Leaving the Land of Smiles
This morning I decided to pamper myself and support the local economy by taking a taxi to Phaya Thai station. Yet when I stepped onto Silom, the whole road was jammed. Alas, once again I’m back to carrying my backs through the streets and crowded skytrains.
The Bangkok Post recently reported about delays at the airport immigration, even causing passengers to miss flights. Thus I arrive a bit earlier than usual at check-in and am delighted to see that they have almost no queues. Minutes later I have my boarding passes and go to get a snack and exchange my remaining Thai money.
When I arrive at immigrations it is the same sight as at check-in. Hardly any queues and through within minutes. Security takes a bit longer but I still have more than an hour left when I arrive at my gate. Good thing they have comfortable couches there.
Departing Suvarnabhumi is the total opposite of Nakhon Si. In Nakhon Si my plane was the only one on the whole airport and we did taxi on the runway with a u-turn at the end. In Bangkok taxi takes ages and we have to stop twice to wait for planes in front of us to take off. When we finally turn onto the runway I can see that there is five more birds lined up behind us.
For a change I’m not on a budget airline and thus even being served food and drinks. The staff is completely unorganized though, the guy in front of me is still waiting for his chicken when I’m done with mine. The captain is not the most experienced either, judging by how he slams the plane onto the runway in KL. Guess I was flying with the P-plater crew today. Hopefully the staff on the 12.5h flight to Frankfurt has a more solid grip on things.
I’m killing some time now, waiting for my connecting flight in KL. The airport here is nice and shiny with free WiFi just like BKK and SG. I’ll feel like entering a developing country when I arrive at that grey hole in FFM.
