Day 16 –
The Last Leg
I woke up
today and stumbled to the Sheraton Club Lounge to have breakfast not nearly as
depressed as I imagined I would be. Maybe it is personal growth, maybe it is
the fact I have an upcoming following weekend trip to the Bay Area to look
forward to. Maybe it is just exhaustion from this trip – a feeling of contentedness
of being ready to go back home. The breakfast was fine, but so was the nice
shower and the quick drive over to Hanoi’s airport.
This would
be my last moment’s in the 3rd world, with a stopover in Singapore
as the last actual part of the trip (aside from flights), but as I looked
outside when in the cab, I didn’t really feel at all like this is the third
world. Vietnam, whether it was Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, is so far above what
I have come to expect from the third world – granted that opinion is squarely
driven by India. It was clean, it was proud, it had good infrastructure, less traffic
than other Southeast Asian countries or metropolises. It was fantastic, and
given I missed out on the middle of the country, I will have to come back at
some point.
Hanoi
airport is also quite impressive, with the normal high ceilings and large
windows of other modern Southeast Asian airports, but a bit more charm than the
soulless Bangkok one for instance. The flight from Hanoi to Singapore was fine,
with a nice grilled fish dish with a Thai seafood salad (no pomelo, sadly). It
was on one of their older planes – an A330-300 – so it didn’t have the nicer
flair of their more modern planes, but that would wait until the next flight.
We landed
in Singapore around 5pm local time, with an 11:30pm scheduled departure to
Newark – my third time taking the ‘longest flight in the world’ this year.
Given security, immigration and early boarding on the way back, I had about
five hours to play with, which is a good amount of time to get a black pepper
crab and stroll around Singapore’s downtown. I do wish I had had a bit more
time on these layovers, but five hours is better than if it was a shorter layover
that kept me tied inside Changi airport.
My first
stop ended up being to Jumbo Seafood at the East Coast Seafood Centre – which is
only about 15 minutes from Changi by Grab Car (Southeast Asia’s omnipresent
version of Uber). I went there first instead of last because of potential
waiting time as we got closer to normal dinner hours, and eating earlier when there
was still sunlight allowed me to get a view of the bay and the planes flying
overhead – always a beautiful sight.
It was
unseasonably cool for Singapore, so it was truly a beautiful setting. Jumbo
seafood has a giant menu, but the main item will always be its large crab, cooked
in one of its two main-stay preparations of chili or black pepper. I’m partial
to the black pepper, and it was as good as ever. The normal size is around
800g, and it is an adventure at times. I gave up and just put their bib on to
make sure I didn’t make too much of a mess.
Along with the
black pepper crab, I also got a fried cod starter which was nice as well. Their
true ‘appetizers’ are pretty meh, but they have tons of options for all normal
seafood which can all be ordered in an appetizer (small) size.
After a
while, I had to leave this idyllic setting and head further downtown – my destination
being one last brewpub on a trip with quite a few of them. Singapore has a fairly
robust craft beer scene as well, though one I really haven’t explored too much
on my various stopover-length trips there. The place I went to was TAP Craft
Beer Bar, which has two locations. I picked the one in Robertson’s Quay, as it
would be on the edge of the Singapore River that snakes from the bay through
the main core. The beer was nice, though not many of their tap options were
from Singapore. The setting was quite good as it was in a more residential Quay
compared to Clarke Quay or Boat Quay further upstream.
After while,
I did have to accept I needed to leave to get some time to walk around a bit
and then ride back to Changi. Singapore is an interesting place unlike any
other in Southeast Asia, or really any humid climate around. You feel like you
are in America, to some degree, but an idealized version of one. Just like I
did when I had a short layover in February, I left feeling a bit sad I couldn’t
spend more time in Singapore.
The final
flight to Newark would be another time taking the longest flight in the world.
Somehow, each time I’ve taken it I’ve gotten one of the shorter flight times or
paths. To be fair, shorter means this was 17h40m instead of the written flight time
of 18h25m. It is a long flight, but a good one, even in their premium economy
seat that offers easily enough angle to sleep well. I slept for about 8 or 9 of
the hours, awake through the rest to experience the class of Singapore
airlines, including constant drink runs, three full meals (though oddly
breakfast served in the middle – what would be breakfast in Singapore but middle
of night in New York).
The first
meal had three choices and I picked the goulash, which was excellent. Breakfast
also had three options; I picked the apple pancakes. Finally, the last meal had
just one non-veg choice, a chicken tikka with cucumber salad, which was still
quite good.
Finally,
after so many hours, we landed in Newark. It will never not be a thrill to me
that my hometown airport is home to one end of the longest flight in the world.
My only real thought was that every trip should somehow look to end with the
longest flight in the world as the last bit – if anything, it lets me drag out
the vacation for every extra second possible.
At some point,
I’ll probably write a trip recap piece, but until them, I can end this by
saying I am fully content for the trip taken. Exhausted, tired, depressed (to
be returning to work) but happy it happened. Happy to add another two countries
and a few more cities to the ever growing favorite cities list.
