Hanami in our forever tropical land - Blossom Bliss 2017 @ Gardens by the Bay

Thanks to Gardens by the Bay, you can indulge in the annual hanami every March without having to fly to places like Japan to view these little blossoms of pink and white heralding the arrival of spring. Having been to this event last year and this year, I noted that there were some noticeable enhancements in this year's edition although there were still some improvements to be made. In terms of crowd control, I can't really comment because I went to the 2016 event on a weekend (which was a really bad idea) while I went to the 2017 event on a weekday (crowded but still manageable). As for the condition of the sakura blooms, I noted that there were a lot of buds this year which were yet to bloom. It could be that there were some new sakura trees planted towards the end of the event to replace those which had too many wilted flowers so that was why I felt that the floral coverage was a bit sparse in some sections.

The first time when I went for hanami in Japan, the best shots I took were those with the cloudless pastel blue skies as the background or along a path with sakura trees lined up to form a natural tunnel of flowers. Unfortunately, due to the limitations we face in Singapore due to the sweltering weather and that the sakura trees were displayed indoors, these two settings are unlikely to be replicated here. Nonetheless, I still appreciate the effort in trying to showcase such a fragile flower here in unfavourable conditions. However, there were people who clearly do not appreciate this and do uncivilised acts such as tugging at the branches forcefully to take selfies with the sakura at close proximity or holding up the flow of human traffic by refusing to budge until they get their perfect selfie. When you come face to face with such behaviour, it no doubt affects the pleasure derived from the hanami experience.

Rather than using words to describe the beauty of these fleeting blossoms, I'll let the photos below do the talking ~