Thailand Politics

[Betong]

1) catch a train from BKK to Penang and then take one of the six flights a day from Penang to KL on Air Asia

No need to go as far as Penang. Just get off at Alor Star, right over the border. It's become the main 'international' airport for many of us in the deep South, now that Hatyai no longer has any overseas flights.

At least one airline (China) has international flights out of Phuket that don't go through Bangkok.

It's a little convoluted, but you could even get out via Vientiane . . . .

[Seydlitz]

For those that must leave in a hurry, here's two options:

1) catch a train from BKK to Penang and then take one of the six flights a day from Penang to KL on Air Asia or
2) catch the gambling bus from Lumpini Park to Poi Pet, catch a taxi from Poi Pet to Phnom Phen, and take the one Air Asia flight per day to KL.

Hope this helps. And remember, this is Thailand.

There are also Bangkok Airways connections from Samui to Hong Kong and Singapore. Samui is reachable from BKK in a day's drive. There are also flights from Pattaya to Samui.

[RCA Knight]

Recent years, I found there is a huge increase of punters in Zhu Hai, Dongguang, ect, these destinations are getting international, and no longer hidden from international hunters. Lots of nice hotels, over abundance of ladies, price cheaper than Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, because of the over supply. Not bad.

[Giotto]

Washburn, Oosik1,

Thanks for your supporting words ... in fact business is down, the hotel nearly empty. If somebody needs a room: www.livingstones.co.th. But please don't send me PMs and ask how you can get there, if the airport is closed .

On the other side I have all the girls for myself !!! (but then, if I think it to the end, if I would "help" some of our horny girls Mrs. Giotto would most likely send me to the airport ...).

The airport somehow gets a more important role in my life. No idea why.


Giotto

[Giotto]

...
If Thaksin's regime won the war on drugs, why is the current street price of Yaba cheaper than it was in 2004?
...

PosterLion,

To be honest, I don't know, I never buy that shit ...

I don't really expect the elite of the country to act as sponsors in this case.


Giotto

[FritsVanegter]

Hello,

Originally i would have flown today to BKK for an 8 week holiday with connecting flight to the Phillipines and Cambodia all departing from that new BKK airport. Probably have to reschedule everything because of the troubles at the airport. Could reroute to KL and fly from there to Phil and PP. Kl is a lovely town but not a mongers heaven like BKK ( used to be? )

Next year will probably skip Thailand completely. Allthough i am not a great fan of the current government this action will do more wrong then good. Tourism will go down the drain. The highly regarded King is keeping silence. I just did talk to a Thai friend and she said everything surely will be solved before his birthday on 5 december. Just an hour ago the prime minister was on all tv station but if he will not move the protesters at the airport will stay foot. Maybe the army will take control one more time. Let us wait and see and hope paradise will not be lost forever.

Greetings,

Frits

[Seeko]

But, looking on the bright side, this mess is probably good for mongers (other than those whose flight plans are affected, to whom I send my sincerest sympathies). The immeasurable damage to Thailand this is causing bodes well for our prospects and pocketbooks.

Yep, my friend and I are in the group of punters affected by this closure of airports.
We were hoping to spend our long Thanksgiving holiday weekend in LOS. Instead, we rerouted our flights to Hong Kong, cancelled hotel reservations in BKK, made last-minute bookings in Wan Chai, and ended up having fun with Pinoys, but not as much as we originally planned.
Let's hope the airports are cleared up soon, so we can salvage what we have left of our free time.
So, where else is an alternative place?

Seeko

[PosterLion]

I was just wondering how many mongerers who told their wives or bosses they were someplace else are now stuck in Bangkok. That would make for an interesting situation.

In the meantime I just read the earliest the airport would reopen is Saturday - provided the demonstrators pack up and go peacefully. It is just a shame that they are killing the Thai economy.

For those that must leave in a hurry, here's two options:

1) catch a train from BKK to Penang and then take one of the six flights a day from Penang to KL on Air Asia or
2) catch the gambling bus from Lumpini Park to Poi Pet, catch a taxi from Poi Pet to Phnom Phen, and take the one Air Asia flight per day to KL.

Hope this helps. And remember, this is Thailand.

[Washburn]

If you had the power and position to do something about this stalemate, what would you do? The options are......live with status quo, coup, King intervention, massive demonstrations to the degree that one of the above kicks in. Perhaps there are more options, but these will suffice for my purpose. At the root of this political crisis is Thaksin. Get rid of Thaksin and the problem will go away, IMHO. Thaksin and his cronies are so corrupt as to define a new level of corruption. At some point, either the Army will step in or the King will step in. Dissolve parliament and call a new general election. In the meantime, businesses and tourism will be hurt, but in the longer run, they will be better off.......IMHO. Giotto and others have only their income to worry about, but the citizens of Thailand have their country's survival to think about.

PAD doesn't give a sh*t about the "citizens" of Thailand. PAD is the pawn of the power elite who are miffed that democracy doesn't further their interests. Thaksin is corrupt - I'm no fan - and worse, but his machinations are just more heavy handed than his counterparts in the West, not different in kind. And the power behind PAD doesn't care about the corruption, just that they're cut out of it.

This crisis could be stopped instantly, but not by the government.

But, looking on the bright side, this mess is probably good for mongers (other than those whose flight plans are affected, to whom I send my sincerest sympathies). The immeasurable damage to Thailand this is causing bodes well for our prospects and pocketbooks.

[Oosik1]

If you had the power and position to do something about this stalemate, what would you do? The options are......live with status quo, coup, King intervention, massive demonstrations to the degree that one of the above kicks in. Perhaps there are more options, but these will suffice for my purpose. At the root of this political crisis is Thaksin. Get rid of Thaksin and the problem will go away, IMHO. Thaksin and his cronies are so corrupt as to define a new level of corruption. At some point, either the Army will step in or the King will step in. Dissolve parliament and call a new general election. In the meantime, businesses and tourism will be hurt, but in the longer run, they will be better off.......IMHO. Giotto and others have only their income to worry about, but the citizens of Thailand have their country's survival to think about.

[Thor93]

I was just wondering how many mongerers who told their wives or bosses they were someplace else are now stuck in Bangkok. That would make for an interesting situation.

In the meantime I just read the earliest the airport would reopen is Saturday - provided the demonstrators pack up and go peacefully. It is just a shame that they are killing the Thai economy.

[Washburn]

Man, I feel sorry for Giotto, and anyone else who has to run a business in, or connected with, LOS.


Emergency Declared at Thai Airports


By THOMAS FULLER
Published: November 27, 2008

BANGKOK — The government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a state of emergency at Bangkok’s two commercial airports Thursday and instructed police to deal with protesters occupying the facilities, Thai media reported.

It was not immediately clear what measures the declaration authorized.

The order came after a cabinet meeting in the northern city of Chiang Mai, a location apparently chosen to avoid confrontation with demonstrators, who in addition to the Bangkok airports are occupying the prime minister’s offices here in the capital.

Earlier, amid rumors of a military coup, a government spokesman instructed troops to “stay in their barracks.”

The closure of Bangkok’s second airport early Thursday severed the last remaining commercial air links to the Thai capital. Until Wednesday, airlines were operating domestic flights out of Don Muang airport, Bangkok’s oldest airfield.

Protesters have vowed to keep the airports shut until the government steps down.

Government supporters who have formed a type of auxiliary, known as the red shirts, said they were growing impatient with the protesters. Weera Musikapong, one of the leaders of the group said in a news conference that the “best way out” of the crisis was to follow the law. “But if the government does not act today or tomorrow the red shirt group and the people must come out and do something.”

Protesters have clashed with pro-government forces on several occasions in recent months, leaving at least two people dead and dozens injured.

Thailand’s tourism minister, Weerasak Kohsurat, said the government would soon begin flying thousands of stranded tourists out of the country using military bases near the Thai capital.

Tourists would be flown by Thai Airways to Singapore or Malaysia for connecting flights, The Associated Press reported.

Government officials also said Thursday they would allow commercial airlines to use one of the military airports, U-Tapao.

Used by the United States military during the Vietnam War, U-Tapao can handle only a fraction of the daily average of 100,000 passengers who flew in and out of Suvarnabhumi International Airport last year.

U-Tapao’s terminal has the capacity to hold 400 people and the parking lot has about 100 spaces. The airport is about 120 miles from Bangkok, a two-hour drive.

The seizure of Bangkok’s airports is radical even by the standards of Thailand’s tempestuous political past. Despite frequent military coups and changes of government in past decades, the day-to-day running of Thailand’s bureaucracy had been largely unaffected until now. The airports operated with little interruption during a military coup in 2006, and unlike many of its neighbors Thailand has maintained reliable service in key areas such as electricity and health care despite political turmoil.

But with the closure of the airports this week and occupation of the prime minister’s office since August, politics is now directly interfering with many facets of life in Thailand.

The country’s foreign minister, Sompong Amornwiwat, said the government is considering postponing a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations scheduled for next month because of the political crisis, Reuters reported.

Cargo services at Suvarnabhumi airport, a major hub for Southeast Asia, have completely ceased, a major blow for Thai and foreign companies that use the country as an export base.

“The protesters have basically closed down the country,” said Ruth Banomyong, an associate professor at Thammasat Business School who is one of the region’s leading experts in logistics.

“Thailand was never considered as a very risky country,” he said. “I don’t think companies would have prepared for this.”

Thailand is well integrated into a regional network of just-in-time electronics manufacturing, where businesses keep down costs by maintaining a bare minimum of inventories. If the airports remain closed, assembly lines in Japan and China may run out of the semiconductors, disk drives and other components manufactured in Thailand.

Mr. Ruth estimates that electronics manufacturers keep around three to five days of inventory.

“This idea of Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi being a cargo hub — they can drop it down the drain now,” he said.

Thailand last year exported about $40 billion in electronics and computer components. Leading electronics manufacturing including Fujitsu, Seagate, Philips, and LG have factories in the country.

The airport closures may also prove dangerous for those in need of urgent medical care.

Neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos rely on Thailand for health care because Bangkok has some of the best hospitals in the region. The closure of the airports has shut off the urgent provision of medicines and medical machinery from abroad.

“For agriculture and electronics it’s a commercial loss,” said Voratat Tantimongkolsuk, deputy director of operations at CTI, one of the largest freight forwarders in Thailand. “But this is also about people’s lives. We import a lot of medical equipment from other countries.”

Mr. Voratat is proposing to his clients that they send their shipments by truck to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, adding about three days to the shipment time. But this route may not be viable for the most sensitive products.

Last year Suvarnabhumi airport handled import and exports averaging a total of 2,900 tons a day.

[Run Mann]

If you are stuck in Thailand and need to leave urgently, contact Pattaya City Hall for Help.
________________________________________________________________

Emergency Meeting discusses local assistance for stranded International Tourists.

On Thursday Afternoon, Khun Mongkol, the Chief of Banglamung District chaired an emergency meeting to discuss the currently situation in Bangkok and the affect on Tourists residing here in Pattaya following the closure of Suvanabumi Airport. The District Chief announced that Pattaya City Hall and Banglamung City Hall’s can be contacted by Tourists who are stranded here in Pattaya following the airport closure which could last for some time. For the latest information the Pattaya City Call Center 1337 can be contacted and for those who need to leave Thailand urgently can also contact 1337 and decisions on whether to accommodate requests to leave Thailand urgently will be decided case-by-case by an emergency committee which has been set up. Utapao Airport in Sattahip is still operating and can be used. So if you are stranded here in Pattaya and have problems with money or visas or if you require any advice regarding the use of other forms of transport to leave Thailand please call 1337.

[PosterLion]

I have no words for this stupid and ignorant statement. Unbelievable.

The anti drug campaign was definitely "very very effective" for those 2000 over people that were sentenced to death without any court ruling, just shot down with a few grams of drugs in their pockets. This was a kind of legalized murder...nothing else than that.


Giotto

Hello Mr. G,

I don't know how you put up with all these democratic lovelies. LOL

I think you know me pretty well and will understand the upward slant of my nose while I recommend the dismissal of this nonsensical political discussion.

The key to understanding all of the conflicts in Thailand is the world-wide change of social mood from expansionary-optimism to deflationary-pessimism. Conflicts are erupting every where in the world and will continue to do so until the pessimism is exhausted.

It will be then and only then that social mood will change for the better. As far as I am concerned (because I am quite naturally correct in all matters of philosophy), it simply won't matter which political party is in control.

I do have a salient point regarding the WAR-ON-DRUGS that sheds a light of direct evidence that social mood has indeed swung to that of deflationary-pessimism.

If Thaksin's regime won the war on drugs, why is the current street price of Yaba cheaper than it was in 2004?

enough said!
poster . . .

[Aumshow]

Lets all watch the thai baht DEPERICIATE now!

Hip hip hooray!