Visiting my old aunt
Today I fly from Singapore to my hometown in Kuching in the evening on Scoot. This gave me time to visit my 95 year old aunt who had moved to a super-flash apartment near Parkway Parade shopping mall.
I joined aunt and her two helpers for lunch and stayed for a while before heading to the airport.
Aunt’s place is quite conveniently accessed by bus from Wen’s place and from there, an easy ride to the airport.
Passport-less flying
Singapore’s Changi airport had launched facial passport-less immigration clearance. It has been widely misreported that one can fly without passport and only needs it upon arrival at the destination.
I think any experienced traveller will know that immigration isn’t the only place one’s passport is checked on departure. Here, a passport would still be required at:
- Check-in (if done manually), when airline staff verify your identity and eligibility to enter the destination (eg. visa).
- Entry to airside, when auxiliary police check that you are the person shown on the boarding pass.
- At security screening, for no good reason as they don’t really match you up to your boarding pass.
- At the boarding gate, when airline staff once again verify your identity and eligibility to enter the destination (eg. visa).
Bomb shelter
Getting shown around the apartment, I realised that it had a bomb shelter. I later learnt that since 1996, the building code required new apartment buildings to have these with reinforced walls and blast-proof doors. See photo above.
Singapore likens itself to Israel with the need to defend itself against neighbours. Eg. compulsory military service for men, highways can be converted into runways for fighter aircraft. I guess that’s the price to be paid for a state that is carved out from its neighbour.
The bomb shelter is used as the maid’s bedroom in normal times. A placard indicates that the door must be left open when occupied for ventilation. That suggests that it is quite air-tight. I wonder how long one can take shelter in there for during a bombardment.
Once bitten, twice shy
My internet stopped working when I was on the first bus ride this morning from Wen’s place to aunt’s. I eventually realised that my 3 day data pack had on my Singapore M1 SIM Card had expired and I had gone on to an exorbitant data rate which depleted my remaining balance of $6 in the short time between the house and the bus.
I can’t believe that M1 sells 3 day data packs based on calendar days. I had activated my plan late at night upon arrival and that was counted as a day. Most telcos count “days” as 24-hour periods for short plans (and some even on long plans).
I had been considering not keeping my M1 SIM alive anymore. But now, I’ve decided. Times have changed and I have enough cheap roaming options on my Malaysian and Indonesian SIMs and also eSIM.
Back in hometown
My Scoot flight landed in Kuching at 2155, which was 25 mins later than scheduled. Getting to the apartment around 2300, I quickly mopped and wiped the bedroom to get rid of dust to ensure a sneeze-free sleep.