Smiles
March 28th, 2008, 13:14
On the recent mini-holiday in Australia in early March, had the opportunity to do a little (amateur) comparison of the Bangkok and Singapore airports.
My flight to Adelaide from Bangkok made a stop in Singapore Airport, and when I booked it I purposely went for the lengthy stopover (i.e. 4 hours compare to the one I could have chosen) precisely because I'd heard so much praise of Changi (i.e. "world class!" ... "easily #1!" ... "magnifique!!!" ... etc etc) over the years. I also arrived at Suvarnabhumi 4 hours early to get a bit of a 'feel' for it as well, again, precisely because a lot of dirt has been dropped on BKK since it opened, and my only other experience there was my arrival last November ... (when all I really wanted to do was drop peacefully into the arms of the beloved.)
Suvarnabhumi:
A grand tour de force of Building Big: cavernous, visually impressive, mammoth grey & white arched halls in every direction. Lots of streched canvassy material and glass everywhere.
Suvarnabhumi really is a lot better airport than I had expected. The immigration experience (bugbear of so many) went incredibly smoothly both when I arrived in November (admittedly on a late-night flight) and also when I went through from the departure side to Oz. In November I was through Imm and Customs, bags in hand, in 20 minutes from the opened door of a big B-777 through the Customs green aisle. That ain't bad in my books.
Someone on this Board mentioned that there were no baggage cart escalators (i.e. those wide step-less puppies). Well, he just didn't look very hard, as they are ubiquitous and very user-friendly.
Lots of ridiculously priced foodstuff on the floor just below Departures (e.g. cardboard-flavoured khao pad gai for 120 baht ... available at any soi eatery in Thailand for 30-40 baht), and decently-priced designer stuff as far as the eye can see available after Imm/Customs (e.g. a 50ml bottle of Hermes Terre D'homme ~ world's most delicious men's cologne ~ for 2000 baht ... 3000+ baht in Vancouver). I rather like wandering through these places.
There's a very smart-looking bar in the middle of the gigantic hallway ('B' Departures if I recall) with high beer prices (for Thailand) but you can rub elbows with slim Thai businessmen reading The Economist and speaking perfect english, if that's your schtick. It can be mine when I'm in the mood.
Sign posted directions at Suvarnabhumi get the direction/destination right, but there's nowhere near enough of them. Directions in big airports though demand a little common sense intuition, and following the crowd works well here. The massive hallways are either 'toward' the central terminal, or end abruptly in the other direction ... and that's easy to see at a glance.
Hong nams (the four I used in my comings and goings) were all immaculate, also unlike comments I've read here in the past.
On the downside: I think Suvarnabhumi has got a couple of potential problems looming:
(1) The tile floors are already in very poor condition. Chipped tiles, broken and filthy grout work, electric outlets in the floor(?) not flush level ~ big tripping hazard . . . and the place is only going on 2 years old.
This unfortunate occurence takes a way a lot from both the visual appearence (if you are into looking down when you walk), and the greater issue of how the place was put together in the first instance. If the floor is already in need of general replacement (I'm sure some areas are worse than others), then what confidence issues should arise regarding the building material/workmanship in other areas?
(2) One dominating feature of BKK is the very high and cathedral-like ceilings and their very 'busy-ness'. Look way up in the great hallways and walkways and you'll see, not minimalism, but pipes, and trusses, and ventilation tunnels, and structual beams ... all right out there in the open. You'll also see brilliant walls of glass on all sides, as well as reaching around towards the ceiling.
But who gets up there and cleans the dust? I can hardly imagine a machine capable of getting a window washer or a vacumm cleaner up there. And how long would it take? And how often would it need to be done?
The acres and acres of glass at Suvarnabhumi are quite awe-inspiring . . . but boy, are they getting dirty.
I look up at the ceilings in this airport and am quite architechturally awed. But janitorily, I'm appalled at the tons and tons of dust-attracting structual elements in full view up there.
Thais are not in general all that great about keeping the 'outside' of their country all that clean ... (just take a look at the plastic-littered ditches along any Thai roadway). I just hope some on-going effort is going to be put into keeping Suvarnabhumi Airport clean 'up there'. And I'm not very optimistic that they will be able to keep the high places inside from falling victim to "outta sight, outta mind". . .
Changi:
. . . And that's exactly why Changi Airport in Singapore is a somewhat superior airport. They've built it on a much more human scale, and thus much more easily serviced.
Changi is also a huge place (as it has to be for the international hub that it is), but after walking around Suvarnabhumi, one cannot help but feel slightly claustrophobic. Right away the reason is clear . . . Changi's ceilings are quite low (aside the gigantic high space of the Immigration Arrivals area in Terminal 3), almost hotel height. The ceilings are of an opaque plexiglass type material, smooth, white, and clean (and incredibly easy to clean). The floors are a great mix of tile, some wood, and lots of carpet . . . all of it in terrific condition (though Terminal 1 is slightly dowdier than 2 or 3, which I guess can be expected.
Direction signs are ubiquitous and very precise (strangely, all the signs at Changi are in english only ... no chinese, no japanese. A paen to the 'international language' I guess, though I must admit I think they've gone too far in that direction), and it's far easier to get around Changi than after walking around Suvarnabhumi ~ even with a skytrain between terminals.
Hong nams are everywhere and wonderfully clean, with big wide sinks for a decent and serious washup between flights.
Duty Free shops everywhere, great deals on laptop 'puters ... and as I already had my Hermes cologne, I didn't do any smell pricing. But they're ALL there ... buy a sweet 100% wool Burberry Duffel Coat for $C700. A steal!
The Hardrock Cafe is a place to avoid ... unless you enjoy paying 12 bucks for a pint of draught beer, but the upstairs foodcourt (and I'm talking about the after-Imm departure gate areas) is a feast for the eyes and tastebuds with international cuisines lined up a half mile long hall way, and a viewing window of the landing and take off strips.
Changi has little corners filled with free internet service computers (never seen that before in any airport), and little information kiosks all over the place with beautiful youdg ladies advising folks in any number of languages.
This is an airport that 'works' ... and is an interesting and vibrant place to while away a few hours between flights with a beer or a coffee watching quite exquisite Chinese/Japanese/Thai boys/men sauntering past with sweet little asses that only Asian men have as a 'given' ***.
Cheers ...
*** This observation just may be enough to allow jinks to leave this post in this Forum. :blackeye:
My flight to Adelaide from Bangkok made a stop in Singapore Airport, and when I booked it I purposely went for the lengthy stopover (i.e. 4 hours compare to the one I could have chosen) precisely because I'd heard so much praise of Changi (i.e. "world class!" ... "easily #1!" ... "magnifique!!!" ... etc etc) over the years. I also arrived at Suvarnabhumi 4 hours early to get a bit of a 'feel' for it as well, again, precisely because a lot of dirt has been dropped on BKK since it opened, and my only other experience there was my arrival last November ... (when all I really wanted to do was drop peacefully into the arms of the beloved.)
Suvarnabhumi:
A grand tour de force of Building Big: cavernous, visually impressive, mammoth grey & white arched halls in every direction. Lots of streched canvassy material and glass everywhere.
Suvarnabhumi really is a lot better airport than I had expected. The immigration experience (bugbear of so many) went incredibly smoothly both when I arrived in November (admittedly on a late-night flight) and also when I went through from the departure side to Oz. In November I was through Imm and Customs, bags in hand, in 20 minutes from the opened door of a big B-777 through the Customs green aisle. That ain't bad in my books.
Someone on this Board mentioned that there were no baggage cart escalators (i.e. those wide step-less puppies). Well, he just didn't look very hard, as they are ubiquitous and very user-friendly.
Lots of ridiculously priced foodstuff on the floor just below Departures (e.g. cardboard-flavoured khao pad gai for 120 baht ... available at any soi eatery in Thailand for 30-40 baht), and decently-priced designer stuff as far as the eye can see available after Imm/Customs (e.g. a 50ml bottle of Hermes Terre D'homme ~ world's most delicious men's cologne ~ for 2000 baht ... 3000+ baht in Vancouver). I rather like wandering through these places.
There's a very smart-looking bar in the middle of the gigantic hallway ('B' Departures if I recall) with high beer prices (for Thailand) but you can rub elbows with slim Thai businessmen reading The Economist and speaking perfect english, if that's your schtick. It can be mine when I'm in the mood.
Sign posted directions at Suvarnabhumi get the direction/destination right, but there's nowhere near enough of them. Directions in big airports though demand a little common sense intuition, and following the crowd works well here. The massive hallways are either 'toward' the central terminal, or end abruptly in the other direction ... and that's easy to see at a glance.
Hong nams (the four I used in my comings and goings) were all immaculate, also unlike comments I've read here in the past.
On the downside: I think Suvarnabhumi has got a couple of potential problems looming:
(1) The tile floors are already in very poor condition. Chipped tiles, broken and filthy grout work, electric outlets in the floor(?) not flush level ~ big tripping hazard . . . and the place is only going on 2 years old.
This unfortunate occurence takes a way a lot from both the visual appearence (if you are into looking down when you walk), and the greater issue of how the place was put together in the first instance. If the floor is already in need of general replacement (I'm sure some areas are worse than others), then what confidence issues should arise regarding the building material/workmanship in other areas?
(2) One dominating feature of BKK is the very high and cathedral-like ceilings and their very 'busy-ness'. Look way up in the great hallways and walkways and you'll see, not minimalism, but pipes, and trusses, and ventilation tunnels, and structual beams ... all right out there in the open. You'll also see brilliant walls of glass on all sides, as well as reaching around towards the ceiling.
But who gets up there and cleans the dust? I can hardly imagine a machine capable of getting a window washer or a vacumm cleaner up there. And how long would it take? And how often would it need to be done?
The acres and acres of glass at Suvarnabhumi are quite awe-inspiring . . . but boy, are they getting dirty.
I look up at the ceilings in this airport and am quite architechturally awed. But janitorily, I'm appalled at the tons and tons of dust-attracting structual elements in full view up there.
Thais are not in general all that great about keeping the 'outside' of their country all that clean ... (just take a look at the plastic-littered ditches along any Thai roadway). I just hope some on-going effort is going to be put into keeping Suvarnabhumi Airport clean 'up there'. And I'm not very optimistic that they will be able to keep the high places inside from falling victim to "outta sight, outta mind". . .
Changi:
. . . And that's exactly why Changi Airport in Singapore is a somewhat superior airport. They've built it on a much more human scale, and thus much more easily serviced.
Changi is also a huge place (as it has to be for the international hub that it is), but after walking around Suvarnabhumi, one cannot help but feel slightly claustrophobic. Right away the reason is clear . . . Changi's ceilings are quite low (aside the gigantic high space of the Immigration Arrivals area in Terminal 3), almost hotel height. The ceilings are of an opaque plexiglass type material, smooth, white, and clean (and incredibly easy to clean). The floors are a great mix of tile, some wood, and lots of carpet . . . all of it in terrific condition (though Terminal 1 is slightly dowdier than 2 or 3, which I guess can be expected.
Direction signs are ubiquitous and very precise (strangely, all the signs at Changi are in english only ... no chinese, no japanese. A paen to the 'international language' I guess, though I must admit I think they've gone too far in that direction), and it's far easier to get around Changi than after walking around Suvarnabhumi ~ even with a skytrain between terminals.
Hong nams are everywhere and wonderfully clean, with big wide sinks for a decent and serious washup between flights.
Duty Free shops everywhere, great deals on laptop 'puters ... and as I already had my Hermes cologne, I didn't do any smell pricing. But they're ALL there ... buy a sweet 100% wool Burberry Duffel Coat for $C700. A steal!
The Hardrock Cafe is a place to avoid ... unless you enjoy paying 12 bucks for a pint of draught beer, but the upstairs foodcourt (and I'm talking about the after-Imm departure gate areas) is a feast for the eyes and tastebuds with international cuisines lined up a half mile long hall way, and a viewing window of the landing and take off strips.
Changi has little corners filled with free internet service computers (never seen that before in any airport), and little information kiosks all over the place with beautiful youdg ladies advising folks in any number of languages.
This is an airport that 'works' ... and is an interesting and vibrant place to while away a few hours between flights with a beer or a coffee watching quite exquisite Chinese/Japanese/Thai boys/men sauntering past with sweet little asses that only Asian men have as a 'given' ***.
Cheers ...
*** This observation just may be enough to allow jinks to leave this post in this Forum. :blackeye: