Gardens By the Bay (Christmas) – Part 1

Singaporeans who know about Christmas Wonderland – behold your criticism over the title of this post because no, this is not about Christmas Wonderland.

Our family appears to have a fascination with night visits to the CBD area, and try to do so every holiday. This year, however, we were too busy trying to settle administrative issues in moving to our new apartment. Hence our visits to Marina Bay Sands was postponed to right before Christmas Eve, which was probably a bad idea because the sea of humans was scary for someone like me. Not to mention the $10 ticket required to enter the main garden in GBTB, where Christmas Wonderland was ongoing.

Us being us decided it was not worth it to spend money on joining the party, and took a stroll along the park.

Part I: Pathways

For some reason, I have always been fascinated with taking photos of pathways. They remind me of life, of my journeys so far. It is not always bright, but at some point, streetlights and ground lights are bound to appear to guide us through even the darkest days. Sometimes, they are there already, standing right beside us, and it just takes a while longer, and a little more awareness to realise how close they actually are. These lights can be a book, a song, a family member, a friend, or even just the more optimistic part of yourself. The funny thing is, when we are in the presence of light, we don’t notice their brilliance and importance, until they are no longer there. Then, only then, do we realise that they had always been there, and crave their presence.

Part II: Fears

I don’t know the reason for my many fears – specifically the one over statues and non-life objects, especially at night. It’s not obvious from the pictures, but when I was taking that last photo I was clinging on to my mom for dear life, cold sweating, and shaking fervently. For visitors who are interested the final photo is part of a transformers exhibit, made entirely from plants/vines/grass. From an objective perspective, it is very magnificent.

On the other hand, the mushrooms were very magical… until I looked up, and the first thing I noticed was an entire dome of insects and arachnids. It didn’t help that I have slight arachnophobia. Impressively, I went in and stayed for 5min, trying to get perfect shots.

Everyone have their own fears, and everyone have their own ways of dealing with them. I am personally quite proud of myself this year, for successfully overcoming so many of my fears, or at least reducing the intensity for most. On hindsight, it seems unreasonable to be so afraid of things that are not alive, but like many other things in life, it is easier said than done. I just hope that in the new year, we can all keep that in mind, and try to understand others better before passing judgements.