Gardens By The Bay: Dahlia Dreams

Media Invite

Gardens by the Bay is ushering in the Year of the Monkey with Dahlia Dreams. This concept is inspired by the classic tale, Journey to the West and runs from 15 January 2016 till the end of February.

I've been to every GBTB story-telling installation last year and they were absolutely impressive. My hopes for Dahlia Dreams were high and I expected nothing less than getting dazzled like always. I must give credit to the people behind this expansive setup because the amount of work needed to put together a dome filled with picturesque backdrops at every corner, is really a formidable task. The exquisite blooms of dahlias and begonias are set against a 7-metre-tall mountain with monkeys set high and mighty at the top. When you walk into the mythical "Flowers and Fruit Mountain" (where the legendary Monkey King was said to be born), you will find a "Water Curtain" in the cave. I found this most memorable of the entire dome installation. Other that that, this visit did not impress me much.

Ah and I loved that wooden tavern as well which was barricaded off. I moved that "Work In Progress" signage out of the way just to get this shot. I've got a feeling this little hut will be "Work In Progress" perpetually through Dahlia Dreams. I would think it's a better idea for them to open it up for visitors to enter for photography opportunities. I felt like I've done something really naughty by pushing that sign out of our frame just to get this shot. Right after we were done, the staff replaced the signage with a retractable belt barrier instead. Telling us to keep out.

There are monkey-shaped topiaries with gold and chocolate nuggets for eyes and nose & dried leaves for a face. Their bodies are realistically shaped and covered with greens. I like these monkeys compared to the bark-sculptured monkeys which were rather frightening to look at for little children. Ewan's obviously oblivious because nothing frightens him more than a funny-faced clown. Faye, however, refused to go near them and signed "scared", patting her chest with her palm. Besides these topiaries, there were monkey toys on trees and giant gold ingots as well. These I thought were rather tasteless. Well, personal opinions!

At first sight, I found the circular zodiac signs across the grounds rather repetitive. Almost every mall we go to has these zodiac signages on display. Right right? I wasn't inclined to stand-next-to-our-signs-for-a-picture because that's just ermmm too characterless. But, we did! *haha*

The children decided to do a camera take-over and started shooting the displays with a my camera phone and DSLR. I must say they produced outstanding results especially Ewan with this picture of us! We were standing around innocently when he pointed the camera at us. That's when I went, "Ah ok Ewan. Take a picture for mommy and daddy together with this rooster sign ok?" All he took was one click and he said, "Done."

Since we've got a husband and wife shot with our zodiac, we can't leave without a son and daughter shot with their respective signs. They looked as if there were very cooperative with all our shoots don't they? Behind all these good-looking photographs, were sweat and sheer hard work.

VERDICT: 

Not the best I've seen from Gardens By The Bay but scrolling through the pictures, 

they did turn out quite well! Maybe it should deserve a visit from you after all. 

SPRING SURPRISE EVENTS

Read More Dahlia Dreams From Fellow Bloggers:

Bumble Bee Mum

Cheekiemonkies

The Wacky Duo

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A stay at home mum, blogging to widen her social life. 
We want to echo the sound of love through our lives to inspire other mothers alike.