When we arrived to Singapore, it was late. We had the option of risking trying to find a hotel/hostel still open, and we had the option of hanging out in the Singapore airport for 6 or 7 hours until the trains started running again the next day. Here’s what happened: Jason and I were way too tired to try and exert ourselves too much. On the other hand, we were also at the Singapore Airport, recognized by some as the best airport in the world. I haven’t been to every airport in the world, but I can say that being in Singapore’s Changi for 12 hours was nothing short of an experience. There’s an entire area in one of the terminals where you can sleep . . . in reclined bed/chair things, in darkness, etc. There are gardens everywhere. There’s a butterfly garden. There’s a movie theater. There’s street food stalls. There’s fancy food. There are chocolate stores everywhere. All the luxury designer brands. Everywhere. Everything. Here are some pictures.
“Caution! Buggy Movement.” And what follows are pictures from just one of the many extreme gardens littered across a “garden walk.” For those of you who have hours to kill, this was the most enjoyable way we found to spend our free time.
Singapore is definitely eco-friendly. Here’s just one example of conservation signage we saw. One picture I forgot to take was of the screens outside each bathroom. It tells you the bathroom attendant on duty and lets you rate the cleanliness of the bathroom 1-5 stars. Talk about crowd-sourcing employee performance reviews!
Notice the coy fish in the ponds. Yes, they are real. And every major garden had them.
Even in the most mall-like sections of the airport (Singapore and Malaysia have extensive mall cultures), the design was invigorating enough to keep my anti-capitalist notions from growing out of control:
It was easy to find food (and many different types of it) in Singapore at all hours of the night. From Indian to Chinese, you could pretty much satisfy your palate 24 hours a day:
“No buggies.”
“M&M w/ Durian.” And what follows are pictures from the butterfly garden. Being open-air with a mesh wall to keep the butterflies from escaping, going into the garden (even at night, which was when we visited) was hot and tropical. We were actually impressed that they let people go inside in the middle of the night. Though it probably would have been a lot more majestic during the day, seeing the creatures sleeping and the ambience of the night-lighting and the waterfall was quite lovely.
Sleep time:
“Mind the Gap.” The Entertainment Deck (below) is an entire floor dedicated to movies, video games, and music. There were apparently recording studio/booths, but we couldn’t find them.
“Last Plane to Jakarta.” (Mountain Goats, anyone?)
“Popular. Famous.” This picture would be the first of several taken throughout the trip featuring Jason in front of positive adjectives.
“Southern Indian.”
Here’s a pic of Jason being sad in front of the impressive three-story slide (yes, in the airport), which was closed for repairs during the time we were visiting.
“The Soaring Egret, Leads You to a Wider World.”
Next reflections: Singapore Day 1
Cambodian Life and Times of Greg Bem 