18.12.06 : Bangkok Transmission Begins

We landed yesterday night in Bangkok to experience our first sight of the new Suvarnabhumi (su-wan-na-poom) airport. Upon the touchdown, I thought the landing strip had been beautifully decorated with differently coloured LEDs and the buildings looked pretty good from the outside.

It hadn’t really hit me I had landed at home until I saw the big sign on the gangway with a yellow background, which read ‘Long Live the King’. Once inside the building, my first impression regarding the interior of Suvarnabhumi was a failed attempt to blend traditional Thai art with the sense of sophistication that the airport was meant to boast (in my humble opinion). To be fair, it was a nice airport and seemed better than Don Muang (the old airport) in ways, but the patterns on the floor resembled a church floor in a Thai temple, while the ceiling reminded me very much of the ceiling at Carrefour. But that’s ok. Looks and design are a matter of opinion.

What troubled me, though, was the fact that the standard of the services the airport offers never got updated the way the infrastructure itself did. The same old ‘you want taxi?’ nuisances still take up the arrival hall space, which already is not so big. And why would you wanna put the taxi stand right outside the arrival hall exits just so they can be blocked by the taxi queues. The worst thing, tho was that I have to say the only place there’s a queue for the males’ toilets is at the new Bangkok airport. I went round the place to have a look and some toilets only had one urinal pot. ONE!!!

Anyways, enough ranting. The weather/temperature here in Bangkok has been perfect so far. Not too humid, not too cold. Hopefully it stays this way a long time. Dad had mentioned to us there was a surprise waiting for us at home. And like we had speculated, a new family van. We have been going places in it and I must say I like it very much.