The Secret Garden and The Rain Forests

At the lower ground floor of 1 Utama Megamall in Petaling Jaya, Selangor is a hidden gem known as The Secret Garden. To access this place, you need to look out for Secret Recipe Restaurant and the elevators are located just diagonally opposite. When inside the elevators, you can see that The Secret Garden is located on the UR floor which probably stands for 'Upper Roof'.

Above is my snapshot of the place near The Secret Garden where you can take free shots. It is only opened on weekends and public holidays from 10am to 10pm.

Just beside the free photography area, is this place with decorations of roses and pictures hung up, where I also took the liberty to snap another photo for posterity.

When you enter, you need to write your name for visitors and the time entered and an optional column for telephone numbers if necessary. This is the view that greets you when you step in. There is a palm tree with lots of planted plants that are carefully tended, trimmed and watered to as opposed those that grow wild along the riverbanks.

As you walk further up, you will see this large plants resembling banana trees with its large fronds, except that they are of another species.

You will also find colourful crotons greet you with its many varieties of hues like red, orange, purple, green, yellow, etc. My parents used to plant many crotons in our garden of the landed property. They are identified from the many colourful leaves of a plethora of varieties like those with pear-shaped leaves, twisted leaves and the like.

Halfway of the The Secret Garden is this hanging plant from the ceiling called 'Stringy Cissus' which are carefully cut to shape and allows the visitors to walk through at just the correct height. It gives a feel of romanticism as one walks under it that stretches for a few metres.

As you exit the Secret Garden, you will find the same elevator that brought you up and this is the graphic decoration of the lift. There is a facebook page to sign up for the Secret Garden.

As we exit the Secret Garden, and walk on the right side, we saw signs leading to The Rain Forests and followed the guide sign. This is the entrance to the Rain Forests which was near open dining concept restaurants. There were ponds and huge trees.

The architect must have designed The Secret Garden and The Rain Forests together to blend in the two at different spots for unique attractions only at 1 Utama Megamall.

One can also find koi fishes or Japanese carp hiding under a plant in the koi pond of The Rain Forests. At least you can experience the natural ecosystem within a shopping mall.

There are also waterfalls of 2 to 3 storeys height showing The Rain Forests at different levels with koi ponds at the bottom most floor. This wraps up our visit to 1 Utama for natural mother nature being grown here.