Singapore Changi Jewel – Part 1

Jewel Changi Airport opened for over a year now and I finally have the chance to visit this place in July 2020. I heard so many things about Changi Jewel, it cost SG$1.7 billion to built it and designed by famous architect Moshe Safdie. This place is big, 10 stories altogether, 5 above ground, and 5 in the basement.

Jewel is more like a shopping mall with hundreds of shops and eateries, entertainment, an indoor garden, and the icon of Jewel, the 40m high indoor waterfall. It is connected to the Arrival Hall (level 1) of Terminal 1. You will need a few hours to explore Jewel or even a whole day to fully cover all the attractions here.

This place is so big and we didn’t have so much energy to visit all the attractions in a day so we just check out the indoor gardens and the indoor waterfall, it was called Rain Vortex also the highlight of Jewel for our first visit.

We parked our car in the basement and the first thing we saw when we enter B1 was a huge tub of water falling from the top. This is the water from Rain Vortex. The waterfall is coming down 40 meters from the top-level 5 all the way to B1. Now we need to find the way to go up to the top and take some more photos.

If you are traveler transit in Singapore, please cater at least 5 hours of transit time to visit Jewel. As mentioned, this place is huge.  One thing to note here for travelers, once you have check-in and go through the custom checks, you will not be allowed to come out again.  So, don’t make this mistake.

The centerpiece attraction of Jewel Changi is the waterfall Rain Vortex. At night, they will be light and sound show projected on the wall of the waterfall but due to Covid 19, it was closed till further notice. Anyway, it is still spectacular by day.

There are quite a lot of walking in Changi Jewel, one of them is the Shiseido Forest Valley. This greenery park is surrounding the Rain Vortex. You will be able to check out some plants with huge leaves and beautiful gardens. It is kind of relaxing and pleasant to do a cool walk within the garden. It is quite impressed to have nature infused into modern architecture, what a brilliant layout.

YOTELAIR is located in the Jewel complex so it is very convenient if you are doing layover.

The Skytrain between T2 and T3 passes through Jewel but without making a stop as there is no station in Jewel. Jewel is connected to the Arrival Hall level 1 of Terminal 1.

At the entrance of T1, if you look up, you will see Crystal cloud installation on the top.  In total there are 16 shimmering crystal clouds frame the light-filled gateway to Jewel. These are made of stainless steel wire mesh, Swarovski crystals.  It should be super cool at night.

Let’s check out the retails and restaurants in Jewel. 300 retails and dining outlets here.

Apple Store

Jumbo Restaurant

Kam Roast Duck

Since it was lunchtime so we went looking for something to eat. And we finally decided to have Yun Nans. The last time we had Yun Nan cuisine was almost 7 years ago when we were in Yunnan, China.

Some of the signatures in Yun Nans are Poached Pork Collar with Pickle Chilli (picture not available), quite spicy and if you like spicy food, this is for you. Inside you will find thinly sliced pork goes well with the rice noodles provided together in the pot.

We have also ordered Grilled Pork Trotters but it takes a long time to serve as it needed a long time to grill. If you love thick fat skin of pork trotters, this is certainly for you. There is not much meat in the pork trotters. The seasoning is pretty simple, chili powder, pepper, and salt sprinkled on top of the pork trotters.

There are still other attractions in Jewel such as Canopy Bridge where you are able to look at Rain Vortex from a different perspective. Petal Garden and Topiary Walk, Sky Nets, Canopy Mazes, and Discovery Slide will be covered my next visit.