Best Airport in the World. Really.

As I got off the plane at Changi a while ago, I got the beep on my mobile. The message said :

"Dr. Lik Meng. We missed the person who contributed alot to greening campus in Malaysian universities or can we say the most influential person. Man where are you? Are you huffed with us?".

The sender of the sms knows how he is. Wow, thank you, you made my day. I do feel a little embarrassed with the accolade. Am I huffed with you guys? Man, what's with me these days. I seems to be getting people pissed off with me (including a few of the bosses). Or people think I might be pissed off with them. Not good, man! Anyway, thanks for the text. I shouldn't apologise for blowing my own trumpet here. If I seemed to be huffed with anybody, it must be due to the hormones.

Am on my way to Ahmedabad again for the APSA (Asian Planning Schools Association) Congress and series of meetings with the Global Planning Education Association Network (GPEAN). Will be back next saturday.

It's 5 pm here at Changi. My flight is 7.05 pm to Mumbai and than a long lay over of more than 7 hours before the connecting to Ahmedabad at 5.30 am the next morning. Air travel can be really very taxing. Especially if you have idiots working at the travel agency (let's name them, MIVS in Penang).

Want the long story? First thing I did was tell the HBP clerk to tell the travel agent make sure that there is enough time between connecting flights. The last time I got back from Paris, the bag decided to stay back in KLIA. I had actually asked my other clerk to confirm whether the 1 hour between flight at KLIA was sufficient. Apparently the agent said no problem (that one was Tabung Haji Travel).

Well for this trip, the first thing I noted was the connecting at Changi to Mumbai would be only one and half hours. I asked the clerk to ask the travel agent. The clerk at the travel agent said no problem just tell the check-in staff to check the bag in all the way to Ahmedabad. Sigh, she didn't understand the problem. But never mind. The flight the travel agent gave me was from Penang to KLIA, wait for 3 hours, then hop on another MAS flight to Singapore and then to Mumbai and finally Ahmedabad. Query, query, query. Response : no seat. Not even Penang-Singapore direct? No seat.

This morning at Penang Airport checking in, chatted with the lady. She was surprised why I wanted to stop over in KLIA on the way to Changi. I said the travel agent said no more seat on the direct flight. She checked, still got seats. In fact, there were still 20 empty seats. Good thing I don't blow my top so easy now. The MAS lady took me to the other MAS ticket lady, got me on the direct flight to Singapore. Hey, that's Malaysian Hospitality. MH you know?

So, the day started well. My flight was now 1 pm instead of 12 noon. So the two love birds went for some expensive cappucino (RM27 for 2) and chatted still almost 12 noon.

Changi Airport, I discovered walking around just now, tries really hard to make the air traveller happy. There's free movie (I sat in for about 15 minutes). There's transit hotel. Reflexology. And just outside that is a place with a sign of a lip with a finger indicating no noise please, people sleeping here. Internet is free, except you have to go to the information kiosk to get a username and password, unless you have a Singapore mobile phone. And there are numerous standing Internet kiosk which you can use for free (with time limits). Ooo, there's a butterfly farm. Go Kart. Shopping, Food. And for the kiddies ... funland everywhere (actually, the kids are really noise in this corner). Oh, they give out sweets too. And you must also love the orchid garden.

 

 

 

Can you believe this is the place where they put comfy chairs for travellers to sleep? Of course, they don't say that is for you to sleep. It's called "Rest Area". Man, I wish Mumbai would have place like that when I reach there this evening.

 

Nice design huh? It some kind of company doing community service or something.

 

The Singapore Postal Service fighting for survival in the electronic era

For the record. Terminal 3 is not the Low Cost Carriage Terminal. Low Cost Carriers operate from Terminal 3 but so does other "expensive" airlines. I remember Tony Fernandes (the AirAsia guy) complaining that the Malaysian authorities provide low quality terminal for the low cost carriers at the LCCT, compared to Changi.

And Jet Airways (which I am flying with next) is not a low cost carrier. I was surprised when the USM clerk said that the travel agents wanted to know whether I wanted to order food on the Jet Airway flights. I said of course. And that made me think it is a low cost carriage. But I asked the guy at the check-in at Changi - no, it is not a low cost carriage and food is included. What the ...? Oh, and Jet Airways is Indian owned.

For the record, the wireless here is good, but uploading photos to the blogs takes a bit of time. Still good. And there have lots of places where you can plug in and sit and surf with your notebook. Wait a minute. I think I paid for all these services in the Airport Tax, right? Hey, Charles De Gaulle Airport - are you reading all this? Calling Chicago and LA Airports, please take note.

It's 5:42 pm. Time to go walk around a little. And check out the best airport in the world. Bye.

Ironic

How many participants do you think will refuse or reject these "I am not a plastic bag" plastic bags this weekend?

 

And how many will not drink from those mineral water plastic bottles?

The irony? It's a UNESCO Chair Higher Education for Sustainable Development conference.

The sky is falling

Am in my Corporate office. Outside is a guy with a long pole. At the end is a thin saw. He is up on a very thin tree, sawing away, pruning out the rotten branches. Yes, we need trees maintenance as well. The problem is they don't seem to have any specialist knowledge about how to prune. They saw the branches from the top and then when it gets near the bottom, the weight of the branch pulls it down, leaving ugly scars. The angle of the cut is not right. The distance from the main trunk is also not right. Its all brute force.

This morning I got a call from a colleague who was really upset that workers sawed off the huge branches (and I mean huge, like the size of an adult body)  of the Pokok Getah at the Red House. Earlier, one central branch had toppled because wasps had built a nest in the trunk, weakening it. And when it rained, the whole branch toppled, hitting a car, I heard. Fine, chop off the rot. But where do you stop? A substantial portion of the huge branches have been retained. But how much is too much? Where are the experts who should be overseeing this?

Elsewhere, the sky should also be falling. Elections are being held throughout the campus to select the Deans. Well, not elections really. The school can send up to three names each for the positions of Dean and 2 Deputies to the VC who will make the final decision. Will he choose the one with the highest votes? He doesn't have to, otherwise there is no sense submitting three names. Can he choose from outside this "pool"? Why not? Like doing a search for the best person in the world (or region) to fill the post.

From my vantage point as an observer and voter, there are various kinks which needs to be worked out in the future. Some one raised the issue of why only people who have previously been at least the Chair of a Programme are eligible? "Its not democratic", he said. OK, we get it, the Dean should have administrative experience. But the Dean should be annoited because of his leadership and vision not administrative capability. Administrative duties should be taken care of by the professional administrators. Deans should set directions and policies in consultation with the staff and students. Implementation should be carried out by professional administrators or managers.

I think the current process is too focussed on the voting. We should have a process where candidates should declare their interest (they don't have to be nominated by someone else). And then give at least 2 weeks for the candidates engage with his colleagues and students (repeat, students) to talk about his vision and how he intend to propel the School forward. What is his game plan? To get more post-graduate students so that the supervisors can get the incentives and have high scores in the KPI (apparently, getting the incentives from supervising a research student is the fastest way to improve the Schools' KPI). But what about improving the quality of teaching inside and outside the classroom? How about contributing to the community? How will he lead the School to support the University's APEX mission? What are his plans for turning the School GREEN? What is his interpretation of the APEX U vision?

In our school, we chose the third option for voting. That is, write down one name each for the position of  Dean and the two Deputies. In a sense it is highly empowering and democratic. But it also splits the votes. In some posts, there 12 names written.

I guess the sky hasn't fallen yet.