Arrival of plane in Paris according to schedule and believe it or not, I got some technical problems to get home by train, as usually according to Paris' standards.
I arrived home at 11.40 am and right now the first wash is turning.
I will go back to work on Thursday 04-12-08; the time in between I will use to recover some sleep, handle my ordinary mail and start with the pictures.
It is cold but sunny in Paris!
Thanks all of you for your support during the last days.
And do not think that the last 3 days - which will be in short time just a bad souvenir, I hope -spoilt my holidays; besides the last 3 days we both spent a wonderful time in Cambodia!
****
Contrary to for instance the German and French government, the Dutch government is not actively cooperating with its national air line company, KLM, to repatriate its compatriots, which implies a tremendous logistic efforts: get authorisations of the Thai authorities, organise ground and cabin crew (actually, KLM flew in 2 crew equips for my flight: the 1st for the flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur and the 2nd for the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam), organise meals, organise buses + drivers + presence of KLM staff in each bus (actually, volunteers of KLM staff being on holidays in Thailand have been asked to give a hand; funny to see them in their holidays outfit ...); fly in security staff since the security rules at the Phuket airport were unknown / insufficient, get 428 blue caps for all the passengers which we had to put on our head at the Phuket airport in order to recognize each other in the expected chaos, which turned out to be unneccesary happily, etc.
Though I was surprised first of all that little seemed to be done to get us out of the country, realising all of this, I have to admit that KLM did a huge effort and all of that without any help of the Dutch government. I have to say as well that I embraced the local KLM manager at Bangkok when he confirmed me that I was on the plane.
A KLM steward in the plane told us, that KLM decided to organise this first flight - the flight I took - for its image. The steward confirmed that such a flight one way costs Eur 250.000.
On the internet site of the French embassy I see following communiqué by the (French) Ministery of Foreign Affairs :
***
AIDE AU RETOUR DES FRANÇAIS DE THAÏLANDE - ENVOI D’UN AVION SPECIAL
Afin d’aider au retour de nos compatriotes qui ne peuvent regagner la France du fait de la fermeture des deux aéroports civils de Bangkok, le gouvernement français, en complément des efforts menés par les compagnies aériennes, notamment Air France, a décidé d’affréter un avion gros porteur.
L’avion spécial embarquera nos compatriotes qui se sont signalés à notre ambassade à Bangkok, la priorité étant donnée aux situations les plus urgentes.
Le départ de cet avion est prévu de Paris lundi 1er décembre en milieu de journée pour un retour le 3 décembre en début de matinée. Il transportera à son bord des agents du Centre de Crise du Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes pour renforcer notre ambassade accompagné d’une équipe médicale du Ministère de la santé et de la Brigade des Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris, et d’appui psychologique de la Croix Rouge Française.
****
Personnally I find the presence of the "équipe médicale du Ministère de la santé et de la Brigade des Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris, et d’appui psychologique de la Croix Rouge Française" exaggerated, because on our flight, there was NO crisis or panic at all!
But this effort is done by the French government, on top of the ones done by its national air line company, Air France.
By the way, at our arrival at Schiphol airport the press was present as well, I happily escaped them, since they did not notice that I was one of the passengers with only carrying my handbag. My suitcase was labelled on to Paris, so not with me at Schiphol.
At Paris - 120 passengers of our flight were French - was no press at all.
The Dutch embassy in Bangkok is publishing this message:
"2 december, 14.30 uur - Hof ontbindt politieke partijen
Het Constitutioneel Hof heeft 2 december de drie de coalitie partijen schuldig bevonden aan verkiezingsfraude en ontbonden. Dit betekent dat de premier per heden van zijn ambt is ontheven en dat een nieuwe regering moet worden gevormd. De regeringssupporters (rode t-shirts) zullen zich vanavond (2 december) mogelijk verzamelen bij het stadhuis (City Hall) van Bangkok. U wordt sterk aangeraden daar niet in de buurt te komen."
I can not assess the consequences of this decision by the court, but I have the feeling that this will worsen the situation.
****
I have been told that the situation at the military airport is a chaos. Tens of thousands of tourists would be there and huge traffic jams of buses / taxis trying to get there via provincial way to this former USA airport from the Vietnam-era.
Following message is published by the Dutch embassy at Thailand : "Ambassademedewerker bezocht op 30 november 2008 Utapao airport gelegen op ongeveer 180 km zuidoostelijk van Bangkok. Op het vliegveld heerste een chaotische toestand met een enorme mensenmassa buiten de vertrekhal. Slechts mondjesmaat werden er mensen in de vertrekhal binnengelaten. In de vertrekhal was slechts 1 bagagescanner en 4 incheckbalies. Er was nauwelijks ruimte om te bewegen. U wordt derhalve afgeraden op de bonnefooi, zonder reservering naar Utapao te reizen. De eerstvolgende Eva-air vlucht naar Amsterdam vanuit Utapao is op 2 december 02.30 uur."
The first - the following flights by Air France will be done from Phuket - special Air France flight from Air France from this military airport was not a big success: there would be only 50 passengers on board ??? Anyway, this time, the French embassy contacted the French passengers for 'my' KLM flight, something which the Dutch embassy didn't do!
Now I read following ANP press release : "De Thaise oppositie gaat ermee akkoord dat de vluchten vanaf de internationale luchthaven Suvarnabhumi van Bangkok worden hervat. Dit heeft een van de leiders van het protest dinsdag gezegd tegen het Franse persbureau AFP. " So the flights from the main airports are authorised to be resumed again, but apparently only starting from 15-12-08.
