Do You Want To Know A Secret?

It was a very tiring Sunday last week as I spent the entire day out of the house. =.=

However, it was a great day for me to exercise my hobby. After doing all the grocery shopping required, while having a short break, I turned to my friend and said, "We should try looking for that secret garden".

She asked, "What secret garden? I thought the Rainforest was the only garden here?"

One of my friends told me about this new garden and I was curious about it. It was by luck that we saw the signboard by the lifts while moving the grocery around that I finally knew how to get there.

We took the lift up to the highest level of the shopping mall. Once the lift opened, we were greeted by the lush greenery...

We dropped by the garden just 30 minutes before closing time. We were concerned that the place would be warm but with all the de-misters spraying mist, it made the air cool. Besides, we chose the right time to visit when the sun was about to set.

I was excited and quickly setup my camera to take some shots of the plants around. The air was cool and surroundings quiet. You were just transported to a different location... in a shopping mall.

We expected the garden to be small but it turns out that there are many small sections around the garden. Each section showcases specific type of plants which made the walk a gem for photographers.

No garden is complete without tropical plants and there were plenty of orchids planted. I can't name the orchids as I could not see the names of the plants.

I was surprised to find roses blooming in the garden especially during our recent hot weather. There were roses of many different colours and I had wished I have a nice macro lens to showcase those soft petals.

The layout of the garden is neat and planned very well. There was a small waterfall and some small ponds where some water plants were placed too. I couldn't find any fish but since the garden is placed on the rooftop of the mall, it would not be conducive to place fish here as the garden can get quite hot during the mid day.

I couldn't photograph all the flowers there and would like to return to the garden in the morning to take more photos.

The Secret Garden at the UR (Upper Roof) of the 1Utama Shopping Mall is opened during the weekends from 10am to 6pm. The garden is limited to 100 persons per hour and so, you will need to get tickets from the Information Counter before you head up to the garden. ;-)

After all that walking, we got thirsty and hungry and decided to adjourn to another "secret" Garden at the lower ground level of the shopping mall.

We both ordered drinks with some lemon in it and it was refreshing after a walk around the roof top garden.

One of the more basic salads - Caesar Salad with sprinkles of bacon and toasted croutons. The sauce was light and not too cheesy.

As for the mains...

We ordered one of the specials of the day which was fried dory fish in ginger butter sauce. The portion was just nice as we were not too hungry.

I ordered the Seafood Marinara Spaghetti. Don't let the picture fool you. The portion is much larger than expected as the pasta settled at the bottom of the bowl.

What a way to spend Sunday afternoon... (^^)