anat0l

Sunday, 31 May 2009

I will apologise in advance to the faithful reader (you must be since you got this far); since these events happened over a month ago now, I am having a bit of trouble recalling the exact sequence of events. But like any good human being, I will try my best (and Kiwi Flyer, please feel free to add your two cents).

I'm not usually a morning person, but I woke up fairly early in the morning (and I know it was early, because I groggily fumbled for my mobile to check the time). I tried to go back to sleep (because I knew I still had a considerable sleep debt banked up let alone on this short trip), but I only managed about another hour or so before the discomfort of the short couch coupled with the coolness of the room got the better of me, so I was up. I had a peek through the curtains and without much surprise the sun was up and clearly beaming strongly in true equatorial climatic fashion. I went and washed my face and brushed my teeth, then changed into my exercise clothes and fired up my trusty eeePC and entertained myself by watching some videos on my portable hard drive, but it wasn't too long before I tired of that. Thankfully, I had wasted just enough time to have a peek and realised that there was only 45 minutes before the end of breakfast service. Kiwi Flyer hadn't woken up yet, but passing up a free breakfast (especially in Asia) wasn't on my cards, so I went down to the second level to the hotel restaurant.

Oh, and if you must know, I wasn't hung over (and I'm not lying because otherwise the first thing I'd probably be doing is going back to sleep after taking two paracetemol tablets or ibuprofen). So in my record of consuming alcohol, the score stands so far (and as of this post, still is) 1 incident of throwing up, 0 incidents of hangovers and 0 incidents of regrettable actions/arrests/accidents/etc. (you get the idea ). I'm sorry there are no pictures of the restaurant or breakfast, because in my haste to get in before breakfast service stopped....yep, you're right again, faithful reader....I didn't take my camera.

I won't insult you by telling you the obvious that it was very humid outside (oh wait, oops ). The restaurant was very stylish, which you sometimes don't usually associate with Asian restaurants, let alone in a CP, but the combinations of Chinese patterned "open" walls and the artistic use of glass and different coloured tiles gave a nice lift to the character of the restaurant (although I guess a strict Chinese would prefer more red and a brighter setting than dark/low-lighting and blue/green hues). I fronted up to the restaurant front desk and they requested a room number - I provided our room but said that I was the "other person" in the room, not the person who booked the room. It took them a bit to get me in, but in the flurry of Mandarin conversation I was let in, but not before they asked me what happened to Kiwi Flyer. They encouraged me to call the room and try and persuade him to come have breakfast before the service winds up. With nothing to lose (except possibly Kiwi Flyer's good graces for waking him up unnecessarily), I made the call and was relieved to hear that he had just woke up and was on his way downstairs. I waited for him before the attendants seated us.

The breakfast buffet had two sides to it, and most people will have probably guessed by now that the two sides are.........Western and Asian (those of you who guessed Continental and Hot, partial credit ). We both headed for the Asian end of the buffet and found various delights such as assorted dim sum, hot noodle soup, nasi lemak, congee and other assorted items (of course, mostly Chinese and Malay). I loaded up generously on food, whilst Kiwi Flyer took a much more sensible amount, and it was during this meal that I discovered that Kiwi Flyer is another person who has a fire-proof stomach (i.e. he eats chillis).

Selecting the noodles was particularly interesting, since it looks like self-service (i.e. choose your ingredients then pour hot soup on top), but actually a chef cooks it for you, i.e. cooks the noodles in boiling water before serving it with your chosen ingredients with hot stock soup. After handing me my bowl of hot noodle soup, he asked me whether I had tried everything on the buffet (in Singlish, pronounced /boof-fay/) yet. I replied in the negative, of which he told me to make sure I make it my objective to do so. In Singaporean fashion, I replied, "Of course...after all that is what people in Singapore do at a buffet, right? If have buffet, you must try a bit of everything." (Yes, I was speaking syncopated Singlish ) We both laughed as I wished him well.

Kiwi Flyer was happy with his one plate that he selected and was more interested in getting back to the room to do some work, so he soon left me in the restaurant as I went back to the buffet for another round; I'd particularly enjoyed the nasi lemak (coconut rice) with sambal (curry) eggs (no ikan bilis (fried little fishes) for me, though, but I did add fried shallots). I also could not pass up trying a piece of toast with kaya (coconut jam), which I had not had for a very long time (since 2006 when I was last visiting my mum's family in Malaysia). Soon enough, after a few plates of food (and yes I was a good boy and had some fruit), plus quite a few cups of Chinese tea, I was stuffed, so I made my way back to the room.

When I arrived back, Kiwi Flyer, true to his word, was well and truly working with the TV in the master bedroom blaring in the background. Before going out to do some exploring, my first stop had to be the gym, because I sure as was not interested in dropping in my step count for the day. The gym is located on level 3, so I did an hour of walking on the treadmill, racking up a few thousand steps in the process and working up quite a sweat. Needless to say after that workout I had no trouble demolishing quite a few cups of water from the nearby cooler.

A leisurely walk back to the room, I grabbed the camera and decided to walk about. The leisurely walk ensured that the sweat I had worked up at least evaporated up a little bit (even though it was quite humid), and I wanted to get more steps before having a shower.

Did I say it was quite humid? Well, let the photos tell the story...yes, it was so humid that the lens on my camera fogged up; I tried to wipe them off with a "dry" part of my shirt, with no success.




The centre of the CP has lots of trees; you can also see the body of water in the second photo - that's a swimming pool


Lobby lounge, ground floor

I was wondering around the ground floor when it only occurred to me to ask the reception desk for some tissues. Wipe off the lens again, and voila! Clear as crystal:


Looking up at part of the swimming pool from the second floor. No that's not goldfish - it's leaves.


The front entrance from the street, as viewed from the second level


Entrance to the CP at level 2 as accessed from SIN T3

My trekking for steps took me beyond the CP and into the landside sections of SIN airport. For those that want more steps in an airport, there are three simple rules: (a) use stairs, not escalators or lifts; (b) eschew travelators (and sometimes you'll travel even quicker than those that do use such equipments!); and (c) travel via the longest journey between two points that you can cover by walking in the time required to go between those two points (no brainer here).


Flight information display at SIN T3. Notice how flights from all four terminals (T1, T2, T3 and the budget terminal) are shown (although the other terminals simply show "Go to Terminal x" in the Remarks column). Flights to Chinese destinations (e.g. Hong Kong, Shenzhen) fade between English and Chinese type.


Almost all signs are displayed in four languages: English, Bahasa Indonesia, Simplified Chinese and Japanese


A baggage claim hall in T3. No baggage claim hall throughout all of SIN airport is the same as the other.

Having walked about in T3 through shopping areas and brushing past the large complex that was the SQ F check-in area, my striding took me to SIN T2 next.


Departures hall in SIN T2


Old style looking FID in SIN T2, though this FID is only used to show which check-in row to go to and remarks on the flight - it won't tell you which gate you'll need to race to.


A SilkAir aircraft that has just recently pushed back as observed from the observation deck on landside of SIN T2


A cute cafe located below the observation deck but on the airside of SIN T2. I wish I could say it was located in the forest of the airport, but that's just an illusion of the camera position.


I got this photo of the front of the CP Changi from the departures level kerbside of SIN T2. IIRC many people - particularly those on SQTalk - think the design of the front of the CP Changi is an abomination.

I might have walked more, but I was in imperative need of a shower, plus the check-out time was fast approaching. I made my way back to T3 and the room, but not before trying to get some bathroom accessories from a passing maid (which proved to be a challenge as she only spoke Mandarin, and I struggled with my broken Mandarin but eventually managed to get soap, shampoo and body lotion from her).

The bathroom behind the suite's master bedroom was huge. There was a walk-in toilet, walk-in shower, a huge bath tub and two vanity sinks. The bathroom was bigger than the master bedroom! One very refreshing shower later, it was just about time to start cleaning up and getting ready to check-out. Kiwi Flyer, being the elite traveller that he is, handily packed up quickly as I meticulously but hastily put my belongings into my luggage and backpack (including a spare change of clothes since BA15 was an overnight flight and I was through-checking my bag to MEL). There were three red apples (of extremely odd shape, I must add) on a short wooden platform on the desk, and I'll be the first to admit embarrassingly that I did not know they were complimentary until Kiwi Flyer unreservedly picked one up and bit into it.




Shots of the suite at the CP Changi

A quick check of belongings and we were downstairs on the ground level for check-out, which was efficiently completed. That done, it was off to the inter-terminal train to SIN T1.