Changi’s butterflies in repose can only be distinguished in outline in the trees and shrubs above your head, while the larvae hang neatly upside in their night-time cages. But the bright, tropical flowers put out for their delectation in Singapore’s steamy heat invite a daytime visit to the hundreds of fluttering denizens of this unique garden.
Only in Singapore could an airport have a Butterfly Garden! Or sunflowers growing outside in a smoking area where you can watch the big boys taxi down the runway.
Or a rooftop swimming pool, a 24-hour movie theatre, foot massages, Swarovski’d loos that flush with terrifying regularity, free tours of Singapore and a tranquil sanctuary area.
There are even breath mints at Customs and Immigrations for weary, dog-breathed passengers – a masterpiece of consideration!
That’s in addition to three terminals of shopping, incredible food, free wi-fi, a Sky Train between terminals, exotic orchids cascading down the walls, a chance to enter the Changi Millionaire draw and every inch so clean you could eat your dinner off it.
I had rather cursed the travel agent for booking an 18-hour transit period – after all, after you have had a nap at an airport transit hotel, there is only so much shopping one can do and coffee one can drink.
Everyone seems to have a horror story about being stuck at an airport, a fate generally considered a living hell. I remembered a description of JFK once as a “delousing station”!
Visions of an interminable 12-hour stop at Perth Airport in the 90s, en route back to Joburg with not a cent in my purse, came flooding back.
Even though most airports have super shops these days, and sometimes the odd massage chair you still see exhausted travellers everywhere sprawled in chairs trying to catch a few winks before their next flight. It’s not a pretty sight.
But Changi is in a league of its own: it’s a combination of gleaming technological temple and shopping mecca, a perfect blend of commercialism, hedonism and gentle spirituality which has earned it many travel awards.
Everything is geared towards each passenger’s personal well being and happiness, both on and off board the plane. The experience is rather like Singapore itself, that special island with its mystical Merlion looking out to sea.
Testimonials are everywhere “I flew into Changi Airport the first day it opened. I like the way it always seems to reinvent itself,” a huge poster quotes Christopher Meecham of the UK, about the Butterfly Garden.
Another is from “Sophie’s dad” from Australia, raving about the foot massages.
I am entranced as I emerge from my six-hour nap in an achingly clean room where people tippytoe down the corridors and talk in hushed voices. For $12 I can have unlimited snacks and wi-fi and try out the shower rooms which are immaculately kept.
Should I go shopping for pearls at my favourite spot, Madam Butterfly, have a plate of fried rice or a green tea icecream, or should I explore the world of Changi?
The upstairs Jade restaurant, green-orbed like a fantastical planet, looks enticing but does not yet seem to be open, so first stop is the foot massage area with automatic machines that can be set for up to 15 minutes.
Unlike Sophie’s dad, though, I have overly sensitive feet. and the experience feels like a combination between between grasped by a small octopus and having marbles ground into my insteps!
My fellow massagees are wreathed in blissful smiles, though, and one of them tells me that there is talk of shutting Heathrow and Gatwick, and building an enormous international airport at the mouth of the Thames, in the heart of London.
I go off to the shops, spritzing myself en route with the new Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire and try on a $7000 Jaeger-LeCoultre watch. I so feel bad that I can’t afford it, as the shop asistant is so polite but the windowshopping is irresistible, with labels like Shanghai Tang and Swarovski, and gorgeously packaged teas to smell and buy.
The next 12 hours go by in a flash, with a couple of movies, a massage, platefuls of spicy Singaporean food, exploring all the wonderful facilities like the Raffles Medical Clinic and all the different “green lungs” in the various terminals, from fern to cactus to orchid.
It’s a pleasure to be here and 18 hours just doesn’t seem enough to take it all in.
Comparisons are odious but I can’t help making them.
The really fantastic thing about OR Tambo International is the Gautrain which comes from the city centre direct to the airport. Not many airports have that feature, and it is a stand-out.
Melbourne’s Tullamarine could do with a direct train, although you CAN get Peking Duck handrolls at the sushi shop and the ground staff once absolutely saved my bacon by rescuing my house keys!
Each airport has its own charms because of the speciality of that country which is available. In Paris’s Charles de Gaul it was champagne and in Zurich Airport I bought an obscene amount of chocolate.
I found Kuala Lumpur horrible because of the machine-gun clad guards everywhere. And Dubai was really just Sandton – with extra sand.
No, I am sticking with Singapore Airlines from now on, because I will take any excuse to visit this incredible airport again.
Only next time, book me in transit for a week please.