Christmas Day 2008

When is Big too Big?

The relatively new Bangkok airport is massive by anyone terms. The actual arrival and departure lounge has got to be one of the biggest buildings I have ever seen. To think they less than a month ago the entire airport was closed due to protesters exercising their rights with disapproval of the government. I’m not going to enter into the politics however, I’m just wondering if it’s too big. I took an internal Air Asia flight which is the Asian answer to Jetstar, to Thailand’s north to a place called Udon Thani. Air Asia is very busy and a dozen counters to check into regardless of where you are going. What I like about it is that if its getting close to your flight closing, these girls come around with a sign with your flight number and destination and fast track you through a couple of special counters they have for that purpose. So within 10 mins I was through,(otherwise it would have been 45 mins.) The gates and areas are quite well signed but it’s a hell of a long way. So they have huge people movers which are great if you want to be on one and walk until you come up against some fat arse tourist who decides they can hog the whole mover with themselves and their grossly oversized bag on wheels that makes my backpack look like a kindergarten kids purse. There are also heaps of shops with the latest products and of course the perfume section for women and for home. This is where I always get to try the latest Hugo Boss, Giovanni, or Tommy as they leave their test bottles out. A couple of quick sprays and I’m out of there heading for the departure gate. Straight on to the bus and then it’s a 5 min or so bus ride pass dozens of idle planes that are lined up like those kids on the beach in the Qantas ad. What I do notice though is the ridiculous colours that some of the planes are. In particular Bangkok Air, who fly to Koh Samuii and the likes. They make Ken Done’s creations look like he was painting in the dark. Anyway after the plane started taxing it took another 18 mins to take off as we were so far away from the runway. I think we used less fuel in air as we did taxing to the runway. After seeing the organised kaos at Bangkok we landed at Undon Thani. And yep, you guessed it we were the only plane in the whole airport.
Next Blog will be from Laos.