If you have a free afternoon I suggest strolling through the Chinese Garden.
Expect to see a lot of dragons. In fact, someday I might have a red door with a guardian stone dragon. They scare away evil spirits, bring you fortune AND they are a symbol of potent and auspicious powers.
If you arrive, at the West entrance you will enjoy a walk across a white bridge that has a lovely view of the lake and the twin pagodas. I watched a few boat races from the bridge.
I went to a photography class once and she told me the best way to improve your photographs was to practice. She suggested taking 50 photos every day.
Today I fulfilled my 50 photo requirement. In fact, it’s safe to say I will take at least 50 photos every day until I leave Asia… Yesterday’s practice session was HOW to get mediocre photos when the sky is WHITE. It’s so much easier to get the look I want when the sky is blue…
In this next photo you can see a giant lantern in front of the building. Once a year (except for last year) the Chinese Garden puts up lanterns to celebrate the mid-autumn festival.
My favorite lantern this year? Twin dragons floating in one of the lakes surrounded by lots of floating lotus flowers and leaves. Here they are before the lights came on…
If you come to the Chinese Garden you should climb the 7 story pagoda (visible above my head). Look closely, that is a dragon shaped tree behind me. I don’t think I’ll ever have one of those in my yard but it is obviously appropriate for this location.
I love Asian architecture, especially pagodas.
One last look before I head to the top.
The whole walk up I was wondering why the pagoda is only 7 stories. 8 is the lucky Chinese number. Why not build one more?
Here’s the view from the top. There was a lovely breeze so I stayed up here for a long time.
The white bridge in this photo leads into the Japanese Garden.
I liked the windows of the pagoda too. Here’s the view from the 7th floor looking out.
And the first floor looking out.
These golden dragon lanterns lined the walk up to the pagoda from the East Gate.
I watched the sunset by the lake next to the twin pagodas.
Then I met my friends and we walked around and enjoyed the lanterns. There were many lanterns, but these are favorite friends so I was talking more than I was taking photos at this point…
I finally got my blue sky for a few moments at twilight…
One last shot of the auspicious floating and glowing dragons!
What a great evening.
Cool shot looking sown the spiral stairs. <3
Those dragon lanterns would definitely have been my favorite as well. Very cool! You certainly have much better photos than I do when I went there. I don’t think I was much in the mood for taking photos that day since we were pretty new to Singapore, carrying around a baby, and trying to get used to the heat and humidity!
One of my favorite places in Singapore. So glad you got to spend some time there. That dragon lantern is very cool. I agree with you about the white sky!
Dragon lantern is amazing, as is your photography. You have a very artistic eye. I love the spiral staircase and the view out the windows with the statues showing through the latticework.
this is embarrassing to admit, but half of the places you post about in singapore i never saw! so sad…
. awesome photos as always. AND, if you ever get homesick for singapore’s hot & humid weather, you can always come visit me in houston! 
Gorgeous pictures and love your commentary. Looking forward visiting the gardens this week.
Hope your having a great time in Chang Mai. It will be fun to see your post.