I'm quite excited about today as I had planned to visit the 20th World Orchid Conference (WOC) held at Marina Bay Sands Expo. However, I woke up feeling really tired but I'm determine to visit WOC today! Headed to Mac for a good brunch & boarded the bus to MBS. Located the ticketing booth at Basement Two & exchanged my Groupon deal for my admission ticket! It's really a good deal ~ saving me 50% off the usual weekday ticket.
This is the Olympics of the Orchid World indeed, with 55 displays from 19 countries competing for the 20th WOC Awards. Held every 3 years, Singapore is honoured to host the WOC after the last one held here 48 years ago! This is my first visit to MBS Expo & I'm surprised at its sheer size! Upon reading the brochure, then i realised this exhibit spanned an area of 16,000 sqm! 
Upon stepping into the Expo, I was at a lost where to start from, haha! I tried shooting the orchids wif my kit lens initially but realised couldn't reach those orchids further off... luckily, i packed in my zoom lens at the eleventh hour! For the first time, i'm using my zoom lens for floral shoots! It's challenging to shoot due to the lighting & crowd! I lugged along my tripod too but only used it 3 times or so. After nearly 1hr, i still found myself walking around the 3 exhibits near the entrance! Geez! 
Seriously, I had never seen so many variety & hybrids of orchids in my life! There's so many of them, that at times I was feeling quite lost... It's also a test of patience as I had to wait for people to move off bef it's my turn to shoot. The show's centrepiece features a worldmap of more than 130 orchid species & hybrids & the theme for the 20th WOC is "Where New & Old World Orchids Meet". There's also a section ~ VIP Orchids Display, orchids named after visiting dignitaries over the last 20 years.
The various countries dressed up their sections with nice landscaping efforts...i especially like the one wif a gushing waterfall lit wif incandescent lights...makes a nice backdrop! As I walked thru' the exhibit, i noticed some plants were dead, due to selfish people who trampled upon them despite barriers! There were many retirees as well, one aunty tried to shoot a flower some distance away wif her handphone, ended up wif her legs breaching the barrier... i'm glad the staff on duty warned her to move off!
Fancy a pair of boots?
Besides orchids, i like the Pitcher plants on display & I'm amazed that besides insects, some of these Pitcher are capable of eating mice! At one end of the Expo, there were floral displays done by students. Gosh! By the time I'm done, i had took 4hours! I spent another 30mins to do some wide angle shots missed earlier.
At 4.30pm, I went to the shuttle bus area & was shocked to see a snaking Q! There's at least 100 people & waited 20mins for the shuttle. I'm glad there's a shuttle service as the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay is some distance away. By now, I'm already dead-beat!
Arrived at the Flower Dome at 5pm & was glad to observe a nice blue sky & pretty clouds! It's an air-conditioned indoor garden, something really different from Botanic Gardens! Currently, only the Flower Dome & part of the exterior is open for preview till this weekend. Gardens by the Bay will officially open in June 2012. The temperature inside the Dome is controlled to suit the baobabs, cactus & other plants which thrive in the Mediterranean climate. My favourite view is looking at the Singapore Flyer & the waterfront from inside the Dome!
After 1.5hours touring the Flower Dome, my arms & legs were aching & vision blurry! Shooting for a total of 6 straight hours, no joke! Thou' no sweat this round, but still a test of stamina!
More photos from the WOC are available at my Photo Gallery. Expand the widget; click & drag to extreme right to start full-screen slide show. Enjoy! ^o^
More photos from the WOC are available at my Photo Gallery. Expand the widget; click & drag to extreme right to start full-screen slide show. Enjoy! ^o^
1 comment:
Beautiful shots. It's a pity that I did not went to the Orchid Conference but looking at your photos makes me feel I'm right there looking at these beautiful orchids!
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