Get off my ship day was of course sad. But a day at Changi Airport made it a bit better. Debarking was slow so wonderfully I was off the ship at 10. My fight was at 11pm. So 13 hours to fill in. And I had a wonderful day.
Yep you read that right! 13 enjoyable hours in an airport.
Changi airport in Singapore is supposed to be the best airport in the world to spend a long time in. So I accepted the challenge.
And wow.
The “Jewel of Changi” has just opened. A new part attached to terminal one. A massive shopping center / future world and gourmet experience. All the major airlines have an early Check-in desk in the Jewel. You can check in 12 hours before your flight!
The Jewel is a giant glass tetrahedron building.
In the centre – as in the middle, is a massive waterfall. THE best man made waterfall ever. Also the highest.
A huge glass bowl fills with water that makes the most amazing pattens as it spins and rushes down the sides.
It then reaches the centre and plummets down a vortex and falls over 40 meters.
It crashes into another glass vortex and disappears through the floor. The mist and the air currents produced were fantastic. We stood and breathed the negative ions produced! I spent ages there.
Surrounding the waterfall is a massive tropical garden. You have no idea what I mean by massive. This place is like a botanical garden. Seven stories of amazing plants. All the rainforest plants.
The sky train between terminals two and three runs through and past. Of course I expected dinosaurs to appear, Jurassic Park style.
The food court was super. Every kind of food you could want. And excellent.
Locals come here as a day trip.
The top story was surreal. Futuristic. Amazing. Up under the glass dome is another massive garden. This one had fig trees with trunks 1.5 meters in diameter.
Some trees were well over 10 meters tall.
If you have been to the two garden domes in Singapore you will have some idea of what this might be like, but the numbers of trees and the size of them was immense.
Scattered all around the canopy were glass walkways, viewing balconies and a huge adventure park of nets and rope bridge walkways. Of course all around were bars and restaurant. And yes we sat there for quite some time looking and enjoying. And imagining we were on Mars.
An a cappella group sang and the acoustics were fantastic.
Can you believe I spent six hours there before I even went through into the air side of the terminal.
Once inside there was still a lot to see. And many ks to walk. I checked into terminal one then headed off to terminal three to see the butterfly house.
Then to Two to see the Orchids and the sunflowers. Also the Koi pond.
Back to One to see the kinetic raindrop sculpture. The water Lilly ponds. The cactus garden.
Nine hours after stepping out of my Grab car ( the Asian version of Uber) I went I to the lounge.
I sure enjoyed that shower!!
13 amazing hours at an airport. Can you believe it.
And then home.
My awesome holiday was over.