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singapore
03-11-2003 [01:30 LOCAL TIME] - Changi International Airport, Singapore
A night of all nights still to go. Well, I arrived in Singapore after one cancelled flight from Ko Samui, so it's very late and I am planning to stay in the airport until tomorrow morning when I'll transfer to Perth (Australia). I was originally planning to spend a few days here but due to the late arrival and availability of an onward flight to Perth, I'm going to go - without leaving the airport!! And what an airport - planet Changi International. It's big, bold, brash, calm, busy, quiet, organised, chaotic, electronic, automated, expensive, expansive, multi-levelled, well groomed, well placed and well staffed - everything one of the worlds biggest airports should be... but within these marble-tiled walls lurks an unseen force!!
"Big Brother" is watching and Changi International is not the place for the fool hardy.
"Under Surveillance" is the name of the game and heavy fines are the weaponry of choice for the overseeing generals. Chewing "chewing-gum", owning "chewing-gum", thinking about "chewing-gun", smoking in public, smoking in private, a crafty smoke in the public toilets, smoking in your car, smoking in your house, jay walking, funny walking, slow walking, dropping litter, dressing incorrectly, looking incorrectly, having incorrect thoughts. the list is almost endless - all punishable by an on the spot fine. The establishment is in place and the overall ambience is one of being held back, afraid, guarded, guided (but not entirely educated), dictated to, cleansed of - all the traits of a place knowingly heading for its ultimate end - sterility! And I don't mean just clean. I'm talking of cleanliness on a scale which should only be found in an operating theatre. So is all the oppression such a bad thing? Is it worth it? Is cleanliness ACTUALLY close to godliness? Singapore compared to England is all but incomparable. They are in every sense of the phrase - "worlds apart"
- Matt.
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