Part 3:
A day in Singapore, then SIN-HKG
I had my Grab driver drop me off at Gardens of the Bay as I figured it would be a nice place to start the day and a place from which I could take the subway to explore the city. I started walking around the gardens and they were quite beautiful. They’re definitely a tourist hotspot, but one that’s worth checking out. I then realized that I was exhausted. I spent most of my flight time enjoying the service (and the drinks!) so I didn’t get as much sleep as I had expected. I decided I would spend some time at the Gardens and just make it a low-key exploration of Singapore.
Accordingly, I ended up buying a ticket to the indoor garden areas. I’m glad I did. As a climate-controlled greenhouse, they were actually cooler than the outside air, but they also had really nice plant exhibits. The flower dome had lovely flower exhibits, and the theme displays were of cherry blossoms that month, which was nice as I was missing the peak bloom of the blossoms in Washington, DC. I then made my way to the Cloud Dome, which was much taller than I realized. You take a lift to the top and make your way to the bottom via a series of catwalks and escalators. Being slightly afraid of heights, I could only walk on the solid parts of the catwalks and not on the open grates, but it was a great experience, with pretty views and an interesting array of plants. I made my way to “Satay by the Bay,” which I think is a tourist site attempting to replicate the hawker stall experience. I ordered 10 sticks of satay and enjoyed it! (I really had planned to go to a real hawker stall place, but I was so tired!)
Afterwards, I made my way to the Marina Bay Sands just to check it out. It was a tall and beautiful building, but I decided to move on to another area. I headed to Chinatown to walk around for a bit. I spent some time there and visited the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, which was nice to see. Finally, my exhaustion caught up to me, so I headed back to the airport, by the MTR subway, which was perfectly easy.
I forgot to mention earlier that I had brought an extra small duffle carry-on with me that I put some dirty clothes and my SQ pajamas and amenity kit into. I checked it at SIN for the flight to HKG so that I wouldn’t have to lug those things around all day. I went to the First Class checking lounge to check it out and the service there was quite nice. Strangely though, when I tried to go through the “SIA First Class Immigration” I was told by the security guard that I was missing a gold sticker on my boarding pass and would need to go through regular immigration. I had plenty of time and didn’t feel like going back to a checkin counter, so I walked over to regular immigration, where I was selected for a full security check. I enjoyed the butterfly garden in Changi Airport.
I then headed to the SilverKris Lounge Private Room. I was still not that hungry, so I ordered a couple of snacks from the Indian Vegetarian menu, which were nice appetizers.
SIN-HKG
SQ2 – B777
I headed to board my flight and went through security by the gate. I was welcomed aboard by name. I was the last person in F to board, but First and Business were boarding through the same door, so I’m not sure if maybe the flight attendant caught a glance of my maroon colored boarding pass, or if not that, how he knew who I was. I’m glad I had the opportunity to fly F on the 777 so I could experience the seat for the first time and see the difference between Suites and First on SQ. I had booked 1A, which is just a fun seat to have, but I had not taken that one on the A380 because I wanted a suite with 3 windows (row 3.)
I took a nice glass of champagne as a pre-boarding drink and turned on some classic episodes of Absolutely Fabulous.
Meal orders were taken, and I had ordered a book-the-cook entrée of Curry Patta Lobster. I asked to just have the soup and entrée. I was then brought a Singapore Sling and some nuts.
The soup arrived, accompanied by bread. I chose garlic bread, of course, and a kind of focaccia roll that wasn’t very good. I really liked the soup.
The BTC curry patta lobster was ok. It was still kind of cool to have a nice lobster dish on a plane, but it was just kind of rubbery. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a standout. I’ve had the lobster thermidor on a previous trip and I think I’ve exhausted the novelty of inflight lobster.
I was so tired so I asked for a blanket, hoping to doze off for a bit. I was surprised when the flight attendant asked if I’d like her to make my bed, since the flight was so short. I said, yes please, and had a lovely short little nap.
I had preordered the Hello Kitty doll wearing the traditional SQ Sarong Kabaya and was produced to celebrate SQ’s 70th anniversary. I was told that I was lucky that I preordered because they aren’t available on the carts anymore and when they were, there were three per flight and always went quickly.
My lovely SQ travel experience came to a close as we landed in Hong Kong. I went through immigration and then out through baggage collection and Customs. I had intended to sign up for the eclearance program, but I didn’t realize that office was after immigration but before Customs. So I’ll have to queue up a few more times this trip. I went to the taxi line and went to my friend’s flat on Hong Kong Island. My taxi driver was born in Hong Kong but grew up in England, so had a great command of English and we had a nice conversation for the half-hour trip to my friend’s flat.