VN>PH: Singapore Transit Going Kuala Lumpur

So VietJet arrived ahead of schedule at Singapore's Changi Airport from Saigon. My "a little more than 5 hours" transit time became almost 6 hours of a leisurely transfer to my next flight to Kuala Lumpur! But what else haven't I seen and told you about this airport? Let's continue my previous story anyway.

My Vietjet flight landed at Runway 20R, therefore (I think) this must be T3, along Gates A15, 16, 17, etc.

Ah, another fascinating thing at Changi Airport are the airlines that come and go, many of them we do not even hear about in the Philippines. In that photo I can see 2 Lion Air planes in different tail colors and design, a Myanmar Air plane, and that nose of a plane at left edge of the pic is Garuda Indonesia!

And here is something else that we do not have - the taxiway passes over their highway and railway!

It may look like I was on any land vehicle when I took that photo, but actually, I was still on the plane as it taxied from Runway 20R going towards T4. Any land vehicle going to/from the airport pass below!

It's not just a simple road down below those two bridges. It's even a multilevel network - like 10 lanes of the Airport Blvd. (5 lanes on each way); 4 lanes of T4 Way (with flyovers); 4 lanes of West Perimeter Road; and, under all of them, the MRT Tunnel that connects this airport to Tanah Merah Station. Wow!

How do I know all of those? Sa kakadaan in and around this airport since the 1990s!

Here's more: after crossing the bridge... turning left goes to T2, but my plane turned right to T4.

There's something nearby, that's good-to-know, as not many of us will have a chance to experience in a lifetime. After that white building (their Inflight Catering Center), is Changi Airport VIP Complex - it's a separate, highly secured, luxurious terminal, though connected to T2 via golf carts, if/when needed.

That VIP Terminal is only used for arriving/departing high government officials (an example would be Kim Jung Un)! I think it's also used for dignitaries or celebrities who are official SG government guests.

Hindi yan para sa kung sinu-sinong congressman lang na naglalamyerda sa Singapore! Pang-official-visit talaga. I think wala tayong ganyan. Years ago, I remember there was Gate 3 at Manila's Terminal 1, pero gate lang yun, walang airline/immigration services at walang 'VIP private lounge' or event areas.

But... Dear Social Climber, kung gusto mo talaga ng private luxurious pampering na sosyalin, there is a similar facility in the next building, and that's the JetQuay Terminal. Magbabayad ka lang nga ng ubod ng mahal. Pero kung me pera ka naman, go ra! It is a CIP Terminal. Karamihan ng clients nila mga CEO.

What is CIP? Commercially Important Passengers. So, aside from mga President o me-ari ng kung anu-anong companies, andyan din yung mga sikat na dinudumog ng madlang public kahit sa Singapore na tulad ng mga sikat na F1 Drivers, Football Players, Artista etc., na me mga pambayad o meron sponsor!

Caution: kung meron pambayad ka to avail of their services, remember the word "privacy". Passengers who use JetQuay do not usually want to interact with random people like you heheh! They either want to just be alone, or work on urgent business matters, or discuss things with family, clients, colleagues.

Eto Maritess: there was once someone na feeling nya sikat sya, inilagay dyan ng kanyang sponsor. Aba aba, kung sino ang makita eh nilalapitan at kinakausap. Ayun, may nagreklamo (na hindi nagpakilala), at sinabihan si JetQuay itali daw si inday sa isang sulok haha! You can't just talk or go to any suite oy!

Ayayay! Anyway... let's go back to my flight, and here we were arriving at Gate G11 of Changi's T4.

As you might have expected, I walked out to the lobby of Terminal 4 (T4) for a bus ride to T2.

Ah yes, as said before, this curbside where the 'transfer bus' arrives and departs has a smoking area.

Also as described earlier, when the bus from T4 reaches T2, you take the lifts (elevators) or escalators to the skytrain when going to either T3 and T1. I was going to T1 for my JetStar flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Teka, let's clarify this again... Skytrain means the driverless trains that transport people from terminal to terminal. Ang mga yan ay nasa taas (departure level) at libre. Samantala, si Train To City o MRT ang parang MRT o LRT natin. Nandun yan sa kaibuturan (basement 2 yata) ng Terminal 2 (T2). Para lang sa Katipunan Station natin! Yun ang palabas ng airport, papunta sa Singapore city center -- at me bayad!

So anyway, I checked-in with Jetstar, immigration and proceeded to the area of my assigned gate.

'In the area of' lang, hindi mismo sa gate ko because I had a lot of time to kill. Ikot-ikot, pasyal-pasyal 'for your eyes only' as in window shopping, but all the areas I went to, napag-usapan na natin dati pa!

Ay oops! Hindi pala 'in the area of' my assigned gate lang! I strayed out to T3's Singapore Foodstreet!

Lunchtime it was nga naman pala! But, you already know of course kung ano nanaman ang kinain ko! Syempre pa, Bak Kut Teh, like I've already told you in many previous stories while transiting at Changi!

Oh about that card, they call it food card, where you are supposed to load it up at the cashier so you can buy from any of the stores at foodstreet. Where and who do you give the card to, para magbayad? Doon din ke cashier na nagbebenta ng card na yan! Eh pede ka rin naman magbayad ng cash without that card! So bakit pa, di ba? Ah okay kung 1st-timer ka, sige kuha ka ng card tas i-uwi mo as souvenir.

Libre yan - kaso baka bumaha ang bahay mo ng card na yan as souvenir. Magpa-iba ka naman!

Now here's a... gate? waiting area? No! This is just one of the many smoking lounges at Changi Airport!

Need I describe it? The space alone, tataob kahit anong boarding gate sa atin. Oy me halamanan pang nalalaman! Ah, the seats have charging ports! Aw, hindi libre yung Coke, binili ko yan dun sa tindahan!

That smoking lounge is between Gates C16 and 17. I stayed there as my flight was departing from C25.

Ang luwag, at carpeted pa. Saan ka pa? [pero mas madami saksakan dun sa smoking lounge hehehe].

The reason why Changi Airport is considered the best airport in the world, as you can see, is that they truly care for every passenger's safety, comfort and convenience - kahit sino, kahit yosi kadiri pa yan!

Okay, boarding time! And look at that, even the way to the aerobridge is also carpeted. Whah!

By the way, naaliw lang, I also took this picture of their third aerobridge (going upstairs) at Gate C25.

Wala sa bansa natin nyan. Even at Changi, not all boarding gates have that third aerobridge that goes up to a higher level. We already described those, right? For use of the big double-decker A380 planes.

See this picture (below), the long and gray aerobridge that is higher in height is that one for the A380.

The cream-colored 'tube' at right with the HSBC logo is the regular aerobridge for other airplanes. But of course, that is also used for passenger boarding or deplaning on the lower floor of an Airbus A380!

And... pushback! Kuala Lumpur, here we come...!

Settled in my seat, I just looked at everything, lifted a few pages of the magazine to take pictures.

Yep, 'no touch' or 'minimum touch' lang. Why? Naalala ko lang how dirty budget airline planes can be!

A nice golden wash of the afternoon sun at Terminal 3 Gates A17 to A20, as we taxied to the runway.

And oh, I passed by that "overpass" again, this time on our way to our assigned runway!

This "scooter" (Scoot Air) is almost blending with the color of the surroundings!

Waiting for that Cathay Pacific plane to finally takeoff so we can do the same...

Our turn finally came! Hey that was some taxi time (>5 kms?) from Gate C25 to takeoff at Runway 02C!

Lift off! Down there are some of the gates. Foregroound are Gates E and D, at the back are Gates C.

Cargo and other technical centers are at right, and that should be Ubin Island out in the distance.

Nice looking at the things down at that narrow body of water that divides Singapore and Malaysia.

I could see ships and barges - one even has a helipad on it. An interesting international boundary!

That's Johor Strait. Did you know Singapore and Malaysia do have issues and disputes concerning that demarcation? Yep, some even date back to ancient periods, when Singapore was still part of Malaysia! But they are good neighbors - constantly in a diplomatic dialogue, to resolve issues and live in peace.

Let us fastforward on this "just an hour" flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.

The horizon was painting a colorful sky as we descended into Kuala Lumpur...

At 6:47PM, I knew it would have already been dark down on land, but up in the air, sunset pa lang!

As we approached the KLIA runway, I could still see the palm oil plantations though.

Touchdown! Aba, maliwanag pa sa madlang kalupaan! This is the RedQuarters [AirAsia Headquarters].

And this is the KLIA 2 'Departure Lane', the rampway that leads to departure area check-in counters.

Behind that curving road na mukhang flyover is Tune Hotels KLIA 2, where I'll be sleeping for the night (actually andito nga ako ngayon as I write this story). Then, continue flying to Cebu tomorrow, at 11AM.

I saw the above two places (photos) because we docked at Gate K3, the nearest to immigration.

But we have already discussed the weirdness of this airport in a previous post, right? Let us let it be!

After immigration, I hurried out of Gateway Mall (the building front of the airport structure, where you have no choice but to pass by it), then walked through the connecting walkway to Tune Hotels KLIA 2.

Okay, sleep time. Let's continue my homeward-bound stories tomorrow!