Rooftop gardens similar to the Sky Garden of the SM NorthEdsa mall in Quezon City are very popular in Singapore. (Photo by BIBSY M. CARBALLO)

When we decided to spend Christmas and New Year with a friend in Singapore, we promised ourselves to check out the city’s very popular rooftop gardens. We clearly remember the Sky Garden of the SM NorthEdsa Mall, which we wrote about last year.  Engr. Bien Mateo, SM’s AVP for operations, told us that in building the Sky Garden, they adopted the German technology utilized in Hongkong and Singapore. Therefore, when told of the many roof gardens, private and public in Singapore, we opted to visit the city’s newest roof garden.

Singapore’s mall builders had rushed these garden projects to make it in time for the influx of tourists to the Garden City during the Christmas holidays. So although Christmas is not a part of Singapore’s culture, the main thoroughfare of Orchard Road was decorated with the brightest of Christmas lights, the largest Santas inside the malls, and the ubiquitous Rudolph whom we swear would get lost finding his way around this solitary First World country of Southeast Asia.

If the city was at all suffering through a recession, it didn’t show it during the holidays. Three new malls were up in the Orchard shopping district: the 313@Somerset, ION Orchard, and Orchard Central.

And there’s the $200 million makeover which resulted with the Mandarin Gallery being annexed to the former Meritus Mandarin Singapore hotel. The connection has worked best for Meritus. The impressive mall area consists of 103 stores with brands designed to attract largely affluent, well-traveled clients belonging to the 25 to 45 years age bracket. The public rooftop garden on the 11th and 12th floor is accessible from outside the mall main entrance through what must be the highest escalator we have ever experienced. This escalator takes you straight up to the building’s 11th level!

The roof garden itself, however, is a disappointment. It is quite small, with a couple of enclosed dining areas, some ponds and fountains, sculptures (the most impressive of which were made of wired metal), a children’s playground, and some narrow walkways. Actually, it could hardly compare with the SkyGarden of the SM North EDSA, which not only is huge, but features so many kinds of functional sculptures, restaurants, and even a huge dome theater for events and live concerts.

On the other hand, it is a major disappointment that the garden areas of the Mandarin Gallery is roped off. We witnessed a child cry her heart out when her mom said it is forbidden to venture into the greens to play with the animal sculptures. And heaven forbid if anyone would be allowed to sit on the grass and partake of their baon. We understand completely that it must have something to do with the culture, but the well-intentioned garden felt cold and unfriendly, to this Pinoy at least.

We have heard enough stories from Pinoys working in high, medium, and low places of Singapore to get the general impression that Singaporeans are curt and not as friendly as other Asians. But this isn’t intentional, our kababayans assure.

In contrast, a visit to a public park called the Bottle Tree Park in Yishun town several stops away on the MRT from Orchard Road offered a different environment. At Bottle Tree, we found people lounging on the grass, fishing for their meals on the pond, and even climbing a couple of artificial oxen. And no one was driving them away. So it isn’t the culture, we decided. It is just corporate policy.

Elsewhere, we found samples of this predilection with greenery in Singapore. They have green walls right inside the Changi Airport and sky parks on top of residential tower buildings. They also hold Best Rooftop Garden competitions. In all of Southeast Asia, they have been ahead in recognizing the importance of bringing the green revolution into one’s home. Too bad their expensive effort at Mandarin Gallery cannot completely be appreciated by the populace.

Email the author at bibsycarballo@yahoo.com.