Sentosa Flowers 2008
Another part of our CNY holiday itineraries in Singapore, on the first day of Chinese New Year, we went to Sentosa to visit the Sentosa Flowers 2008 event in the morning, prior to our visit to Aa Duddy and Teh Ellen's place in Tampines for a reunion lunch. Sentosa Flowers 2008 is an annual flower festival held at Sentosa, spanned from Imbiah Lookout to the Beach station.
Having visited the earlier Sentosa Flowers 2007 last year, I found that this year's festival is a bit disappointing. The "blooming" quality of the flowers is not as good as last year's event. I feel that last year's event is more blooming with more variety of beautiful flowers throughout the Imbiah hill. Nevertheless, for the first-timers, this event is quite worth for a visit.
It opens between 9am and 10pm, until 17 February 2008. The admission to the event itself is free, although of course you would still need to pay for the entrance fee into Sentosa ($2) and the transport ($1 using Sentosa Express or Sentosa bus). I would suggest you start your journey from the entrance near Imbiah station. From there, you can explore the flowers park around Imbiah Lookout before heading to the Merlion, and passing through the Merlion Walk all the way to the Beach station.
I agree with Mbak Susan that the best time to visit the event is early in the morning, not only to avoid the hot baking sun, but also to avoid the crowd as well. Different from last year, now they open until 10pm every day, so it might be a good idea to come in the evening.
More pictures can be found on my wife's Multiply site here.
Related links:
Yesterday, on a nice Saturday morning (3 November 2007), I took Inka and Irza to 
So, this time round, we decided not to climb the hill again, and instead we went to the Hindhede Nature Park near the entrance to the nature reserve. The nature park is a hit for Inka and Irza since there's a playground with swings, slides and suspension bridges near the Waringin Hut. The slides are unique since they are both long slides going down to a valley. Inka and Irza are also having a great time with the slinger at the picnic area. We also played badminton at an open space near the picnic area.
We also went to the Lookout Point, which is overlooking the Hindhede Quarry, a massive wall of limestones near a pond. Inka and Irza actually also wanted to go up the hill again but the sun was already going up quite high at that time, so I'll guess we'll have to come back again later...
Last Saturday (15/9), after breaking our 
The lantern displays will be there until 30 September 2007. It opens from 5pm to 11pm on weekdays, and from 3pm to 11pm on weekends, although it's actually best to enjoy the displays after the sun goes down. The best part, it's free :) so it's quite well worth visiting this event, especially comparing to and considering the $12 (for adult) and $8 (for child) entrance fees you need to fork out to visit the 
Last Sunday (8 July 2007) evening, after dropping 
The ticket price is S$23 for adult and S$13 for children. Quite expensive for a short 10-minute ride, but it's quite worth for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Inka and Irza previously was a bit afraid when they saw the balloon went up quite high, but I managed to persuade them to try and board the balloon.
It's quite high, indeed, and not recommended for those who are afraid of heights. The view from the balloon on its peak at 150 meters above ground is quite amazing.