Singapore -> Bangkok Transfer Day

We set the alarm so we would make sure to get an early start on the day. We weren’t sure if we wanted to go to the pool again, or go to the airport early, as the airport is consistently rated #1 in the world. Sal didn’t care which we did, so I decided we should go to the airport early. Mostly I didn’t want to deal with wet bathing suits. I’m glad we chose the airport, because it took us quite a while to get packed up and make sure everything fit in our suitcases and carry on bags. It wasn’t a problem with the checked in luggage as it was quite underweight, but the hand luggage and personal items were a different story. Air Asia has a weight limit of 7 KG, which is a little more than 15 pounds. This is supposed to be the combined weight of your personal item (purse/laptop bag) and the carry on item. One of us (the cute, usually smarter one) before the trip was against larger luggage and thus we have two pieces of luggage with wheels that are pretty much carry on size even though we check them in. The other one of us (the realistic one who wants to do some shopping and wanted easier packing) wanted to have a regular sized checked suitcase and a carryon sized suitcase, so we have room for gifts. We have only gotten a few very small things so far, and let me tell you our bags are stuffed to the max and each time we pack it’s a right pain in the butt to fit everything in the bags. We have at least 8 more times we need to pack, too. Last night Sal suggested we buy a big suitcase at the Mall. I love Sal dearly. I love Sal dearly. I love Sal dearly.

We checked out of the hotel and grabbed a cab. Our cab driver was the funniest one we’ve had to date. What a talker! He also acted a bit like a tour guide, pointing out various things on the way. He wanted to know where we were going.

We said, “Thailand”.
He said, “You didn’t like Singapore?”
We explained, “Sure we did, but Thailand is the next stop on our trip.”
His response was, “If you liked Singapore you wouldn’t be leaving”.

His commentary and stories made us giggle more than a few times. I could understand about 85% of what he said. He asked us where else we were going. When I told him the last country he asked, “How long?”. I said, “About three weeks”. He replied, “Too long. There’s nothing to do there. Boring!”. Hahahaha. I explained that by the time in the trip we will most likely be tired of traveling and fine to hang out at a pool for a few days for some R&R. “Oh yes!”, he said. “You can do that!”

We did the self check-in and baggage check and it was pretty easy and painless, and spoiler alert our bags showed up in Bangkok. We then went to the basement to where the staff canteen was, which is a bunch of food stalls at reasonable prices. It was probably our cheapest meal in Singapore… One interesting thing in the Singapore Airport is they often give you an idea of how far away attractions are from where you are standing.

We explored both terminal one and terminal two. There were several different gardens:

The best of which was the outdoor sunflower garden.

Other highlights are an outdoor pool (costs), a gaming area, a television area, and even a movie theater.

There was also a silly game and social ‘tree’ where our faces were put on the big screen:

And finally some free foot massagers.

I tried them twice, and oh my gawd I felt like the machine was trying to pop my calves like bubble wrap or something. After the first short try, I went and sat back down and could feel the occasional little zap in my foot. Poor thing. Hahaha. So wimpy! Sal enjoyed it, though. I just thought it was too painful. I guess it will get us ready for the (hopefully) copious amounts of foot massages we will have in Thailand.

They have the security at each gate in Singapore. My bag was inspected a few times. I got some powdered tea from the cat poop place in Bali, and I guess they needed to make sure it wasn’t cocaine, or something. I dunno. All I know is he was pretty interested in it, and I didn’t want to end up in one of those horror stories on TV about the people who travel and end up in prison for a decade. I’m checking that tea in with the luggage from now on.

Our flight was about an hour late, most extra time was spent on the plane at the gate. Not horrible. Still much better than the first delayed flight of the trip with the screaming babies going to Jogja. We got through immigration and customs pretty quickly, grabbed our luggage, and got some cash from an ATM. We walked down to the taxi line, which wasn’t a bad wait, and before we knew it we were in a taxi on our way to the hotel. Traffic getting out of the airport was nuts, but once we got to the actual highway it moved along fairly well – only a little bit of a traffic jam at the end. The ride, not including tolls, was about $7.50 US. Cheap cheap.

We pulled into the hotel, and each car had the undercarriage inspected by security with one of those long poles with the mirror at the end. A bit unnerving. It’s probably because it’s the King’s cremation while we are here and they’ve beefed up security. At least that’s what Sal thinks. On the flight over they had a recording about the King’s passing and how much they miss him. He died one year ago, which means the cremation ceremony will be happening while we are here. The last time we were in Thailand, two years ago, it was his birthday and everyone wore yellow and called him Dad. This time everyone is encouraged to wear dark colors and it’s much more serious with businesses closing one to a few days for the cremation ceremony, no alcohol, and just a more sombre and serious tone. The Thai people are very sad as they truly loved their king.

We decided to change our evening plans as we were originally going to go to the rooftop restaurant for dinner, but the weather looked like possible rain. I’d had a headache all day, thanks to the Singapore weather + the flight over. Something about flying almost always gives me a headache. We just decided to order in. I got my first papaya salad in Thailand. It was chock full of peppers and I barely ate 1/6th of it! When we called room service to come and pick up the table we had to ask them to bring more water. SO HOT! Hahahaha. It was pretty funny and did I mention HOT? Welcome to Thailand! I love it here.