Spending Time in Changi

Despite of having lived in Singapore for almost 3 years, and often went in/out the country through its airport, I rarely put much attention on Changi Airport nor enjoyed what’s inside. Because, I always got to the airport as late as I could, and go out from the airport as fast as I could to get to my house.

Last Saturday I had a flight that’s required transit in Changi Airport for about 3 hours. It was a connecting flight that I didn’t need to go through immigration nor check-in again, so quite plenty of time to spend, right.

First thing to do was getting wifi password. It should be easier if I had roaming SIM card, because the password would be sent via SMS to phone number. But the stupid Kartu Halo didn’t allow me to have roaming service because my monthly bill was not over 400k (what a stupid regulations!), so yeah, I went to Information desk to get my wifi password.

After informing my family about my arrival in Changi, I then started roaming around. I went to Flight Info machine, to scan the boarding pass of my next flight, to find the Terminal and Gate number. I arrived in Terminal 3 and apparently connected to a flight in Terminal 2.

While walking toward Skytrain to Terminal 2, I noticed a sign to Butterfly Garden and followed it. It’s a small 2 storeys garden with beautiful flowers & trees and few butterflies flying around freely. They were not many and not too special; no big or colorful butterflies that could attract your interest.

Next I went to… Watsons, haha. It’s just next to Butterfly Garden, so why wouldn’t I take a look some drugstore lipsticks for a while? *winks* I was interested in Bourjouis Rouge Velvet Edition in their store, which was difficult to find in Jakarta stores, but the price was S$25, more expensive than its usual price in Indonesian online shops, hmmmph.

I passed by some available free OSIM foot massage seats in Terminal 3 and wanted to try but I decided to go to Terminal 2 first and try it there. Wrong decision. I found fewer OSIM seats in Terminal 2 and all of them occupied. Terminal 2 was more crowded than Terminal 3, so yeah, less chance to get one there.

Ooh I just knew there was Hard Rock Cafe inside Changi Airport Terminal 3!

Still in Terminal 3, I noticed a sign called Powder Room (Bilik Solek). I was curious to see that make up room. Apparently it’s a big separated section inside ladies toilet with mirrors, seats and sofas. The sofas looked comfortable and quite far from the toilet; hmmm a perfect place for breastpumping! I was hoping Terminal 2 had this room also so I decided to breastpump later in Terminal 2. Again, wrong decision! There’s no Powder Room in Terminal 2.

As always, Changi was filled with cute decoration. I saw red house with Chinese language (representing Lunar New Year?), a couple of goats (representing Goat Year and Valentine?), and Japanese gates with Cherry Blossoms (representing Spring is coming?), and beautiful Koi Pond!

Just outside T3 Skytrain station in Terminal 2, there were a tiny interactive exhibition of Asian Civilization Museum, showing Kendi (traditional water bottle in South East Asia), Chinese Art and Peranakan Culture.

I then went to Transfer F station, thinking that perhaps I should report my Transfer/Transit status. I gave my boarding pass to the counter lady, she checked it and told me the Gate Number of my next flight. Errr that’s it? I’ve already known that information from Flight Info machine.

As I said before, there’s no the luxury Powder Room in Terminal 2, but it has Baby Care Room tho. When I went there for the first time, I saw a Mom and her child waiting impatiently outside a locked door and finally she walked to ladies toilet to breastfeed her child (poor them :|). That means the room could only be used by 1 person at the time. There were only 2 Baby Care Rooms in the whole Terminal 2 located very far from each other. It certainly wasn’t enough! Changi should start accommodate Moms and Baby needs more carefully. Ten minutes later, I checked the room again whether it’s already available or not. Yes, it was. So I went inside and locked the door. About fifteen minutes later, I could see from inside that somebody stood outside the door and wanted to get inside. I was still gonna be in this room for another fifteen minutes. I imagined someone outdoor needs to breastfeed her child, so I opened the door and offered to use the room together. There’s only 1 seat but the room was enough for 2-3 people, I could do breastpumping while standing. Apparently she wanted to wash her child’s bottle and eating tools in the hot water sink, so I could have the seat.

Next I went to second floor to the Entertainment Area. There were LAN Games spot for gamers, Movie Screening Theatre (at that time it’s showing 27 Dresses movie), computers with internet and relaxing area with TVs and electricity mount. There’s also Sunflower Garden on the terrace outside, where I saw an eccentric foreigner playing and singing with his guitar. Wow, Changi Airport does have everything for everyone!

There were plenty more things to explore in Changi but it’s time for me to fly again. For example, when you transit in Changi more than 5 hours, you can take free tour aroung the city for 2 hours! No wonder it’s one of the best airports in the world. Til we meet again this weekend, Changi, gonna try that OSIM massage!