Singapore Airshow 2008

Kyle has a thing for anything that has wheels and moves, such as planes, buses, cars ie. any mode of tranportation. Thus when I told him that we will be going for the Singapore Airshow at Changi, he was so excited about it and kept repeating to his grandparents that he will be going to see the fighter jets.

On the way there

We did not bring Kyra along as we planned to take public transport. It is too troublesome to bring along her pram and she would be quite disgruntled under the heat. We had also already anticipated the large size of the crowd, thus it would certainly be a major headache if we drove and could not manage to get a parking lot.

And the crowd was bad, man! When we arrived at Pasir Ris MRT, we saw the shuttle bus queue snaked twice around the MRT and bus interchange and onto the open field. There were already hundreds of people waiting in the queue. Lucky the queue was moving along as the frequency of the shuttle buses going to the Airshow was quite high.

The heat was quite unbearable and all of us were sweating profusely while waiting in the open field. It was then that I realize how protected my son was! Many times he cried to us, "Mama, Mama, so hot!" and kept asking us to carry him! Mind you, carrying a 15kg load under the hot sun and waiting for about 1.5hrs in the queue is no mean feat. Hubby and me had to take turns carrying him, cos he kept complaining of the heat and crying! I was at times embarrassed, and when I looked at other kids his age walking along and not complaining, it dawned on me that Kyle was just so used to the air-con and not playing enough out in the sun.

I advised Hubby that he better start taking his son out for soccer games and other man/boy activities that they are supposed to do! When it was finally our turn to board the bus, Kyle was suddenly happy again because of the air-con, and he starting laughing and singing again like his usual self. Oh boy. I told Hubby he really needs to start training Kyle to withstand the heat! In future, NS how like dat? Ok ok, I am looking way too far ahead, but I got really worried at that moment.

One incident which we were really mad about was this family cutting queue in front of us! Hubby told the man and his children off and the family was like, "It's ok what." We got really pissed off, and hubby complained about them to the police officer in charge of crowd control. I also could not stand the man's attitude, so I told the police officer that he better do something, because I and many others have been waiting under the sun for at least 1.5hours and it is so not fair that they can just cut in like that! He did his job and send them back to where they were originally. Haha!

Anyway, we arrived in time to see the air display. It was great! The fighter jets put up a spectacular show with their acrobatic displays. I wanted to stay put and watch the rest of the show, however Kyle started whining again about the heat and so we moved into the huge air-conditioned exhibition hall.

My pampered son. Closing his ears due to the loud noise caused by the figher jets zooming by in the sky.

Outside the exhibition hall

Anyway, the exhibition hall brought back the smile on Kyle's face as he saw the exhibits of the model aircrafts.





We then went out again of the hall to view the display of the actual fighter jets.

With an Apache helicopter. Wow!

With an RSAF Pilot I also cannot resist!

I feel that Kyle did enjoy himself despite the heat. He was in awe of the real-life displays of the RSAF jets and kept asking me to take a picture of him with the aircrafts.

Going home was a headache again as we had to push our way through thousands of people. The queues for the taxi and bus shuttle service back to Pasir Ris Interchange was never-ending. In the end, we paid $5/pax for a shuttle service back to town.

I don't think I will come back again if they hold another one next year. The crowds was horrendous and I do not think that there was proper planning of the crowd control by the organisers. Everyone seem disgruntled at the long queues and long hours of waiting.

Me and hubby agreed that a better way to see the air display show was to go to Changi beach and enjoy it from there. Save money also!