Thailand Diary -2008

The story of Airports

After countless arrivals and departures from Don Muang airport, this was my first landing at the swanky new Suvarnabhumi Airport of Bangkok. The new airport has a very modern design, a lot of green spaces, trademark Thai efficiency and delightful duty free shopping. For those who have been used to our own Indira Gandhi international airport and the painful process of its modernization, one could not understand why the Thai authorities discarded such a huge airport such as Don Muang. Suvarnabhumi also came with its share of scandal and corruption charges. There were cost overruns, the project was delayed by several years and soon after opening the main runway collapsed. Don Muang got a fresh lease of life with a few domestic airlines moving back to it. Now both airports are operational though major chunk is with Suvarnabhumi .Don Muang just has some crumbs to it. The expressway to Don Muang wears a deserted look, the huge airport hotels are in the process of closing down and the economy of the area is in shambles. I wish we could just import Don Muang instead of going through this pain here. It will serve our purpose for next 50 years.

Traffic woes

On my first visit to Bangkok in 1992, the traffic scared me. We left for airport five hours before the flight time as the city was famous for the most missed flights due to traffic jams. One could not even imagine that Delhi would ever have such bad traffic. The people got so used to being stuck in traffic that the cars started having toilets in them.
The democracy came and the government which was elected was elected because it promised better traffic management. The government on coming to power created ‘ministry of traffic.’ Soon after taking over the minister got stuck in traffic jam while going to airport, took a lift from a motorcyclist and even then missed the flight.
Then came the expressways, sky trains, MTR’s and the works. The traffic is still heavy in Bangkok but it moves. It takes just 30-40 minutes to get to Airport. As I stood on the over bridge of Sukhumvit road on a Friday evening, all I could see were vehicles and vehicles for many miles. The fifteen minutes that I spent observing the traffic, I noticed that not even one vehicle tried to overtake from wrong side or anyone breaking the law. Not even one sound of horn could be heard in those 15 minutes. Do their vehicles come without horns ? How Thai government has inculcated such discipline is something we should seriously try to find out and implement before road rage killings become the order of the day here.

Journey to the island

Koh Samui is a small island in the gulf of Thailand. While Phuket , located in Andaman sea is more popular, Samui has in the last few years established itself as a fun tourist destination and a good alternative to Phuket. After around 8 visits to Phuket, it was time for me to explore Samui, which had been on the radar for last few years. This was a family holiday and we had decided to celebrate the Diwali in an exotic place like Samui. My parents joined us from Lucknow and my sister flew in from Canada. Instead of a straight forward direct flight to Samui from Bangkok, we decided to save money and fly to Surat Thani on Air Asia flight. From Surat Thani airport a bus meandered through the lush green Thai countryside and carried us to the Don Sak ferry terminal. The smell of ocean and the gushing sea breeze is something we inland livers crave for and the ferry journey of ninety minutes gave us plenty of both. The ferry took us past those awesome limestone cliffs which jut out of water and are so very prominent in this part of the world. Eight hours after we had checked out of our Bangkok hotel, we arrived at our Samui hotel. The real holiday had started.

Chaweng Beach

Chaweng is the main and busiest beach of Samui. The beach road is a few kilometers long and is full of hotels, shops, restaurants and bars on both side of the narrow road. Our hotel was located on the south (quieter) side of chaweng and our room was around 40 meters from the beach. This luxury is not available in Phuket also as most hotels have to be located a little further away from the beach. Sitting on the verandah, we could see the calm sea touching the horizon. Did I say calm? Yes- this was the unfortunate part of Samui. The sea was flat and calm. It looked beautiful but it did not excite. Through our stay there, the kids and I waited for the surf to swell and the waves to hit us. It did not happen and swimming in sea became like swimming the swimming pool.
We expected the Chaweng to be throbbing with tourists at this time of the year. I was a bit surprised with a bit of subdued atmosphere as this goes very against what we expect from the Thai tourist spots at any time of the year. At Bangkok also I had noticed lack of tourists and I am told that Phuket has also been a lot flat this year. Was it the global meltdown or something else?

Thai Politics

The Thais blame the political turmoil in the country for this drop in tourism. In 2006 while the PM Thaksin was away, the tanks rolled on the streets of Bangkok and emergency was declared as army staged a coup. The coup, it is said was with the blessing of the King who is revered in Thailand. Fresh elections were held last year and Thaksins party won the elections and his front man Samak Sundaravej became the Prime Minister. Samak was asked to resign by the court in September as he violated the constitution for holding some sort of cooking classes on TV while holding the post of PM . Cooking classes!!!!! The PM actually had to resign. Now Thais have a new PM, who happens to be Thaksins brother in law and there are protests against him all the time. A few times the protestors lay siege to different airports in the country and many a times protesters have blocked traffic in the capital. Now a coup is expected once again and many countries in Europe have issued travel advisory against visiting Thailand thus plunging the tourism arrivals to a very low level. Thaksin, who also happens to be the owner of the football club Manchester City, has been sentenced to three years in prison for corruption by Supreme Court in absentia (he is trying for asylum in UK) and Thais are braising for the worst.

Around Samui


Samui is an island which is around 20 km x 25 km. It has several beaches and the most popular are Chaweng and Lamai. There is a lot to do if one wants to do something. There are day trips (cruises) to marine parks; there is diving and snorkeling ; water sports like Para sailing , jet ski etc. are available in plenty; there are animal shows at the farms; Bophut beach has the huge golden Buddha overlooking the sea and the airport ;and a little further down there is a huge laughing Buddha. Buddhism is the main religion in Thailand and it is always good to show respect in their temples by being properly attired. Full moon party at Pha Ngan Island (for which a short boat ride has to be taken) is a spectacle which lasts all night long. Now due to the popularity they have started half moon parties. I saw a hoarding somewhere talking about ‘no moon’ party as well.
Chaweng lacks the rows and rows of go-go bars as is the dominant feature of ‘Soi Bangala’ of Phuket, but then that makes Chaweng beach safe from sleaze and it is definitely more fit for families.
It was fun hiring a ‘Grand Vitara’ on one fine cloudy day and driving down the coastal road, stopping at waterfalls and animal farms and having a leisurely lunch of sea food at a restaurant jutting over the sea. On the other days the schedule was simple. On the beach after breakfast; a couple of hours in the sea; a nice Thai massage on the beach followed by Beer and lunch. Nap in the afternoon; swimming pool in the evening; and then out in the market for a stroll, drinks & dinner. I certainly didn’t want this to end.

The Thai Massage

Mention Thai massage - and many will first think of Bangkok’s notorious night life, its ‘massage parlours’ with saucy extras. Thai massage has suffered from this confusion of terms, for few visitors of Thailand know that it does not mean covert prostitution at all. Many a visitors from India and all over the world have visited Thailand for these saucy massages in lanes and by lanes of Bangkok and Pattaya. Bangkok, the prostitution capital of the world has thousands of these covert prostitution centers, which have been dressed up as massage parlours. However, this has deprived people from finding out the truth about the traditional Thai massage.
Thai massage is said to have originated in India and was first administered to Buddha almost 2500 years ago. For several years it was used by monks as alternate medicine therapy. Thai massage is also called Thai yoga massage, because the therapist uses his or her hands, knees, legs, and feet to move you into a series of yoga-like stretches. Many people say Thai massage is like doing yoga without any work. Muscle compression, joint mobilization, and acupressure are also used during treatment. People describe Thai massage as both relaxing and energizing. Having got the Thai massage done on the beach on each morning at Samui, I would certainly swear by it.
Samui airport

The vast Suvarnabhumi airport may be the newest and flashiest airport in the world but I’ve never seen anyone standing around taking hundreds of photos of it like they do of Samui Airport. Many have described it as the quaintest little airport on planet. The airport does not have buildings but only cottages. It does not feel like an airport but like a resort. I am told that the airport replaces its roof with fresh palm leaves every two or three years and every building on the airport complex is entirely thatched over with palm leaves. In the main public areas the exterior walls have wide-open sides for the ocean breeze to waft through. The open areas are all green and very well maintained. There are shops, pubs and restaurants all around and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go there just for a drink or a meal without even having to fly in or out. The vehicles that take you to the aircraft seem like safari vehicles and Bangkok airways aircrafts are the most colourful as any you would ever see.

As I was ending another great holiday in Thailand, my good friend Linus’s SMS summed up my love for Thailand. The message was simple but clear: ‘Have they given you citizenship yet?’