0:00:02 > 0:00:06I believe that a really good way to understand a culture is through its gardens.
0:00:06 > 0:00:12This is an extraordinary journey to visit 80 inspiring gardens from all over the world.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Some are very well known like the Taj Mahal or the Alhambra.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22And I'm also challenging my idea of what a garden actually is.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25So I'm visiting gardens that float on the Amazon.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28A strange fantasy in the jungle.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31As well as the private homes of great designers.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34And the desert flowering in a garden.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38I shall be meeting people that share my own passion for gardens,
0:00:38 > 0:00:45on my epic quest to see the world through 80 of its most fascinating and beautiful gardens.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03My journey this week has brought me to a region of rich diversity, both botanical and cultural.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06It's a steamy, tropical sub-continent
0:01:06 > 0:01:11with some of the fastest growing plants and cities in the world.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14South East Asia.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18This is Bangkok, the capital of Thailand,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23and one of the noisiest, dirtiest, most polluted cities in the world.
0:01:23 > 0:01:31And it's the starting point for my journey to find the real exotic tropical garden.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Now, we in the west have taken plants and the concept
0:01:34 > 0:01:37of the jungle garden and put it in our northern backyard.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41But here, where there are only two seasons, it's either wet or dry,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45it's always hot and plants grow constantly.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50I want to see what the real tropical garden is like.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58This will take me on a trip right through the south-east Asian region.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02I'll start in Thailand in the garden of a western silk merchant.
0:02:02 > 0:02:09I'll then head nearly 1,000 miles south, to visit the self-proclaimed garden city state of Singapore.
0:02:09 > 0:02:15Finally I'll cross the Java Sea, to experience a little of the deep spirituality
0:02:15 > 0:02:19and diverse cultural influences of the Indonesian island of Bali.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Our fascination with lush tropical plants
0:02:28 > 0:02:33has been going on for at least 200 years and it's growing.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37At Gardeners' World, we've made a jungle garden.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42But, it's in an idiom that actually was forced by a set of circumstances
0:02:42 > 0:02:49that were partly industrial and partly political because, the British Empire started to take over
0:02:49 > 0:02:53the Asian world and bring back plants as part of colonisation.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56People made more and more money, bought large houses,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00and wanted trophy plants to show off, to show their status.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05And then, the development of plate glass and cast iron and cheap fuel,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08meant that vast glasshouses, like the one at Kew,
0:03:08 > 0:03:14could be made so people could go in and immerse themselves in what they thought of as a jungle.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19Typically, these gardens were lush, green and full of exotic varieties,
0:03:19 > 0:03:24usually much bigger and faster growing than anything that we could find at home.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28And these plants, although beautiful and exciting in their own right,
0:03:28 > 0:03:34also acted as indicators for all the richness of tropical life,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37and suggested a freer, less inhibited world.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42It was, from the first, an intoxicating and intense association.
0:03:46 > 0:03:52My journey to discover the reality behind that potent image, starts here.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57The consensus seems to be that, if you want to visit gardens in Bangkok,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00the first place to go to is Jim Thompson's house.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03So, that's where I'm starting.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15If you're in Bangkok, you've certainly got to take a tuk-tuk.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21But the slight disadvantage is that, if you're taller than about four foot six, you can't see a thing.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25In 1946, Jim Thompson, an American entrepreneur and bon viveur,
0:04:25 > 0:04:31moved to Thailand and proceeded to revolutionise the Thai silk industry.
0:04:31 > 0:04:37His house, right in the centre of Bangkok, sits surrounded by a densely planted tropical garden.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Jim Thompson mysteriously disappeared
0:04:46 > 0:04:52in the Malaysian jungle in 1967, and no-one did anything to the garden for 25 years
0:04:52 > 0:04:56which, as jungles will, grew enormous and impenetrable.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00One of Jim's friends, the garden designer Bill Warren,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03was part of the team that took the garden back into hand.
0:05:03 > 0:05:10The house was really designed as a theatre set
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and as a place to entertain.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17And Jim entertained here every night.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20It's not designed, let's say, for comfort,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23because this room is open, there are no screens.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Jim wanted to look down on a jungle.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32- And the little houses in there were...- The servants' quarters.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36There was the houseboy, the cook and the gardener.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42- When did you first come here? - I came to visit in 1959.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44I came to the house warming.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47OK, let's go and have a look at the rest of the house.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52The garden weaves around and under the house, rising on various levels,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56and screening out the city that is on three sides.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03We're now underneath the main house, I guess.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05One can't help but notice
0:06:05 > 0:06:12the way that the garden forms this...greendrop in the background, without any sky.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17So you have garden but no sky which, of course, is the jungle effect.
0:06:17 > 0:06:24Jim had a plan of this house and he marked this area "jungle".
0:06:24 > 0:06:27That effect doesn't take a lot to achieve, does it?
0:06:27 > 0:06:34I mean, there are certain key plants, certain ways of doing it, which is this layering of foliage.
0:06:34 > 0:06:40Things like the fan palms, and the gingers, they all create different textures
0:06:40 > 0:06:42and different colours,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45if you look at them carefully.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48I love the little ponds in pots.
0:06:48 > 0:06:55These were to catch the rainwater, but they have used lotuses for decoration.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00And you had those in the bathrooms when I first came to Thailand,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04- and we bathed from one of these jobs.- Really?
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Jim Thompson finished the house in 1959, and just eight years later
0:07:13 > 0:07:18disappeared after going for a walk in the jungle whilst on holiday in Malaya.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22After the garden lay untended for a quarter of a century,
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Bill was asked to help restore it as it was in Jim's day.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35Standing here, you can only see foliage,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39with just touches of that red of the ginger, through there.
0:07:39 > 0:07:46I cut down a lot of trees, so that you could see the rooflines.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51You can go on cutting forever, in the tropical garden.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Probably it could use some cutting back now.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57It's hard for people used to western gardens,
0:07:57 > 0:08:05- to appreciate just how fast this sort of garden will grow if left untended.- Oh, yes.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10- These are heliconias.- It's almost sculptural and sort of...
0:08:10 > 0:08:13unbelievable as a flower, it's so physically solid.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18If you made it in plastic, you wouldn't know the difference.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22This is the spirit house.
0:08:22 > 0:08:28Every Thai residential or business compound has a spirit
0:08:28 > 0:08:33that's supposed to watch over the fortunes of the people who live in it.
0:08:33 > 0:08:40Every day, they make offerings of burning incense, flowers, to keep the spirit happy.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02I think here, like any garden, you've got to know something of the context.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07Jim Thompson placed his garden here,
0:09:07 > 0:09:15absolutely knowing that he was looking out over his village of Muslim silk weavers,
0:09:15 > 0:09:21really rather like a sort of mill owner in Victorian Britain looked out over his workers.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24They could see him, and he could see them.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30And the whole place is to do with performance, and command,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and display.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55I like Jim Thompson's garden.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00And clearly a lot of people do. 175,000 visitors a year don't lie.
0:10:00 > 0:10:06But it wasn't a Thai garden and, I think to be fair to Jim Thompson, he would never have pretended it was.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12It was an approximation of what he thought a jungle might be.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15And the really telling thing was that, after his disappearance,
0:10:15 > 0:10:20they had to clear the growth back to make it look like a jungle garden.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25And we could do that at home. It's not the real thing.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32It's not got me any closer to Thai indigenous gardens, or gardening, or culture even, I don't think.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37But I've read that the fastest way to get an insight into Thai culture
0:10:37 > 0:10:41is to be out in a public park at precisely 6pm.
0:10:41 > 0:10:47TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT THAI NATIONAL ANTHEM BEGINS TO PLAY
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Guide books will tell you everybody stops for the national anthem,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06but actually seeing it happen, is extraordinary.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17The image of the king is everywhere, and any kind of disrespect
0:11:17 > 0:11:22towards it is regarded as sacrilege and a very serious criminal offence.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28The royal palaces then are places of huge significance to Thai people,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32and it seemed to me that I should visit one or two of them
0:11:32 > 0:11:36on the basis that they must surely be a profound influence.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49The best known royal palace is the Grand Palace, which is a major tourist attraction.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Religion, in this case Buddhism, the state,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56buildings and plants all merge together.
0:12:01 > 0:12:08It seems to me to be a surprising and eclectic mix, with tightly clipped cloud topiary,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13strongly influenced by Chinese gardens, Thai temples and shrines, and massive buildings.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17It is all fascinating but very strange.
0:12:17 > 0:12:23The Grand Palace tells me something about Thailand, but not a lot about any kind of gardening style.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28And to try and get closer to that, I am leaving the centre of Bangkok
0:12:28 > 0:12:34to visit the king's horticultural project at his official residence, the Chitlada Palace.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47- Good afternoon.- Hello. Good afternoon.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52Rosarin Smitabhindu has been guiding dignitaries round the palace and grounds for more than 30 years.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Ah! So here are your cattle.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Hello, my dear. They look very well.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Clearly, these are not your ordinary palace gardens.
0:13:10 > 0:13:17Since 1961, the king has been using his grounds to try out sustainable methods of food production
0:13:17 > 0:13:20that his subjects can then apply in their own gardens.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23How many people work in this project?
0:13:23 > 0:13:27- About 700.- 700?- Yes.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31- Now, what are you growing on these plots?- This is rice field.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36But during this time, it grows mung bean, soya bean and peanuts, these for rotation crops.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38And then when do the rice go back in?
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- In August.- And this is to keep the birds off, is it?
0:13:41 > 0:13:48Yes. We have lots of birds here because, not far from here this is our demonstration forest.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52- There's a lot going on here, isn't there?- Yes. This is from 1961.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58So, for the last 45 years, His Royal Highness has been building up this demonstration
0:13:58 > 0:14:00for the Thai people? Or for himself.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Yes. Yes. For the Thai people.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08Because he learning by doing here and, also he's educating people.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12We have to make lots of visitors come here to see the projects.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17I came expecting to see something that fufilled my preconceptions of a palace garden.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23But Rosarin has more horticultural research projects and labs to show me.
0:14:23 > 0:14:30This one aims to protect the disappearing biodiversity of Thailand's indigenous species.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35It's getting dark now.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40So, during this time, you can hear the voice of many birds.
0:14:42 > 0:14:49We visited the patch of demonstration forest that was in the centre of the park.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53As the light fell, the insects came out.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00The park is remorselessly practical and felt a little bit more like
0:15:00 > 0:15:03a corporate research station than a garden.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06But, inside this jungly bit,
0:15:06 > 0:15:12you do get a hint of what almost all of Thailand must have been like until relatively recently.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18The jungle was not something that you would try and cultivate. In fact, it was kept firmly at bay.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25The king's projects at the Chitlada palace are designed to be an example
0:15:25 > 0:15:29for his subjects to follow and, as such, they do work.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Thai rice growing has apparently been transformed by the work done here.
0:15:33 > 0:15:41I can't help feeling, that there's one element glaringly absent, and that's any sense of aesthetic.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43I mean it, it...
0:15:43 > 0:15:46just wasn't very beautiful.
0:15:46 > 0:15:53Bangkok, for all its pollution and veniality, is a beautiful and entrancing place.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56So I am finding it hard to reconcile that stark functionality
0:15:56 > 0:16:01that I saw at the Chitlada Palace with the fascinating tangle of Bangkok street life.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04There seems to be a dissonance there, something I am missing
0:16:04 > 0:16:09as I try and discover the archetypal tropical garden.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20Well, I've had a night's sleep and a chance to think about it
0:16:20 > 0:16:24and I think the best way to understand this problem
0:16:24 > 0:16:29is to go from the very top of Thai society and the royal palace,
0:16:29 > 0:16:36down to a more ordinary level and have a look around and see what people are growing at home.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45To help me explore the private gardens of Bangkok,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Patravadi Meechuthon, a well-known Thai actress, has offered to take me off the beaten track.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54Well, off the track altogether actually, because we are off to explore the klongs.
0:16:57 > 0:17:03A klong is the name given to any of the waterways that still vein through Bangkok
0:17:03 > 0:17:06despite the relentless development of the city.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09The name is a good start. Who couldn't love anything called a klong?
0:17:09 > 0:17:14They used to be the main way to get around, although nowadays the klongs are packed with tourists.
0:17:14 > 0:17:21But you can see the gardens all the way along them, from the poorest shack to the grooviest apartment.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Do people not mind the noise?
0:17:25 > 0:17:29We do mind, but nobody does anything about it.
0:17:30 > 0:17:31There's lots of plants.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34I mean, every balcony.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Yeah. In every Thai heart, there's always some softness.
0:17:37 > 0:17:44- But are they particular plants? - The plants you see there are the very common plants that grow very easy.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46You don't have to water it all the time.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50You know, like this one, this pink flower.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54- It grows by itself really.- The bougainvillea.- Easy to look after.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58So people don't really want to garden?
0:17:58 > 0:18:03- They want the plants, but they don't want to look after them.- It's hot.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05So it's too hot work outside.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Yeah. In your country, you know it's cool and you need the sunshine.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11We hide from the sunshine, we don't like sunshine.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13It's too hot.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15What about the rainy season?
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Oh, then it's too wet!
0:18:17 > 0:18:21That is fabulous. I'm going to take a picture of this cos I like that.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Beauty has to be useful.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27- Beauty has to be useful.- Yeah.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32To see how beauty and usefulness coexist in a Thai garden,
0:18:32 > 0:18:38Patravadi suggested that we stop at one of the houses and ask to have a look around.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50THEY SPEAK IN THAI
0:18:53 > 0:18:56All this is his father's house. And that's his house.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58In Thailand we like to live together.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00And next to each other.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02It's handy, you know, handy.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04It certainly is. Oh, look, plants everywhere.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10And hang on a minute, beautiful pots there. Great big lovely pots.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Oh, this is his home.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13Here we go.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Some people worship King Rama V.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24It is very popular among Thai people.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28And these whiskies. All these whiskies.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35- Oh, he just like the boxes, they look good.- He's right.- Yeah.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38And then this beautiful garden.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40And what is this plant here?
0:19:40 > 0:19:42This is a tree.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47When you eat the fruit, you can eat lemon and it's sweet.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Interesting. So I mean, does he enjoy growing these plants?
0:19:51 > 0:19:55THEY SPEAK IN THAI
0:20:00 > 0:20:04He says it's for relaxation, a little exercise.
0:20:04 > 0:20:11The fruits, they are vegetable he can eat, and they are chemical free.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15And we have here what looks sort of like an apple or a...
0:20:15 > 0:20:19It's the same family as the apple.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22- It's delicious.- Is it?
0:20:22 > 0:20:24You like your food, don't you? It's very good, I like that.
0:20:24 > 0:20:31- Thai people like to eat. We eat all the time.- Well, you eat very nice food.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33We'll let this boat go by.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40For the houses on the river, it's just like displaying,
0:20:40 > 0:20:46flowers in front of the house, and screening the pollution from his home.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49- I don't know this flower here. What is this one here?- Er...
0:20:49 > 0:20:52HE EXPLAINS IN THAI
0:20:52 > 0:20:55- Cat...- Cat's whiskers?
0:20:55 > 0:21:01So, I mean, does he find it easy to grow these plants in pots here on the river?
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Oh, yeah. He has to be careful. Because when you water the plant, the wood get heavier,
0:21:09 > 0:21:14- so the balcony can go and disappear! - Something that I hadn't thought of!
0:21:22 > 0:21:27It's a very, very beautiful house and garden. Tell him that for me.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29SHE SPEAKS IN THAI
0:21:37 > 0:21:41The beauty of Mr Lek's garden was real and gave me great pleasure,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45but it was entirely based upon utilitarianism.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50It was not created as anything like our idea of an exotic tropical garden.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58If you go looking for the exotic, the last place you're going to find it is where it grows,
0:21:58 > 0:22:03because the exotic is always what we can't have, what we can't grow.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07The exotic is a state of mind.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11It actually doesn't really exist at all.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27It's time to leave Bangkok and move on.
0:22:27 > 0:22:35And I haven't really perceived an indigenous Thai gardening culture here. I don't think it exists.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40But Bangkok's a modern city, and it's changing fast,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44and you can make a garden here in a matter of weeks, because of the extraordinary climate.
0:22:44 > 0:22:52So it's possible to develop a style for gardens, as opposed just for plants, very, very quickly.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55And it could happen.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13The next stage of my journey takes me south from Thailand, 900 miles to the city state of Singapore.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23I am making the journey by train, racing through the Malaysian jungles
0:23:23 > 0:23:31and palm oil plantations and enjoying the most civilised way that there is to travel.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Coming from Bangkok,
0:23:48 > 0:23:53which is so rich in images and human life
0:23:53 > 0:23:59and yet rather elusive when it comes to gardens, my next stop will be very, very different.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04For the last 40 years, the government in Singapore has been pursuing a programme
0:24:04 > 0:24:11of self-consciously greening the 270 square miles of this densely populated island nation.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16Today it promotes itself as a city in a garden.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Thank you.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30I am staying at the Shangri-la hotel, because it was built in 1971,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34right at the vanguard of the corporate drive to make Singapore a green city.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42The centrepiece is the lush, very green tropical garden,
0:24:42 > 0:24:48right at the heart of the hotel, with soaring planting down in the well of a balconied courtyard.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Well, there are strange things going on here,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07but it's a tale of two halves.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11And one half is really interesting and the other is disturbing and shocking.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Up above,
0:25:13 > 0:25:18with all this greenery and this rather beautiful architecture,
0:25:18 > 0:25:25it's a really good indication of what the hotel was setting out to do to embody the greening of Singapore.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29And succeeding. I think it's really beautiful. Below, you have this...
0:25:29 > 0:25:35weirdly horrible, phoney wood balustrading and steps,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39which looks like a bad theme park and could easily put you off.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43But, this is not a garden. This is really to get at the concept
0:25:43 > 0:25:46that is the greening of Singapore.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48And for that, it's really good.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Before I came to Singapore, I was sent this book
0:26:07 > 0:26:12called The Tale of the Magical Seeds,
0:26:12 > 0:26:19which is all about the wonderful greening of Singapore, issued by the national parks people.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21And I'll just read you a little bit of it.
0:26:21 > 0:26:27"There was once a beautiful tropical island in a clear blue sea." Are you sitting comfortably by the way?
0:26:27 > 0:26:32"Birds sang from trees and butterflies danced among the flowers.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36"Friendly animals played in the forest." You get the drift.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Anyway, people came along and liked it and decided to make it their home.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44It's significant the order of the words, "The people worked hard.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49"Trees were cut, land was cleared and many fine buildings and factories were built.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53"The harbour filled with ships and the city grew rich."
0:26:53 > 0:26:57And it says, "The birds and butterflies went away.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01"The friendly animals hid, the children became sick and everyone was sad."
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Not good.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07So they turned to this master gardener
0:27:07 > 0:27:11who has magical seeds which he sows and in due course, they grow.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Everything is rosy again and the island becomes a garden.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20And the last page is, "The island became a tropical paradise
0:27:20 > 0:27:25"where happy people and their children lived in a garden and cared for nature."
0:27:25 > 0:27:30That the government describes the greening of Singapore
0:27:30 > 0:27:36as a fairy tale is interesting, and there is no doubt that it is of huge symbolic importance to them.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41To find out exactly where the idea came from, we have been granted the rare privilege
0:27:41 > 0:27:47of an audience with the model for the mythical master gardener, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51I saw Hong Kong.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54I saw Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56and they were dreadful.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00I can't say that in public, I mean,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03they were concrete jungles, some tarmac and concrete.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08So I decided that we have to be different.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11When we started, it was just to combat the greyness
0:28:11 > 0:28:18and the drabness of a city which has no greenery.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Since the government of Singapore embarked on the greening project 40 years ago,
0:28:24 > 0:28:30skyscrapers and underpasses have been covered with plants,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34and more than 4,300 acres of parkland have been landscaped.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43It's transformed what would have been a very drab, grey place
0:28:43 > 0:28:46into a clean, green and exciting place.
0:28:48 > 0:28:55Well, it is famously clean, and I am keen to have a look at its greenness for myself.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59There is no doubt, this is very different to Bangkok.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03In this city devoted to frenetic consumerism, the roads are lined
0:29:03 > 0:29:08with fabulous mahogany and rain trees, both smothered in epiphytes,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12and they are lush, green and extremely beautiful.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25As part of Lee Kuan Yew's green fairytale vision, parks were laid out
0:29:25 > 0:29:31to give Singapore's densely packed population places to relax in, to take exercise and be stimulated.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36Bishan Park is held up as a fine example of Singapore's creation of these green spaces.
0:29:36 > 0:29:42I am told that it is packed at weekends, but during office hours it is all but empty.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52This is a very disturbing place.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58It's got all the ingredients, and clearly there was a corporate plan to...
0:29:58 > 0:30:02make it beautiful - get a designer in,
0:30:02 > 0:30:09clad the place in all the recognised elements of an enjoyable and pleasant garden.
0:30:09 > 0:30:15And it sort of has. But a garden must have humanity
0:30:15 > 0:30:22and the more quirky and the more individual that humanity is, the better the garden will always be.
0:30:22 > 0:30:28The truth is that it is easier for a garden to pass through the eye of a needle than be good and corporate.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33Singapore proclaims itself the city in a garden, but I don't think I've yet found that garden.
0:30:33 > 0:30:39Dr Lawrence Leong Chee Chiew is from N-Parks, the government department in charge of the greening process.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43Maybe he can help me solve this conundrum.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49If we indeed want to be a city in a garden,
0:30:49 > 0:30:54so that the city actually rises from a garden ambience,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58then we need the presence of a garden, everywhere you go.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02How would you define a garden as opposed to a park?
0:31:02 > 0:31:07A park must have space for informalrecreation activities.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11But a garden is what you have here in this small area
0:31:11 > 0:31:16where particular attention is paid to how the plants are displayed.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19And if you extend this to the whole of Singapore,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24and you consider Singapore as a garden, then you have to see
0:31:24 > 0:31:31our roadsides, plants on our buildings, gardens along our canals.
0:31:31 > 0:31:38And now we are getting the people in the local communities to take up gardening as a hobby as well.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Can a garden be the entire city in all its component parts?
0:31:45 > 0:31:51Can it be dictated and laid out by governmental and corporate decree?
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Can it be enough that it is clean and useful and pleasant?
0:31:56 > 0:32:01Lots of questions. And although I know where my own instincts lie,
0:32:01 > 0:32:05I want to know more about Singapore's gardens, not my own attitudes.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10The truth is that, as most people in Singapore live in high rise flats,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13not many people have the chance to garden.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18But I have met up with Wilson Wong who is harnessing the enthusiasm of users of his internet message board
0:32:18 > 0:32:21to create a communal garden.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29Wilson, tell me the story of this garden. When did it start?
0:32:29 > 0:32:32This garden was started about two months ago.
0:32:32 > 0:32:38It was initiated, started by me, to actually bring gardening to the residents who live in this estate.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41- And who designed it? - I was the one who designed it.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44So, you conceived it, you got the money raised,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49- you persuaded people to do it, you've designed it. It's pretty much your baby.- Yeah. You can say that.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52And what have you got at this end?
0:32:52 > 0:32:58OK. In the front part of this garden, we actually designed a medicinal garden in a European garden style.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03So a herb garden based on a sort of European Renaissance model really.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Yes. We bring it to south-east Asia.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10OK. This here, I mean, these cat's whiskers,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14I last saw these in the backwaters of Bangkok.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17I never thought I would say that.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19But there we are, it's true.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23I have learned to appreciate the constant climate.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25All year round summer.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27We do not need to actually observe the seasons.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32Over here you can just plant, or plonk in whatever you want, as and when you want it.
0:33:34 > 0:33:40And this is a plant that can actually be used in one of our local dishes.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45You can smell it. It actually has a very fragrant, nice aroma.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48Ah! It does smell wonderful!
0:33:48 > 0:33:54- Now these are your vegetable beds. What's your soil like?- Oh!
0:33:54 > 0:33:59Over here the soil is very clay, so we have a very hard time trying to improve the soil texture.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03When you talk about soil, top soil, you get this kind of soil.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06So will you be making your own compost?
0:34:06 > 0:34:10We are going to make a little compost heap here, returning everything back into the ground.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14This is exactly what I like to hear! What are you growing there?
0:34:14 > 0:34:17This is actually water spinach.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22- These are your first crops.- No. - But it's only been going for a couple of months.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25- So you've already had one harvest? - Yes.
0:34:25 > 0:34:31We nurture plants and we cosset them and we take them through their life journey
0:34:31 > 0:34:36which, for cabbages, or purple sprouting broccoli or something,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40we can sow the seed in April and harvest the following March or April.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Yeah. But over here, all it takes is just less than a month.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48I feel so attached to this garden.
0:34:48 > 0:34:53In the middle of the night, I can bring my dog through this garden a couple of times.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55The residents here can be the witnesses.
0:34:55 > 0:35:01They say, "Now who is this crazy guy that comes down in the wee hours of the morning to look at his plants?"
0:35:01 > 0:35:03You're not alone, I assure you.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07- You are not alone.- So that's how attached I am to this garden.
0:35:08 > 0:35:13Wilson Wong's community garden is in itself wholly unremarkable,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16but it's undoubtedly the best thing I saw in Singapore.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21Although it might seem ordinary, it is filled with the passion and enthusiasm of one individual
0:35:21 > 0:35:26bucking the corporate blandness that threatens to smother the rest of the garden city.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30OK. To the Earth Walk, please.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32OK, sir.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42There's no doubt that Singapore is really eager, desperately eager,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45to present itself as a garden city.
0:35:45 > 0:35:51And I think it's completely genuine in that, to create what they call the city in a garden.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56But that can only come alive if it is driven not by the state
0:35:56 > 0:35:59but by the contrariness of individuals like Wilson.
0:35:59 > 0:36:05Predictably, at the airport, there is a display of orchids under the harsh terminal lights.
0:36:05 > 0:36:12Lush, exotic, beautiful, but completely artificial and rather depressing,
0:36:12 > 0:36:17and I feel further away from my idea of a tropical paradise than ever.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21But things are looking up, because my next stop is Bali.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24And on top of its obvious attractions,
0:36:24 > 0:36:29I know that gardens are completely central to the local culture.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39Bali is an Indonesian island just off the east coast of Java,
0:36:39 > 0:36:44and it is probably many people's idea of a perfect tropical paradise.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01Wow! How about that for a view?
0:37:06 > 0:37:08That is magnificent.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13The contrast with Singapore is dramatic and exciting.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18It feels as if the hunt for the ideal tropical garden is back on,
0:37:18 > 0:37:22and I celebrate by buying a snazzy piece of local headwear.
0:37:27 > 0:37:33Bali has a combination of three things that make one think they may well be gardeners.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37For a start, it's a volcanic soil, intensely fertile.
0:37:37 > 0:37:43Secondly, a long tradition of sophisticated use of land, so that they're growing things all the time.
0:37:43 > 0:37:50And thirdly, this climate which is common to the region, where everything grows tremendously fast.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55Put it all together, and it's perfect for making gardens.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01To really understand that Balinese gardening tradition,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04you have to know a little about the predominant religion.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09Unlike the rest of Indonesia where the majority are Muslim,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12more than 90% of Balinese practise their own version of Hinduism
0:38:13 > 0:38:17which gives them a deep and ingrained respect for the natural world.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24And if I really wanted to get under the skin of the modern domestic Balinese garden,
0:38:24 > 0:38:30I was told that I should first go to a temple garden, and the best known of these is Pura Taman Ayun.
0:38:30 > 0:38:36It was built in 1634 as part of the capital of the ancient kingdom of Mengwi.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47A member of the local ruling family, Agung Prana, gave me the guided tour.
0:38:47 > 0:38:52This is the central court where people usually prepare the offerings
0:38:52 > 0:38:56and perform the ritual dances.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00And what's the significance of the trees you have here?
0:39:00 > 0:39:07Those trees are special frangipani that we use very much as the main part of the offerings.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11And what's that tree there with the sort of scarf wrapped round?
0:39:11 > 0:39:17It's also a holy tree that we use as part of the offerings.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22Because, in the offering, the main part of the offering is flowers.
0:39:22 > 0:39:23The flowers are practical.
0:39:23 > 0:39:28They have significances, their symbolic significance.
0:39:28 > 0:39:33- Yeah.- What about the trees themselves, are they included in the...
0:39:33 > 0:39:35sensation of reverence?
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Yes. It is. We have the philosophy of life in Bali.
0:39:39 > 0:39:45we have what we call Tri Hita Karana. We have to be friendly and in harmony with our God.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48We have to be friendly and in harmony with our environment
0:39:48 > 0:39:54and also socially with the human to human. And that's the balance of three, yeah.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Now this is the entrance to the next court, is it?
0:39:57 > 0:40:02Yeah. This is the main entrance to the main part of the temple, is the inner court,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07which is the holy part of the temple where prayer will be conducted.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09- So can we go through?- No.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14Unfortunately people who are not praying, can only see it from the other side of the temple.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Ah! My word. So this...
0:40:28 > 0:40:30I hadn't expected to see this.
0:40:30 > 0:40:36Yeah. This is the inner court of the temple, this is the holy part,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39and this part is surrounded by the water.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45Lotus and water lily is very much used in the offering.
0:40:45 > 0:40:51Beautiful looking, but also it is the symbol of the seat of our deities and gods.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55We try to keep it in serenity.
0:40:55 > 0:41:01So serenity, it has a religious function and it's to do with the gods, and it's just beautiful.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03That's altogether.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08Now explain to me the different functions of these buildings.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12Those with the black roof, they are the shrines.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17Those building with the grass roof, they are the place of the offering,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21a place for the ritual singers,
0:41:21 > 0:41:25and then also the place for the priest to conduct the ceremony.
0:41:44 > 0:41:51I'll take my hat off. It's not the most flattering thing, but very good at keeping the sun out.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56I'm overwhelmed by this place.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01My reaction on coming here was fundamentally delight.
0:42:01 > 0:42:07And, above all, this sense of balance and harmony that integrates
0:42:07 > 0:42:15every aspect of life, whether it be plant, human, spiritual,
0:42:15 > 0:42:20as one completely interwoven tapestry that you can't possibly unravel,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22and I think very beautiful.
0:42:48 > 0:42:56Now it is important to square both sides of the equation, of the spiritual and the normal human life.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00And to get the humanity side of things...
0:43:00 > 0:43:02Whoops!
0:43:02 > 0:43:04Hello! I'm busy. In a minute. OK?
0:43:04 > 0:43:09..I've taken myself to the Kumbasari, the night market in Denpasar,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13which is about the busiest place I've ever been to in my life.
0:43:13 > 0:43:20However...even in here, the spiritual is to be found.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23Um...
0:43:34 > 0:43:39All over the market, I found flowers and their petals for sale.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43These aren't for decoration but, just as in the temple,
0:43:43 > 0:43:48they are the ingredients for making offerings to the gods.
0:43:48 > 0:43:54The completed offerings, intricate baskets that are said to represent the universe, are also made here.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58Now traditionally, these would have been made from flowers from people's own gardens,
0:43:58 > 0:44:03and I think a domestic home and garden is where I should go next.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11But before that, I need to sleep.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27It's another absolute scorcher today,
0:44:27 > 0:44:33and I'm feeling a bit fragile because I spent the night without a wink of sleep, inflicted by...
0:44:33 > 0:44:35let's call it "Bali belly".
0:44:35 > 0:44:42But there's still lots to see and, having seen the way that temples
0:44:42 > 0:44:48were laid out and all the ritual significances tied into plants, and how people use them,
0:44:48 > 0:44:53now I'm going to visit a private house which is in a compound,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57and an awful lot of Balinese people live in these compounds,
0:44:57 > 0:45:01which are laid out in many of the same ways as a temple.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06The temple gardens were clearly defined spaces,
0:45:06 > 0:45:11yet their role and the role of the gardens and shrines in general, seems fused together.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16A local resident, Bragies Warung, has offered to show me round this compound,
0:45:16 > 0:45:21which is one of many in the village, each home to an extended family
0:45:21 > 0:45:25and laid out in the same way, with individual buildings arranged within a large enclosed courtyard.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32This is the house for living.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36This is for the old men because they open bali.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40- Bali means house, does it? - Yeah. Bali means house in Balinese.
0:45:40 > 0:45:46- Right. And this building here? - This is, we call paon, in Balinese language. We call kitchen.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51So the kitchen there, and then in the middle there's this area.
0:45:51 > 0:45:57They use for all kind of ceremony, preparing the offering or cremation ceremony, wedding, whatever.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01- And what are they making there? - They prepare for the offering.
0:46:01 > 0:46:02For offering for what?
0:46:02 > 0:46:07The offering is similar to gift, something you give to God.
0:46:16 > 0:46:23Now what we have here, looks to me like a little temple or a shrine.
0:46:23 > 0:46:29Everyone, even in modern life, they have a small temple in the house.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32- Can we go through?- Yes.
0:46:32 > 0:46:38- So you have plants inside. - Yeah. This is hibiscus I think.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40That's where we need the flower.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43- You need the flowers.- Yes.
0:46:43 > 0:46:49- This, pinka we call. This used for... - Do you have a plant for a bad tummy?
0:46:49 > 0:46:55- For somebody have - what you call that - when they are pregnant, they have.- No, I'm not pregnant.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57- That's the one they have here.- OK.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05This called bale daja.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10People just get married and they must stay a bit privacy here.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13- So they have privacy, and pregnancy plants outside.- Yeah!
0:47:13 > 0:47:18- Absolutely. Altogether.- Very useful. - Yeah. Very useful.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22- And also this plant...- And does it have a use?
0:47:22 > 0:47:27Oh, yeah. They use for the anti-mosquito actually.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32And what's over there with those huge coconut trees?
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Oh, this garden. Yes, the back garden.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42- It's cool-er here, isn't it? - Yes, it's quite cool, for us.
0:47:42 > 0:47:48Well, quite cool. It's actually just roasting hot,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52as hot as anything, but slightly less hot than outside.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Would people treat this like a place
0:47:56 > 0:48:00- to come and relax in, or is it just for work?- Oh, yes, also, also.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05In the hot day like this time after they have plan, they have meal,
0:48:05 > 0:48:10the children and the mummy and everyone, go to the backyard.
0:48:10 > 0:48:16Are people making modern gardens in the spirit of this garden?
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Oh, this garden is completely like here.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Wild, they grow wild.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23But useful, yeah?
0:48:23 > 0:48:31But modern plan is different and the concept of original Balinese garden, very different.
0:48:40 > 0:48:47There is one big question that has to be addressed and that is, is this a garden?
0:48:47 > 0:48:53Well, clearly it's fascinating and it's instructive and it's stimulating.
0:48:53 > 0:49:00But I think the garden side of it was summed up for me by watching the women sitting where I am now,
0:49:00 > 0:49:04making up the offerings from flowers they had grown,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07little baskets from the coconut leaves,
0:49:07 > 0:49:14and then going out and placing them with the relevant ritual. And that whole process, using plants,
0:49:14 > 0:49:20sitting in the centre of the household, relating to their gods and balancing everything,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24balancing their entire world through these plants
0:49:24 > 0:49:28seemed to me the essence of what is happening here.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32It's not something I've ever found in this way anywhere else in the world.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43The intimacy of the people and their plants,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46and the daily rituals of gathering the leaves and flowers
0:49:46 > 0:49:49for the offerings and carefully making them into the beautiful little posies,
0:49:49 > 0:49:57seems to me to be as much gardening as any of our own more familiar horticultural primping and preening.
0:49:57 > 0:50:03But even in Bali, there is a distinct element of this belonging to the past
0:50:03 > 0:50:11and I am curious to know how these complex and subtle traditions could be applied to a modern garden.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14So, with that in mind, I go off to the Batajimbar Estate.
0:50:17 > 0:50:23As Bali was opened up for tourism, first in the '30s and then more fully in the '70s,
0:50:23 > 0:50:29wealthy holiday makers wanted their conveniently westernised luxury holiday homes
0:50:29 > 0:50:33to be adorned with gardens with a Balinese feel.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38Guests on this estate have included Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall and, it's rumoured, Princess Diana.
0:50:41 > 0:50:47Already it's clear that there are elements of the compound here.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50But, as you walk in,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54there is a distinct aura...of money.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01In contrast to what I've seen elsewhere in Bali,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05the house is distinctly luxurious and the gardens are landscaped and grand.
0:51:05 > 0:51:13But the real attraction, and something we haven't seen at all yet looking for this paradise, is this.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15It's right slap on the sea.
0:51:17 > 0:51:24The warm tropical sea, lapping just a few feet away from the edge of the garden.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29Now, as a gardener, it's astonishing that you can have a garden like this so close to the sea.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32So that's unusual.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36But I think the key here is it's fulfilling all the fantasies
0:51:36 > 0:51:42of what we westerners, we tourists, want when we go on holiday.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49The ceremonial house is handsome,
0:51:49 > 0:51:55and the banyan tree is by far the most striking example I've seen on the whole of this trip.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00And the shrines are genuine. They're in the north-east corner of the boundaries of the garden
0:52:00 > 0:52:06but, there's none of the mess, there are no chickens walking around in it. It's very sanitised.
0:52:07 > 0:52:13This is a wonderful tropical holiday retreat.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15But I don't need a holiday.
0:52:15 > 0:52:21I'm in pursuit of the authentic tropical garden, and this is not it.
0:52:31 > 0:52:36The Batajimbar Gardens represent the beginning of a modern Balinese gardening style.
0:52:36 > 0:52:43But they were laid out over 30 years ago and so now, I want to see how modern Balinese design has evolved.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54My last visit in Bali is to a man called Made Wijaya.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57In fact, he was born in Australia and called Michael White,
0:52:57 > 0:53:04but he came to the country 30 years ago, fell in love with it, stayed here and made a beautiful garden.
0:53:04 > 0:53:10Others admired it so much that he made gardens for them, and quickly became established
0:53:10 > 0:53:15as an internationally renowned garden designer, specialising in tropical gardens.
0:53:15 > 0:53:20So what I want to know from him is how he's taken all the culture
0:53:20 > 0:53:26and ritual and spirit of the ancient Balinese style of garden
0:53:26 > 0:53:31and turned it into a thriving garden design business.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50Made arrived in Bali in 1973 by, at least according to his version,
0:53:50 > 0:53:53swimming ashore after first jumping ship during a violent storm.
0:53:53 > 0:53:59And whilst perhaps this is not the whole truth, the story seems to fit his larger-than-life persona.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Somehow it's not surprising that this garden started off
0:54:03 > 0:54:08as a commission for someone else, until he realised he liked it so much he had to keep it.
0:54:08 > 0:54:15When you began to create gardens using Balinese courtyards and traditions, did you have to jettison
0:54:15 > 0:54:23any of the Balinese cultural history and how much did you have to bring in to put on top of it?
0:54:23 > 0:54:30Having grown up in Sydney, which was a sub-tropical paradise with artful natural English design trends,
0:54:30 > 0:54:35it was easy for me in my work to introduce a more natural look.
0:54:35 > 0:54:43But I was very influenced working with the Balinese gardeners and living in a Balinese society,
0:54:43 > 0:54:46by the fecundity, the wild colours, the incredible statuary,
0:54:46 > 0:54:52the peopling of the gardens with all of these shrines and things.
0:54:52 > 0:54:58So, in one way, I've been trying to keep the shrines and the idea of a spiritual garden,
0:54:58 > 0:55:03without it becoming too kitschy or cheesey or Disneyland.
0:55:05 > 0:55:12I'd like you to talk me through your garden here because, clearly, it's based on a compound,
0:55:12 > 0:55:17but the compounds I've seen have had almost no aesthetic consideration -
0:55:17 > 0:55:23that seems to be incidental to the practical uses. Yet this is primarily aesthetic.
0:55:23 > 0:55:29I wanted it to be first and foremost a little mini history of all the different Balinese landscape trends.
0:55:29 > 0:55:36So I chose red brick shrines, and then I had water features that I'd seen in the palaces of east Bali.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41I've tried to collect ornamental courtyard trees and shrubs
0:55:41 > 0:55:45that you find in Balinese temples and palaces.
0:55:45 > 0:55:51And the last one is a sand garden, which is a homage to the old sand gardens of the temples of Sanur,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53the coastal gardens.
0:55:54 > 0:56:00Made's garden is a complex series of interconnected courtyards which at once feels
0:56:00 > 0:56:06authentically Balinese, and yet also thoroughly modern.
0:56:06 > 0:56:13How do you feel that westerners coming to Bali, seeing the light and the lushness and the fecundity,
0:56:13 > 0:56:18and then trying to recreate it back at home in grey London, or Paris or New York?
0:56:18 > 0:56:20I mean, do you think that can work?
0:56:20 > 0:56:22It really doesn't work.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26I'm forever being led into houses all over the world, "You must see our Balinese garden."
0:56:26 > 0:56:31And it's like the anti-Christ! It's horrible, cultural prostitution almost.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33But it's also very bitty and nasty.
0:56:33 > 0:56:39I think you always need to have cultural and geographical reference in a garden, it's better.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44How much of that is going to be lost as the culture changes, as it's going to?
0:56:44 > 0:56:48Bali has a way of surviving. So it's survived Islamification.
0:56:48 > 0:56:54It's survived colonisation. It's pretty much survived mass tourism.
0:56:54 > 0:56:59Will it survive the real estate boom, which is putting the garden down? Let's see.
0:56:59 > 0:57:07Made's garden was not what I had imagined would be the goal of my journey, but I loved it.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12I'd found a truly creative garden using local and, to me, very exotic planting,
0:57:12 > 0:57:19as well as being deeply entrenched in a local idiom, but making something new from it.
0:57:25 > 0:57:31I set out on this trip to find the perfect tropical paradise,
0:57:31 > 0:57:34the garden that was the prototype
0:57:34 > 0:57:40for all those tens of thousands of jungle gardens that are made at home.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44But I've come to the conclusion that it's a fantasy.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47It's a figment of our holiday imagination.
0:57:47 > 0:57:53And what we're trying to do is store that experience, so that we can feed off it like a battery.
0:57:53 > 0:57:59Nevertheless, over the 2,000 miles I've travelled throughout south-east Asia,
0:57:59 > 0:58:04I have seen fascinating things along the way, all suggesting some kind of tropical ideal.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09There were the practical, busy gardens of the klongs in Bangkok.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13And the wonderful compounds in Bali.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18That overwhelming lushness and fecundity right across the region,
0:58:18 > 0:58:22and the modest but intense passion of the new gardeners in Singapore.
0:58:22 > 0:58:27All these had elements of the idealised exotic garden.
0:58:27 > 0:58:32But as for that real tropical paradise?
0:58:32 > 0:58:38Mankind will always be looking for that Shangri-la, that wonderful place.
0:58:38 > 0:58:40And actually it exists within you.