Rajeev's World: Plane Spotting At SIN -- Part II

After an exciting afternoon, yesterday, at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, we departed this morning for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the second leg of our Singapore-Malaysia trip.

When we planned this trip in October last year, we were told that catching a train between Woodlands in northern Singapore and KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur is the best option, it is indeed a scenic route passing through plantations, rice-fields and rolling hills of the Malayan peninsula. Now that sounded very exciting...

So I eargerly logged onto the website of the Malaysian train operator - Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). Unlike Indian Railways and their much maligned online booking portal, IRCTC, KTM opens reservations only 30 days prior to the intended date of travel, which is quite not cool by any standard.

So exactly a month back, I logged on to KTM's website again. I was flabbergasted when I figured out both the first class and second class tickets were completely sold out within 30 minutes of the reservations opening. That's when I thanked my stars that I was an Indian, living in India, with IRCTC having a user-friendly website and the multiple options (Tatkal) that I had at my disposal.

So the next thing I did was book airtickets online. I got tickets on Malindo Air for the SIN-KUL sector for just INR 1100 per pax, which is indeed dirt cheap, and indeed cheaper than KTM.

While I was still upset, this morning, at not being able to see the countryside, the sight of the big, sexy beauties at Changi thrilled me no end...

Boarding for Sydney... Who needs a train journey after seeing a sight like this!

So many places I am yet to visit...

A view of the parking bays from the DNATA Lounge in Terminal 3...

We finally boarded the Malindo Air Boeing 737-800. We were greeted by cute stewardesses in white blouses and slender, uniquely patterned kebayas. Our aircraft was spankingly clean and smelt fresh, unlike Indian carriers.

Malindo Air recently commenced operations in 2013, as joint venture between Indonesia's Lion Air and Malaysia's National Aerospace and Defence Industries. Lion Air set up Malindo in response to Air Asia's commencement of operations in Indonesia.

I was a bit surprised to learn that the name Malindo was derived from the names of respective countries: Malaysia and Indonesia.

A Jet Airways flight from Chennai had just arrived and was docked at Terminal 3, just as an Emirates Boeing 777 began rolling on its takeoff run, headed to Dubai...