Singapore Air

May 20, 2012

We flew from Hong Kong to Singapore via Singapore Air and goodness what an experience that was; like the Holiday Inn vs the Hilton.   With his penchant for Asian beauty it had been a long term dream of Julians' to fly with the famous airline, consistently recognized as the worlds best, a flight up to this point only delayed by prohibitive costs in the past. The Boeing 777 itself was beautifully upholstered and more spacious than others we had been on both with more leg room as well as cleverly designed overhead storage which seemed to melt into the roof giving more ceiling height than other airlines limiting the claustrophobic feeling usually associated with our standard cattle class seats. The gold and browns were calming, each seat had a wool blanket and if the pillows were not silk they definitely felt like it.  The highlight of the trip though was definitely the Singaporean stewardesses. They wore form fitting, full length dresses heavily embroidered in gold with a base colour of either blue, green or red depending on rank.  Their hair was identically styled,  red lips, perfect makeup, tiny waistlines and to complete the ensemble each spoke perfect English with a soft Singaporean accent.  We spent a happy hour admiring our caretakers as each of them made their way up and down the compainionways preparing for the flight, offering cups of chilled oolong tea and administering to every little excuse the passengers could find for some personal attention. Rather than the usual practice of hauling a cart loaded with hot meals down the aircraft, hollering unceremoniously at the passengers as to whether they would prefer "beef or chicken, sir?"  we were presented with menus, fine printed as one might find in a restaurant and as our airborne angels glided down the length of the cabin.  As a finishing touch we were presented with a small tub of Haagen Daas ice cream as desert. It's the little things that make the difference and Singapore Airlines really take care of the little things to make even their lowliest passengers feel special. 

We arrived late and being after midnight the public transport system was shut down for the night; we took a cab from the airport to our accommodation in Little India.  Once out of the cab the air is the first thing that strikes the un-acclimatised.  Considerably warmer than Hong Kong any breeze was masked by the three or four story buildings lining the narrow street; the air hung heavy and still with tantalizing aromas of curry and spices lingering from the evenings' activity.