The Skies of Changi

The 747 Farewell Flight: Foreward

It was foretold and its time was approaching - Singapore Airlines (SIA) would finally be phasing out the B747-400s from its main fleet with its last commercial flight to Melbourne and back on 24 and 25 March respectively. For me, that hit a soft spot because I used to frequently fly on their B747s during my childhood days. The B747 was, and still is my favourite plane. It is a majestic and handsome plane, serving over 40 years with SIA and with a long history and milestones for its time. 'Jumbo' or 'Queen of the Skies' as it was dubbed, were common nicknames for the B747. That was soon going to be a thing of the past (as of now, SIA has no future plans to acquire the B747-8).

SIA B747-400 'Megatop' (9V-SMA), circa 1993

With the Singapore Airshow around, I had heard that SIA would be displaying one of their remaining B747s (9V-SPQ) at the Changi Exhibition Centre, complete with a tour and limited edition boarding passes. I took the chance to acquire some trade passes for a chance to catch sight of the Jumbo in all its glory. I headed down with my colleague on the first trade day of the airshow but alas, the plane was only scheduled to come in on the last trade day and the tours would only commence on the two days it was open to the public. Dang! Nevertheless, I told myself I'd make an effort to come down again and in the meantime, enjoyed whatever was already at the airshow. 

Come Saturday, the first public day, I caught a serious flu and fever and all my plans went down the drain. I was drained from just ending my night shift, and I was in a condition no better than shit. My girlfriend was going to head down to the airshow with some friends so I asked her to help me take some pictures or get the boarding passes if she happened to have the chance to. I headed home and knocked myself out for some very needed rest and recuperation. 

Seems that tour was a big hit - my girlfriend had no chance to attend it due to the snaking queue and also the unavailability of any time slots (due to the huge demand). She did however get some awesome freebies which they were giving out (Thanks darLing!):

Clockwise from top left: 'A Great Way to Fly' car decal, 'Big Top' fan, cute B747 sticker, and a stack of historical B747 postcards

It was a nice touch, giving out all these memorabilia and I soon found myself looking for online posts hoping to catch a glimpse or idea of what the tours were actually like. I noticed the binding strap for the postcards had a link (http://www.siajourneys.com/) which paid tribute to the B747 which I checked out and to my delightful surprise, found something that immediately struck a chord: SIA would be holding two B747 commemorative flights on 06 April as a sort of farewell flight. What went through my head then was almost instantaneous; I soon bought my pair of tickets - SIN-HKG-SIN, Economy. I must really really thank my girlfriend for her understanding despite my apparent lack of consultation with her during my haste to book the tickets. Thank you again darLing!

Those of you interested, there are still tickets left (at this point of time) on the return leg of the commemorative flight (SQ748, HKG-SIN). Also, the details of the flight and all are in the link I provided above - do check it out, as well as the nice tribute page! As for me, this more than makes up for missing the airshow tours. 06 April will definitely be a day be filled with nostalgia and reminiscing. 

On my way to work one day, I happened to catch sight of this:

SIA B747-400 (9V-SPQ), circa 2012

I took the shot for memory sake, boarded my transport and sighed as we drove off. You will be missed.

The SIA Collection

Crazy Idea

Some crazy idea I'm having now (look at the travelling time!). I must be out of my mind. Never mind, one day...muahahaha...

MSA Nostalgia

I just love this video. The golden age of aviation. And that catchy song.

Albothyl (Policresulen Solution)

I recently had an ulcer in my mouth and usually when that happens, I turn to this wonder called Albothyl which I obtained while in Korea some time back. Albothyl - which is actually policresulen solution - is just a commercial name very much like Panadol. This thing in my opinion so far, is the BEST cure for mouth ulcers. Why? Because it 'burns' your ulcer away and within two to three days, you're on the way to recovery! (the box even has a picture of an arrow stuck in a girl's mouth - that must explain the pain you encounter when using it.) I am not one who enjoys pain, but I will take it if it will cure something fast. 

Anyway, I went to my bottle and to my dismay, there was no more solution left. Dang. How now... I knew previously that this medicine was not available locally as 1) I had never seen it on the shelves, and 2) my friends had also never heard of it. I decided to do a search on the Internet anyway and typed 'Albothyl'. My search unexpectedly brought me to a medicine website which told me Albothyl was a medicine for some-part-of-a-woman-which-I-shall-not-mention-here. Many other medicine/pharmaceutical websites yielded similar results. Whoa. From treating mouth ulcers to this. 

Okay. Never mind. I remembered the proper chemical name was policresulen, so on a visit to a Watson's outlet, I approached the pharmacist. I explicitly chose not to ask for Albothyl. Instead, I asked, "Excuse me, do you have policresulen? ...I think it's for mouth ulcers?" The pharmacist looked like she knew what that was and began searching the cabinets, finally found it and turned to me, "Yes, I have it but it's for piles." Right. 

The next moment, I was queuing up at the cashier with a bottle of Listerine in my hand. No better choice for now I guess (I don't really think Bonjela and Oracort are as effective). I'll have to remember to pick up another bottle if I head back to Korea.

Sweet Comment

"I ran in the rain with papa."

Something sweet I heard today.