I saw them seated at the departure lounge of the airport in Manila; heavily tattooed fellows including one who have a vicious blonde mohawk. They sounded either British or Australian depending on how sharp one's ear was and how familiar one is to the differences between accents. They seem to be mild-mannered and they were, too, during the three and a half hour flight from Manila to Singapore. I was quite amused by their looks and wondered if they happened to be Brit band I missed getting news of a performance in Manila. After all, there have been quite a few "revival" concerts in the last few years when the likes of Tears for Fears and Gin Blossoms took Manila by storm having failed to do so during their heydays.
Upon arriving in Changi, the fellows took some time clearing immigration. It was more probably because of their looks and the resulting first impressions of officials even though Changi should have had many similar visitors before being a hub in Asia. But even there, the fellows were well-behaved, contrary to typecasts for what looked like in the outside. After picking up their luggage and me mine, I happened to walk quite close to them towards the exit. I even waved to the Clairvoyant who was waiting for me with a smile that said "who are these you're walking with?" on her face.
As we walked towards the sign that said "Nothing to Declare," we were waved by staff towards a scanning machine. Again, I found it amusing, and my walking in proximity of the fellows probably made it look like I was with them so the airport staff also asked me to put my bags through the X-ray machine. The fellows were laughing by the time and one even apologized to me for taking some time to take his bags before me. We ended up walking out of the arrival area together and another fellow, an Asian and perhaps their agent in Singapore met up with them.
I think this is another case of judging the book by its cover. Of course, from a security perspective all was indeed according to established routines and procedures. But from a more human approach, I guess we've created so much bias from different information we have derived from all over that our judgement has been clouded often by such. So we forget the basics and get taken over by rules that tend to add unnecessary layers of mistrust or suspicion to otherwise normal and probably well-meaning people.
Upon arriving in Changi, the fellows took some time clearing immigration. It was more probably because of their looks and the resulting first impressions of officials even though Changi should have had many similar visitors before being a hub in Asia. But even there, the fellows were well-behaved, contrary to typecasts for what looked like in the outside. After picking up their luggage and me mine, I happened to walk quite close to them towards the exit. I even waved to the Clairvoyant who was waiting for me with a smile that said "who are these you're walking with?" on her face.
As we walked towards the sign that said "Nothing to Declare," we were waved by staff towards a scanning machine. Again, I found it amusing, and my walking in proximity of the fellows probably made it look like I was with them so the airport staff also asked me to put my bags through the X-ray machine. The fellows were laughing by the time and one even apologized to me for taking some time to take his bags before me. We ended up walking out of the arrival area together and another fellow, an Asian and perhaps their agent in Singapore met up with them.
I think this is another case of judging the book by its cover. Of course, from a security perspective all was indeed according to established routines and procedures. But from a more human approach, I guess we've created so much bias from different information we have derived from all over that our judgement has been clouded often by such. So we forget the basics and get taken over by rules that tend to add unnecessary layers of mistrust or suspicion to otherwise normal and probably well-meaning people.
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