Art appreciation in Singapore

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With the 2025 Christmas holiday behind us, my husband and I chose to time our holiday after most Filipinos have returned from the almost two-week vacation,  when airlines and hotels slightly drop their prices before they again expect higher bookings for the Chinese New Year holiday in February.

But contrary to our expectation that NAIA would be less congested, especially for a morning flight, we were surprised that quite a large number of Filipinos were still flying out of NAIA Terminal 3, and perhaps like us, thought that there would be less congestion.

The check-in counters still had long lines of passengers, and immigration was long, with snaking lines and families crowding the senior and PWD counter to try to shortcut the process, so much so that an immigration officer had to weed out some families with more than four members accompanying a generally robust senior or PWD family member who otherwise looked quite healthy and did not seem or act disabled.

I was also surprised that the wheelchair service (racket?) continues, with some rich- looking and not-so-old ladies insisting to be accommodated first for check-in and boarding, but are perfectly capable once they are on the plane.

While the departure lounges are now quite cool, actually even chilly with the humongous air conditioning units, NAIA T3 clearly needs more restrooms as there were very long lines, particularly for the women’s toilets.

Our flight to Singapore via Singapore Airlines was fully booked with a lot of Filipinos. However, we soon realized that the majority of the Filipinos on our flight were actually OFWs working and residing in Dubai or in Europe, and were going home after vacationing in the Philippines with their families. In fact, most of them had resident cards, and thus, my husband and I were also asked if we were residents of Singapore or Dubai.

I have always enjoyed Singapore Airlines for its efficient service and relatively good food, but I guess times have changed with the new aircraft squeezing in more passengers, and at least for this trip, serving really unappetizing rice and what seemed like a pork tocino breakfast.

It turned out there were very few disembarking in Singapore, and among those on the flight who were getting off in Singapore were former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Mike Arroyo, her son Mikey Arroyo and his children.

Arrival in Singapore, even in the past, before the availability of technology, had been efficient and a breeze. These days, the arrival procedure is so quick and efficient that the immigration hall is almost empty with the simple scanning of the passport by a machine and no more stamping of the passport. However, baggage arrival was unusually long, as I guess most of the luggage was actually destined for Dubai or some other final European destination.

Traveling to the city is a quick MRT ride with a value-for-money multiple-day tourist MRT card and efficient underground tunnels that Singapore, along with Hong Kong and Japan have and continue to expand — encouraging and enabling tourists to quickly get to their destinations without having to deal with road traffic.

The Philippines, unfortunately, is so far behind in making this a reality, thus, losing out on the foreign tourists that continue to choose Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and other Asian destinations instead.

Singapore, compared to Japan, is now relatively more expensive for Filipino tourists. However, it remains a good destination because of its safety and efficiency, and great food choices.

What brought me to Singapore this time around, was the chance to see the impressionism paintings of European masters Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin that are on loan to the National Gallery of Singapore from the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston up to March 1 this year.

I was also pleasantly surprised and proud to see that the National Gallery of Singapore also has some art works from Fernando Amorsolo,  HR Ocampo and Abdulmari Imao.

Definitely, flying to Singapore is easier to see such a collection than flying to Boston or to Europe, which would cost an arm and a leg. In the past, I also had the opportunity to view an Egyptian antiquities exhibit in Singapore, something that Filipinos can only hope to be loaned to our own National Museum  in the still very distant future, or perhaps never, as Filipinos need so much more to improve their lives than art appreciation.

In fact, flying to Singapore to watch a foreign music artist perform is more convenient than watching them in the Philippines where the experience becomes a nightmare of traffic chaos. With the returning Korean pop group BTS scheduling a concert in Singapore and the Philippines, I am pretty sure that some Filipinos may choose to fly to Singapore instead to enjoy a more orderly show.

What saddens me is that Singapore continues to attract well-heeled foreign tourists and retirees who enjoy the safety and efficiency of the island nation, even as Filipinos comprise a large portion of the foreign workforce in Singapore, especially in the hospitality sector where Filipinos are able to communicate better with English- speaking foreign visitors.

One other reality that hit me in my current visit to Singapore is the demise of the newspaper. At the Carlton Hotel where we stayed, I was surprised that even at the premier lounge of the hotel, a copy of The Straits Times is no longer available, or any other local newspaper publication for that matter.

The concierge admitted that the hotel no longer procures newspapers,  and I had to request for a copy. I guess I am among the last generation of newsmen who still enjoy and appreciate reading a newspaper…so sad indeed because The Straits Times is among some of the best news publications.