Visiting a Labyrinth and some Mazes in Singapore

I had the opportunity to visit Singapore recently and visit my friend who lives there. I came away very impressed with the city. If you have a chance to visit the country, by all means take it. During my trip I took a mini trip to the edge of town to visit a labyrinth ! Here is what I found:


Trip #1 - The Tampines Maze Garden

Location:

Block 945 Tampines Ave 4
Singapore 520945
Singapore

How to get there: Take the MRT to the Tampines Stop which is served by both the East-West Green Line (stop EW2) or the Downtown Blue Line (stop DT32). When you get off the train check the locality map which I have added the Maze Garden to (in red and blue). Depending on which train you take, your exit and street will change. Either trains exit is a quick 10 minute walk to the corner of Tampines Avenue 4 and 5.

Tampines MRT locality Map

Tampines MRT locality Map

Once there you will walk up a few steps and immediately see the labyrinth in front of you. As you can see below it is surrounded by blue benches. This circular labyrinth has pathways of concrete with walls made from grass and is surrounded by bricks.

The Tampines Maze Garden Labyrinth

The Tampines Maze Garden Labyrinth

The odd thing is it is not really a labyrinth - the pathways on every other ring do not have turnback’s - so you can actually choose the direction you move in. Here is a close-up to show you. Notice above the first normal turnback the anomaly:

The Tampines Maze Garden Labyrinth closeup

What I did not expect to find at the location were 2 hedge mazes, one on each side of the labyrinth running parallel to the avenues. Here are 2 pics of each.

Overall it was a nice little trip. I enjoyed the hedge maze even though it was not difficult for an adult with short hedges !

I thought my maze visits were over until I was sightseeing downtown and stumbled upon another Maze !

Trip #2 - The Youth Olympic Park

Location: Next to the Helix Bridge

Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039805
Singapore

I was checking out the Helix Bridge (a must see with great views of the Bay) when I came across the Youth Olympic Park. Here you will find wide pathways separated by hedges and statues, and you guessed it, you are in a maze ! The coolest part is it was designed by two 11 year-olds in a contest as told by this plaque in the park:

The Youth Olympic Park Plaque

Here a some photos of the maze, one from inside it, and the other from above on the pathway leading to the Helix bridge.

And from this spot you are just a few steps from the Helix Bridge and some wonderful views. I could post 20 pictures here but I’ll just do 1 to give you a taste of the spot, the initial view you’ll see as you walk up (and I think it gets better!).

Helix Bridge; Singapore

So if you are a maze or labyrinth enthusiast and you are in Singapore, you have options for a few little adventures !

I had more Maze adventures in Asia:

Visiting Labyrinths in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Visiting a Garden Maze in Taipei

Trying to Create New Labyrinth Shapes

Sometimes I sit down in front of my computer and try to make new labyrinth styles. Usually it does not work. The labyrinth has been around for thousands of years. It looks great and walking it makes sense. My first published stab at making new labyrinth designs was this post where I tried to create love and reconciliation labyrinth shapes (i.e. heart shaped, 2 center 1 exit).

Now, let’s look at a few more labyrinth shapes I workshopped and see what I came up with:

The Cross Labyrinth

Labyrinths are used for spiritual walking and meditation. If you are ever in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Chaparral Christian Church has a cross shaped labyrinth:

Chaparral Labyrinth illustration

Chaparral Labyrinth illustration

My version of a cross labyrinth is the best of the 5 different versions I created (in my opinion of course). It can still be improved, I’m sure, but for now here is my interpretation:

Cross Shaped Labyrinth.

Cross shaped labyrinth

I wanted to make sure the final walk ended in the center of the cross moving towards the top. You may also notice that the walk around the cross takes place 3 times purposefully to represent the Holy Trinity.

The Yin and Yang Labyrinth

My next labyrinth was the idea of Yin and Yang as a labyrinth. You already have a circular shape and obviously this would need two entrances. Below is what I came up with, which might actually be a good dual paisley labyrinth. I think if this was made it would need to be done with black brick on one side and white on the other. So I show you the 2 options:

The Figure 8 Labyrinth

And now a dual entrance/exit dual spiral figure 8 labyrinth, which sound like me trying to fit a lot of words into a name. Let’s just call it a Figure 8 Labyrinth. In my diagram the entrance/exit on the sides of the labyrinth (in red) is a pathway ramp that starts at ground level and goes under the labyrinth. You take a spiral staircase up the center, walk the figure 8, then go down the spiral staircase in the other center, underground and out the other side.

Figure 8 Labyrinth

So the question is - is the underground cheating ? This strategy could be adapted for any number of similar labyrinths, like the Buddhist endless knot, the Turk's head knot or any of the many Celtic Knots. I may come back to this one day.

The Double Spiral Inclined Labyrinth

This has certainly been done before somewhere. Just a spiral inside a spiral so there are two paths in and out. Either 2 people walk at once and meet in the middle or you walk one path in and the other out ?

My latest idea is that each step you take is on a slight incline up until you reach the top, which is a plateau, then the second pathway comes down at a similar incline. I would switch the inner spiral labyrinths start to be farther from the other spiral to accomplish this in real life. So viewing this from afar it has almost a pyramid shape.

Double Spiral Labyrinth

So those are few ideas I came up with. I tried to make a few others that did not go well or were too similar to other ideas.