Changi International Airport Terminal 3

went for the Terminal 3 or t3 open house with my uncle and grandmother. i'll rattle off some of its facts as i go along..

the walkway to t3.. got 2 travellators so that won't have to walk for a long time..


1st thing i saw...


very big big big departure hall.. there are 900 over skylights in the rooft of the terminal and it allows natural light into the terminal. on days where its very bright, the louvres would close off some to prevent glare. the whole thing is computerised.


the future crystal jade restaurant.


rows and rows of brand new baggage trolleys..


the departure gate.. a common gate for all flying off from t3. as its a open house and to raise funds for some cancer charity, $1 will allow you to enter the restricted area and walk around yourself. $3 will be a guided tour inside.


the immigration counters.. all brand new and under covers. i guess to prevent people from tempering with them.


self-check in counters.. just scan passport and thumb print can already.


water feature.. very nice. in the background can see the chairs still under wraps. clearly construction is still on going.


another view of the water feature area.. just to give you an idea of the space there.. check out the people below.


one of the many places where they put plasma screens for people to sit and see.


back view of my tour guide.. the trees are real one. the skylight rooft allows sunlight to filter down, so the plants can be green and healthy.


new aero-bridges. the walkway is all glass one.. so will be very chio when walking to board the plane.


koi pond sans the koi..


this is the reason why no koi..


one of the many air-con vents to channel cool air to the ground..


many people walking around. visitors, construction workers etc.


the many amenities offered to the visitors..


plants are everywhere too.. orchids especially.


my little tour group.. got quite a few senior citizens. went for the chinese tour due to my grandmother. personally i'll prefer the english one.


the waiting area before boarding the plane. according to the tour guide, this place can seat 4 planes worth of passengers.


i like the design of the lights.. very nice. =)


discrimination..


waiting area.. we took a 10 min toilet break here.. toilets are very nice and clean with auto taps.. haha.. the seats are very plush and real comfy.


see! plants everywhere.. haha..


the green wall. or 5 stories worth of 25 species of climbing plants. all real one and i can only remember the money plant being among them.


even the escalator embodies the design concept. glass everywhere to give the very open and airy feeling.


another shot of the skylight.. just love it..


the immigration counters for arrival passengers..


the design on the glass panels are painted on with a template and then dried with the hot air gun. thought is use sticker one.. chey.


a scale model of the airport. lens not wide enough.. can't capture the whole model. the whole airport cost $1.75 billion and took 9 yrs to build.


how can go airport and then not take pic of the control tower? haha.. taken from t2 after i went there for lunch.


end this post with a beautiful sunflower.. taken from t2 also.

vivocity!

went to vivocity yesterday to walk walk. still find its damn big.. haha.. went into the samsung shop to play with the camera. then i went to the canon show room and play with the DSLRs on display there. 400D was awfully small. the 40D had a heavier and better feel. anyway, i took some pictures.. though i'll post them here..

the view from the 3rd floor of vivocity.. look over the small area of sea and can see the cable cars run here and there..


on the other side is the keppel harbour. big big cranes.. obviously very busy.. hope it stays that way..


can also see the sentosa bridge from where i'm standing.


Carlsberg sky tower..


the iconic merlion..


the sentosa express.. very cute. in bright colours too!


some boat they make to look like those ancient chinese junk.. ship was going to dock..


backing down her engines to prevent from langar-ing the dock.


a much sleeker and chio-er sea ferry


like the design of the stairs.. has a very modern yet a little touch of the traditional


teardroped plot for the tree. seems quite popular, judging by the number of couples seeking shade under it..


giant christmas tree.. think it will look very nice at night..


many kids playing at the wadding area.. water looks murky and dirty. but its not. its the colour of the floor below


wind was quite strong.. can see the ripples on the water surface..

thus ends my vivocity tour.. haha.. next up, Changi International Airport Terminal 3!

Got my license!!

hahahaahahahaha!!! went for my test today.. i passed!!

below is a copy of the actual test checklist.





as you can see, i got 12 points in total. not too bad la hor? even if 18 points i won't mind.. as long pass can le. =) my circuit was ok. very smooth, i purposely went super slow so that i won't miss the sighting points. e-brake wasn't very well done cos i had just finished shifting up to 2nd when he slam the dashboard. other than that i guess i'm ready for the road. =) still feeling high.. haha..

heh. since i'm feeling happy, might as well do a point by point commentary. went to the centre and reached at abt 12.20 lidat. so i sat at the customer service area the chairs and wait. at abt 12.25 i went into the 'warm-up' room. its just a place where they cordon off for the people to sit while waiting for warm up. got a lot of things there.. like top 5 immediate failures or top 5 demerit points etc. see le easy to feel depressed. so sit for a long time. people come and go. soon, the warm-up instructors came to take us to our cars. mine came late. so i was like the last guy. anyway, my car was no 208. din notice the license plate, if not can buy 4d.

along the way he told me the passing rate is high. i was like, WTH.. so random. never mind. so i enter the car and started the engine. den adjusted everything. so drive around and did a few items. after that drive out of the centre. while driving out, there were many people at the zebra crossing, so i had to wait. but wait like damn long. so i move a little. den the instructor ask me if i in a hurry. of course not la.. so have to wait lor. the warm up was rather uneventful, except for the butterflies in my tummy. =P

went back to the centre and had to wait from 1.15--1.35 before i could go into the traffic police room and wait. rather than endure all the cigarette smoke and heat outside, i went into customer service there and sit. listen to mp3 for a long time to calm myself up. in the end only managed to get more pumped up since all the songs were very fast.. haha..

so at 1.30 i went to see my car again.. was hoping that it won't let me down or me let it down. after that i went to toilet and then walk into the tp room to wait. they took a long time la. in the end i got test route 2, which was quite ok when i look at the map. easy. =D was feeling very confident now. i felt that i had to feel confident and pumped up, or else i'll fuck up and screw up something.

the tester was an elderly gentleman by the name of.. tester. =P forgot his name le. i think he was trying to set me at ease cos his voice wasn't very fierce and he always gave the instructions early. very good. my kind of person. haha.. the first thing i did was the slope. after that came the long directional change. i'm quite weak there, cos the sighting point for turning i'm not very clear. got one time kena the curb. so this thime i just used my instincts and cross my fingers that i won't hit the curb. the car was ok la. a bit more to the right. cos turn too early.

after direction change came the s-course. also not a problem for me. crank course was next and the testor crank down the window to see if i got kena the curb anot. i din hit, but i suspect i was rather close, judging from the positioning of the car. then came vertical parking. did it super slow as i din want to mess up the sighting and turning points. finally was the parallel parking. he went down to check if i hit any poles anot. with the tester gone (not in my car), of course i relax a little and told myself since he's not inside, nothing to fear. haha.. parallel parking was also ok. no poles were hurt in the process. i think the entire circuit items took abt 10-15 mins only. very fast. and all the regular L-plate cars gave way to me since i'm on test.

went out to the road and things were far better there. the tester gave his directions well early and reminded me when the time came to make the turn. so everything was ok. no heavy traffic, no irritating motorcyclists and no stupid bicycles. haha.. there are many traps on the test routs and since i've been driving around there for a few days, i could anticipate them.

after a short spin, went back to the centre and went to the de-briefing room where the tester sat me down and said : "can pass". wah! i tell you ah. i could have hugged him there and then if he wasn't an elderly gentleman. then he pointed out my mistakes. e-brake din do well etc.. after that went back down to the warm-up room to get back my student booklet and also to sign a form to refund me my balance in the account. felt super high already by then. so bought a drink to cool down and started calling everyone to tell the good news. haha..

after that had to watch a 10 min safety video. which was very fast and i then went to take a number n075 to apply for my new license. tell you ah. there only got 3 counters, which are manned by overworked women. there were alot of people there.. applying for PDL, conversion of foreign license and new license. those foreigners take a shitload of time to do their thing. one person can be stuck at the counter for 15 mins ah. when my turn came, i took abt 2 mins? confirm my address, give my ic and atm card and key in my pin to pay the $50 for the license and i was done. the lady even said my ic number was nice. haha..

all in all, today was very good. the weather was good and the gods above were kind. =D when the photocard license arrives 2 weeks later, i'll be a botak in army green. but i still got my license. and that's wad matters.