Do no think that I enjoy this 1 week of extra holidays, because as long as the Bangkok airport is closed, I am not sure when to leave and in a certain stage of this adventure I have to take another decision. Anyway, I will try to make the best out of it, since this situation is completely beyond my control.
I had to do some shopping so that was the first thing I did. Fortunately the (car)taxis are very cheap in Bangkok and air-conditioned, so I will make my life easy and exclusively get around by taxi. Tuk-tuks still exist in Thailand, but are at the same price as car-taxis and they always try to drag you around to their uncle, nephew or friend in order to try to sell you some souvenirs.
Then for hours and hours I sat down in a nearby internetcafe to work on this blog, to read my emails and to get some news from Air France.
I read this morning on their Thai site following message: "Due to the closure of the International Bangkok Airport, Air France had to cancel its flights on November 28th and 29th, 2008. An additional flight has been launched on Saturday November 29th from Utapao to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Air France watches the situation and will keep its customers informed on the evolution of its flight schedule for the next days."
Was that the message the woman of Air France wanted to tell me last night?
I contacted Annette and Nicolas to get a phone no. of Air France in Paris accessible from a foreign country, since in both The Netherlands and in France the Air France office is closed during the weekend, even with the exceptional events in Bumbai and Bangkok, unbelievable!! Anyway, Nicolas knew about a toll free number accessible from wherever in the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week related to the exceptional events in Mumbai and Bangkok and he managed to find that number. Why is Air France not publishing that number on their internet site ??
Anyway, I got Air France on the line and they rebooked my flight once again to .... December 1st, so only a delay of 2 days if .... if the airport is released. If not, it may be possible that they will organise another flight tomorrow evening from the military airport; Air France keeps me informed by phone (what an invention: mobile phone!!). You can be sure, that this time I will pick up the phone whatever the time is !!
(Thanks Annette and Nicolas for your help!!)
Funny to be in an internet cafés these days in Bangkok, since lots of tourists are coming in to discuss the situation and to get some news via Internet. No bother to be interrupted, since Internet is so cheap here. And even business people or right now an American teacher is stepping in. Do they not have an internet connection themselves at home? Well, they could have it, but it is too slow, impossible to get at home a fast connection against a good rate, and since it is so cheap in an internet café, most of the people go to an internet café.
In order to limit my additional charges, I changed for another cheaper hotel - also more convenient situated - booked by the Dutch local guide, who did an excellent job during our stay and especially the stressful last days. He gave me his handy no., so I can contact him any time if necessary. He even invited me to stay at this place with his family at Chiang Mai in order to find a flight from there, but as said yesterday, I prefer to stay in Bangkok.
The hotel is OK and I even ' dare' to walk around; since I arrived after sunset (5.30 p.m.), it is not easy to orientate myself. I bought an updated Lonely Planet from Bangkok; I had only a 1997 version of entire Thailand with me.
Part of the charges of the hotel and food will be paid by the Tourism Authority Thailand, but as long as my stay is only prolonged by 2 days, I will not bother since the charges for hotel and food are pretty low.
I booked an early bike tour for tomorrow afternoon with a Dutch guy working in Bangkok http://www.covankessel.com/ - the same one as Arjan did at the day of his arrival in Thailand 3 weeks ago - and if I am still around on Monday, I will make a walk with this organisation as well. Also this organisation is suffering of the airport blockade, so may have to cancel the tours. All the Thai I am talking to today tell me that this situation is very bad for the Thai economy.
By the way, on recommendation of the Dutch embassy in Thailand, I registered myself at their internet site (Lija, I gave them your GSM no.), so they know how to reach me or my sister. More news about the actual situation at http://www.netherlandsembassy.in.th/nieuws_en (in English and in Dutch), but do not believe anything what they say: 'tourist would possibly blocked for weeks' is said ...
Again, I do not feel worried, nothing to be noticed in Bangkok itself and Air France is taking us into charge: I am pretty sure that if things are getting more serious, the French government (or the Dutch embassy; my situation is a little complicated) will accelerate its efforts to get us back.
On this site from the Dutch embassy http://www.mfa.nl/ban you can follow the actual developments.
The last official news I have is that the airport has NOT been released tonight at 6 p.m. as said earlier by the authorities. The rest I hear are only rumours (that the government will soon disperse the protesters) and not verified.
I missed this party tonight "De gestrande Nederlanders in Bangkok worden zaterdagavond door de Nederlandse Vereniging Thailand getrakteerd op een borrel met hutspot, kroketten en bitterballen." what a pity !!!
Arjan confirmed me that he arrived at Chiang Mai airport at about 9.30 p.m. local time (i.e. 3.30 p.m. Dutch time), where the situation is relaxed and that he can check in around 11 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Dutch time), so it seems that he is going to fly back to The Netherlands and will arrive over there tomorrow Sunday November 30th somewhere around noon.
OK, time for me to get back to the hotel and get some sleep. I will keep informed my sister if things unexpectedly develop in such a way (for instance that I will fly back tomorrow), that I can not update this weblog. If not, I will come back to you tomorrow. If you do not want to wait for the daily email warning you, that a new message has been published, you can have a look yourself at www.heyikhier.blogspot.com around 6 p.m. Dutch/French time, before that time I should have published my daily report.
Good weekend to all of you.
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