Singapore is an unmistakably modern city with its gleaming office towers, bustling port, and vast swank shopping centres. But the thing that strikes most visitors immediately is the greenness of the place. It's not nicknamed the Garden City for nothing. Trees line the roads and parks and gardens offer greenness in profusion. Here we'll look at three of downtown Singapore's most popular and impressive green spots - the Singapore Botanical Gardens, Fort Canning and Haw Par Villa.



Singapore's commitment to nature is most evident in the Botanic Gardens. After all, not many other cities boast 157-acre gardens right in their centres. And it plays an important role in the lives of Singaporeans. Other than oxygenating and beautifying the city and providing a recreation area, the Gardens also houses some specialised plant collections. These include the National Orchid Garden, the Ginger Garden, and the Evolution Garden, all housing rare specimens of flora. For example, the Orchid Garden boasts over 20,000 plants on display.

Another feature of the Gardens is Symphony Lake, a venue for outdoor concerts. The gardens also play an important educational role. This takes the form of the Children's Garden which aims to cultivate an appreciation in young people for plants, nature and the environment.

Another city centre park is Fort Canning located on Singapore's main strip of Orchid Road. Established in 1859 as an arms store, barracks and hospital, Fort Canning was in fact the location of original botanical gardens of Singapore established by Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles in 1822. You can see the prototype of the original 19-hectare botanical garden in the form of the Spice Garden in Fort Canning.

Fort Canning is also a historical treasure house containing artefacts dating back to the 14th century and the bungalow where Sir Stamford Raffles once lived.

Other than its green areas, Fort Canning is a popular centre for the arts with regular art and sculpture exhibitions, plays and open-air ballet performances.

Finally we look at a park more intriguing for its displays than its greenery, namely the famous Tiger Balm Gardens now known as Haw Par Villa (Villa of the Tiger and Leopard). It was built by two brothers who'd made a fortune from the menthol and camphor rub named Tiger Balm. They opened the gardens in the 1930s with the aim of teaching traditional Chinese values. The mode of teaching was via over 1000 statues and 150 tableaux representing Chinese legends.

In 1985, the park was transformed into an amusement park with most of the original exhibits replaced with playground rides. This procedure proved unpopular and was later reversed. Among the attractions gracing the gardens are a giant sumo wrestler, Thai dancers and a huge gorilla.

A recent addition to Haw Par Villa is the Jade House which showcases the family's extensive collection of jade items.

Admission to the ground is free though there's a small charge to enter the Jade House.

So the next time you visit Singapore, don't just go shopping and swanning around the quays. Remember that this green and leafy city state is a premier location for nature sight-seeing, too. When visiting Singapore, be sure to have a reservation, because hotels in Singapore could be fully booked in high season. Of course the Internet offers many opportunities to book Singapore hotels in advance.