Netherlands -> Singapore - a tulip journey

So, last Wednesday, I wanted to celebrate. Well, I had just completed my exams (or hoping I clear each of them, to be precise) and wanted to rejoice after all the hard work. And a friend of mine wanted to go to Gardens by the Bay, one of Singapore's prime tourist attractions. His mother was to return to Chennai a few days later and he wanted to take her there. I was glad to say ok.

After reaching the Gardens, I was in for a happy surprise. Remember that old Hindi song Dekha Ek Khwaab where the erstwhile Bollywood heartthrob Rekha used to run along some Tulip Gardens? Or our very Sada dancing away to Vikram's Kumari? The tulip gardens of Netherlands? Well, the tulips were here, right in tropical Singapore.

 KLM, the official airline of Netherlands transports around 2000 kg of tulip buds each year across the globe for such garden shows in different countries. How can Singapore alone be left behind? The island is well known for going out of its way to bring in things that are not naturally available. And that is just what they did. Bring the tulips of Netherlands to the Gardens of Singapore.

And the whole setup was too huge, truly spectacular. Anyone out there in the gardens is bound to become a romantic, atleast for a while. I sure did. What was even more beautiful was, each tulip variety was accompanied by a fact about the world famous tulip mania of Netherlands. What I am going to do is, put up a picture with each fact I can recollect, in no particular order

1. Back in the Ottoman Empire times, tulips were extremely expensive for ordinary people to afford. Slowly, it thus became a symbol of perfect love where a Turkish boy would save up enough to purchase a red flamed tulip for the girl he loved

2. Tulips of different colors carry different meanings. e.g. Red - true love, pink - affection and care, orange - energy and enthusiasm, purple - royalty and wealth etc.

3. Tulips come in a vibrant variety of colors like red, yellow, purple etc., but never in blue

4. The months of April - May are the most ideal for flowering

5. Tulip is the national flower of Turkey

6. There are almost 3000 varieties of tulips, each with a different name. That's 3000 different names

7. Tulips generally have around 2-4 leaves only. Some rare species have upto 12

8. Most tulips have a life span of 3-7 days only

9. Tulips are best grown in climates having a long, cool spring and early summer

 10. Though Netherlands is the largest cultivator of tulips, the origins are traced back to Central Asia.

11. Tulip means turban in the Turkish language

 12. Certain varieties of tulips have medicinal value

So, how was your journey?