Our Pride and Joy

Which Singaporean dun recognise this? Please raise your hand!!!!


This is our pride and joy, our GDP churner, our ever-underpaid pilot's base!! - CHANGI AIRPORT.


How many times have I departed and arrived Singapore, but just didn't take a good look at it? Now that I am here waiting for my "Ang"'s arrival, I walked around snapping away with my new camera, thinking that probably there is someone watching over me as to why I am taking so many pictures which may constitute me as a terrorist-to-be collecting information about Changi Airport...Hee hee....but bo leh....no one following me.....


It was in the 80s when I was in Primary School that I first stepped into Changi Airport - Terminal 1. The usual class / school tour after exams, holding hands, two by two, in uniform....


Now, Changi Airport is like another Shopping Mall, with so many restaurants, shops, etc.



At first, when Terminal 2 was going through a whole new renovation, I was thinking "Wah Lau, still so new! Need renovation meh?" But when the new look was revealed, it's impressive! Columns cladded with timber strips, skeletons ceiling panels diffusing soft lights and brightening the whole space. Marvellous!!

Then I walked onto unknown turf.



TAA DAA!!! - Changi Airport MRT Station. I wonder how many people uses this station? I mean, Singapore is always going for "niche" market - high rollers at casinos, best 1st class seats in SIA.....will these people take MRT?

Then I ventured further and saw these wonderful structures.



Beautifully cladded glass panels at the MRT platform. And look and the steel structures! It is the precise reason that steel prices have been shooting up!! Asian Games at Doha, Olympic Stadium in Beijing, all uses steel structures.....that's why there is a worldwide shortage of steel!

From MRT to Skytrain....



Har? Not working???

No....A brand new one here.....


And these caught my eyes......self check-in machines....



These are not new toys, they were already available in US and Europe for years. Then a thought came to me......Look at how airports evolved...


From a place where customs immigration takes place to a place where shops and restaurants sprouted,

From a place where it allows thousands of people passing through each day to having the tightest security anywhere,


From one airport to 3 terminals in an airport (or more in some other countries)

From custom officers to self clearance using biometric passports.....

This is the evolution of airports. Hmmm...how about airplanes? Still the same old seat upholstery, same old lavatory design, same narrow aisle. But oh....I shouldn't discredit the Krisflyer in flight entertainment...and the STILL UPCOMING A380, which is suffering from power struggle between the French and the Germans!! A great leap forward indeed!!

As I walked around the airport, I can hardly see any art installations that we used to have in Terminal 1. What I see now are....



Plants! Flora! Landscaping!!

Ok.....my Ang's flight landed, I better trot down to Arrival Hall.....

Then this feeling don on me, its like descending from Heaven to Hell!!



The ceiling height of the Arrival Hall is so much lower than the Departure Hall!! It was dimly lit!! It has ceramic/homogenous floor tiles as compared to the granite floor tiles in the Departure hall. It felt constrained!! It look sad. (Just in case anyone think I'm playing camera tricks, I'm not lor. Tried several different exposures, these are the best I can capture.)

Aren't we supposed to embrace the people who visits Singapore? Give them a good impression? And when they finally step onto Singapore's ground, a dimly lit, unwelcomed Arrival Hall?? Even the MRT Station looks better than the Arrival Hall!!

And while waiting at around Belt 35 for my Ang in that sad Arrival Hall, my stomach felt sad too....I need to Pang Sai.