedia for telling me that!), so it’s not Neolithic, it’s a bit more recent – about 2000 years old. Again it’s just fascinating to see these places and to think that 2000 years ago there was people here in the same place as me, seeing and touching the same stones.

These standing stones are a part of the Ring of Brodgar, a big circle of standing stones. They are also from the Neolithic area, before there was any machinery and it makes you wonder how they managed to move these stones about and put them in place. Theories about, but no-one really knows.

This huge stone really dwarfs me and must weigh a ton!

Fancy, old churches

Perhaps ‘churches’ isn’t quite the right word – one is a chapel and two are cathedrals. But the three buildings that I show you here are quite fancy and admirable.

At Orkney there was an Italian chapel, which was built by and for the Italian prisoners of war during World War 2. The walls on the inside are beautifully painted – they couldn’t use real bricks, so they painted the walls to make it look like they used brick!

St Magnus Cathedral was also at Orkney, in Kirkwall the main town. It has a lot of history (google it if you want the details!)

You don’t normally associate the skull and crossbones imagery with churches, but here in St Magnus Cathedral is a memorial stone for some people who died. There were many such memorial stones throughout the building.

Lovely stained-glass window:

Another cathedral that I saw was Dunkeld Cathedral. It is on the mainland of Scotland, not at Orkney like the other two were. It has also had a long history.

Stained-glass at Dunkeld Cathedral:

A real pipe organ. No-one was playing it when we were there, but I think they are amazing instruments, they make loud music without the use of electronics or speakers.

MacKay land

On my trip to the north of Scotland, we travelled through Clan MacKay land, which is in the Sutherland area of north west Scotland. In Australia, we hear a lot about traditional land-owners, so I was pleased to see the land of which I can claim to be a ‘traditional land-owner’ (my great grand-father and generations before him lived there). Of course I don’t have a claim to a single piece of this land and traditional land-owner rights aren’t recognised in Scotland because the history of change in ownership is different. Anyway, here are some photos of me and the scenes of ‘MY’ land.

Me with ‘my’ traditional country behind me:

“Welcome to MacKay country”