I heard a lot about Singapore Airlines from my friends, who had been to Singapore and neighboring countries. It was rated as one of the best airlines in the world, and even word of mouth had been positive. So when my company confirmed that I would be traveling from Bangalore to Seoul in Singapore Airlines, my joy knew no bounds. The flight was actually Bangalore-Singapore and Singapore-Seoul. Anyway do keep in mind, that it is somewhat expensive. Also the check in baggage limit is 20 kg and you can carry upto 7 kg in hand baggage. 2-3 kg extra are allowed, but be prepared to travel light, while going in this airline. Also the leg room is slightly cramped, and on longer flights, it could be an issue.
July 30 11: 15 P.M.-** My immigration formalities done, was killing time in the lounge of Bangalore’s HAL airport, watching India vs England live on TV, along with other cricket fans. The announcement came, that the flight would be starting at 11:30 PM, and I groaned “Not again”. But in a way, was good, since I could watch the Indian bowlers clean up the English batting, but not before Ryan Sidebottom gave a fright, by hitting all over the park.Anyway the announcement came that the flight was ready, and I walked in to be greeted by a smiling air hostess, dressed in Singapore traditional dress, with her hair neatly tied up in a bun. But again I guess tradition like anywhere else, was for the females only, as the guys were attired in Western suits. As I settled into my seat, it was comfortable with a nice pillow and blanket. Mine was a window seat, or what I call a prison seat on flight. In a way being near the window, gives you a good view outside, but it also sucks royally, because, every time you need to get up from your seat, you have to request other passengers to make way.
As the flight took off, I had a good glimpse of night time Bangalore, and then we were airborne. Technology wise it is very advanced. Every seat is equipped with a small TV screen, and a head phone set, where you can watch the movie of your choice. So I kept flipping between Fracture, Cheeni Kum, Shrek 2. There is also an audio channel, where you can listen to your choice of songs. The movies shown are English, Hindi, Tamil and many International movies too. As the flight was airborne, we had regular announcements in English and Hindi( this is only for flights from India to Singapore). Apart from the movies and music, you also have a GPS channel, where you can actually track the movement of your plane, guess it was designed for weirdoes like me. So yep I could see the plane moving over the Andamans, Pattaya. Drinks were served, and I cooled off with a beer. There were hot drinks available, but since the very next morning I had to catch the flight from Singapore to Seoul, did not want to take any risk.
The catering is pretty sensitive to your options, and they do ask if you are a veggie or not. There is a choice of Western and Indian cuisine. I choose Indian, and it was basically nice friend rice with a good chicken curry and some salads. Food was nice, not delicious, but warm and tasty enough. The service was polite and prompt, and the crew is helpful enough. There was an Indian face, amongst all the Chinese faces in the cabin crew. Singapore is a pretty mixed society of Chinese, Malays, Indians, Fillipinos and it’s reflected both in the airlines and Changi Airport.
The flight landed at Singapore at 7: 15 AM, was delayed due to the rough weather. It keeps pouring most of the time in Singapore, and the day I landed it was raining heavily. After the noise and chaos at Bangalore airport, Singapore airport, was a total change. Quite, efficient and spotlessly clean, it’s a marvel of architecture, and no wonders that it has been rated as one of the best airports in the world. Of course I did not have much time to soak in the beauty, as I had to rush from one end to another, to catch my flight to Seoul.
Fortunately, boards at every corner and a helpful ground staff, ensure, that you are not lost. I reached my departure terminal, and after having my passport checked, I settled down. The flight to Seoul was on time, and I got into it. This time the pilot was an Indian himself, I guess some one settled in Singapore. The city has a huge Tamil population and most of the channels show Tamil movies. The journey from Singapore to Seoul was 5.5 hours. Whereas the crowd on the Bangalore-Singapore flight was mostly Indian, here it was mostly Korean, and apart from myself, and a couple of other Indians, it was a sea of yellow faces all around, with some specks of brown and white. Breakfast is mostly Western, and you are not going to get much idli dosa stuff. Anyway when giving you the menu card, they ask you “Do you want a Hindu lunch?”. Many are under impression that Hindu=vegetarian, just say yes, because even for a Hindu lunch, you do have a choice of veg and non veg. But in a way vegetarians do have a choice here.
Again I passed time switching channels, fortunately, from Singapore to Seoul, you have more movies shown. So again I was switching between Fracture, 300, Silence of The Lambs, Maverick, Shrek, Spiderman series, Gone in 60 seconds to Cheeni Kum, Namastey London and also Pachakili Mukuchuram, Pokirri( Tamil). Now wait, before you wonder, how I managed to see so many movies at one go, I was not, I was just switching from one movie to another. So each movie, I was watching in bits and pieces. I didn’t have much trouble with Indian movies, as I could guess the entire story and plot, by watching just 15 minutes of a scene. I did stick around with Fracture for some time and it was quite interesting. Yep and whenever I got bored of watching movies, I switched on to GPS, and kept tracking the flight path. I am sure the person who invented GPS must have had me in mind. All in all a good experience for it’s food, sweet airhostess( but no mini skirts, tch, tch) and comfortable journey.