Killing time at Suvarnabhumi

I planned a three-night stay in Bangkok after my surprise holiday in San Francisco. I didn’t know about the massive protest to shutdown the city at that time. As it turns out, Thailand’s opposition party supporters planned a big one on the day I was due to arrive. Being on the airplane for 20 hours before the start of the protest I was unable to see how it was mounting and if tensions were flaring.

Following this guy covering the state of affairs online helped give me insight into the situation. It was unclear what was going to happen. The sky train and the airports would be left open, which was nice, but how about the rest of the city? Could it really last 5-20 days? I was due to arrive around midnight. After immigration and baggage claim it would be closer to 12:30am. Would the trains be open? Would be the protests still be going on? Could I get a taxi?

Reading tweets like this one changed my mind:

Richard Barrow ‏‪@RichardBarrow                                                                  13 Jan

Tourists are advised NOT to go anywhere near the new rally sites in ‪#Bangkok. Especially late at night. Use common sense & you’ll be fine.

The guesthouse I was going to stay at was directly opposite a rally site. They never confirmed my request for a reservation. Fuck it, I didn’t need a vacation after a vacation. I checked Cambodia Angkor Air’s website. A flight out the next day before taxes was only 1100 baht! That’s about $30. Of course, with taxes, it was 3000 baht, but still a great fare booked two days before departure. Avoid the hassle entirely I thought, l was ready to get back to Phnom Penh and resume life where I left it. No need to risk getting shot just for the possibility of some cool pics and mango with sticky rice.

I booked the ticket thirty minutes prior to departing for San Francisco International. Now as I wait at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi at 3:15am I wish I had booked a cheap room a train stop from the airport. A bed, wifi, shower, being able to sleep in until noon, street food and showing up and flying away is far superior to enduring a night at the airport. The thing is, there was still some uncertainty as to where the protests would be and how long they’d last thus making everywhere potentially unsafe.

I’m not the only one calling the airport home tonight. Two local dudes sleep on mats to my right under camouflage tarps imprinted with US ARMY. And my fellow tourists are inconsiderately sprawled out on the airport’s chairs, generally three chairs per body or sit slumped in one if they were unfortunate to arrive late to stake their claim. I won’t sleep because I don’t want to lose anything in my possession.

The airport has free wifi, but apparently it’s only in the departure lounge. I guess that prevents people from lounging in the arrivals area. I’d go to the departure lounge, but I can’t check in my bag and therefore can’t go through security, as my flight isn’t for another 12 hours. The woman at the information desk told me they had free wifi at the coffee shops on the next level so I went back upstairs and sat down to ponder my options. I didn’t want to go to Starbucks, but that girl gave me eyes that would be hard to refuse walking by a second time. I didn’t really care, but welcomed a distraction and hated the fact that I couldn’t “man up” and just start talking to her.

I went in and ordered a coffee and found out after paying they didn’t even have wifi. $4 for a coffee I didn’t even want at 1 in the morning. Oh well, I’ll go say hi. Conveniently sitting next to the napkins and all the extras you can shake into your overpriced coffee, I sat down and made a little small talk. Good from afar, but far from good. Apparently everyone was just on their phone or tablet pretending to be online, but really just playing Angry Birds. I asked her where she was headed as there was lack of anything else to do. Turns out she was waiting for her boyfriend from Korea who happened to show up at the moment of my query. That ended the conversation and I was sitting alone with a coffee I didn’t really want and no wifi.

I laughed at my situation and got up to leave after sufficient time had passed after she left with her boyfriend. Wandering around with my oversized duffel bag repeatedly falling off my shoulder I discovered that wifi upstairs at the business center was $4 for 20 minutes. Not a good deal. I went back downstairs and found it was free at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf as long as you spent 300 baht ($10). Not a good deal. Eventually I settled on a nearby café and ordered some pad thai I didn’t want.

They eventually got the wifi working after resetting the router? Modem? Whatever was behind the staff door. Again, it seemed, everyone was just pretending to be online. My vegetarian pad thai came and vaguely reeked of fish sauce. The waitress assured me otherwise. After just thirty minutes of perusing Facebook and ascertaining the protest situation, I was presented with the bill. What? Oh, we close at 2am. Thanks. I was allowed to stay so I could finish my fish sauce and peruse a little longer, which was only until I had cleaned my plate and paid my bill and then someone flipped the switch.

Oh well. Now what? People did not look happy at 2:30am. The cleaning lady barked at me as I attempted to enter the restroom. Oh, does that trash can in the middle of the walkway mean it’s closed? No shit, really? Just trying to sneak into a stall to drain my main vein before she noticed to no avail. I also needed to brush my teeth, dab on some deodorant and make it look like I was clean after 20 hours of flights, overeating and being in and out of consciousness.

I eventually took care of business after lugging my bag to the next available restroom. I proceeded upstairs looking for a place to sit, down the entire length of the corridor, passing row upon row of chairs that appeared to have vacancies until upon closer inspection were occupied by slumbering tourists. The guy next to me just farted. Either that or someone has a really loud zipper. I think I’d worry about that if I were to fall asleep. That and waking up with an erection. I’ll face my fears one day.

The girl down the way is clipping her fingernails. Nails probably flying everywhere. Not attractive. My mind is wandering. Nothing to do, but ramble on and think about sex. I want to make eye contact with someone and understand everything without actually saying anything. Oh you're thinking about sex too? Let’s fuck. And we’d proceed to the nearest restroom. Instead of both veering in opposite directions, one would follow the other after receiving the green light. Just like the movies. And then some fun in the stall. Exciting. I’m that guy right now, looking around to see if there are any takers. Nope.

4’oclock now. Fuuuuuuuuuuck. Would be so nice right now to be under the covers farting myself to sleep. Or you know, being asleep enough where it actually feels like you’re spooning that special someone without the snoring, hair in your face, pins and needles in that arm you don’t know what to do with or someone stealing the sheets. 34% battery remaining. Thank goodness for that, I’m running out of things to say.