Stuck in Bangkok!

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Stuck in Bangkok - just when you thought it was all over!

I have skipped ahead a bit to write this blog as I felt it was a bit more important that talking about Phuket and our James Bond experience. As you can tell from the heading of this blog entry I will have a lot of time on my hands and so will no doubt be updating my blog with all the missing entries in due course.

I should have known that we were cursed when we left Phuket in a tuk tuk taxi to the airport. Spiraling up a massive mountain we sat in traffic and nearly choked to death with the fumes of our little car. Three cars had broken down on the road, one of which was a truck carrying a load of eggs - many of which found their way to the floor. How appropriate.

We boarded our plane with no problems and upon arrival at Bangkok airport you could be fooled into thinking that it was just another ordinary day. The airport was busy - but then it always is. We were hounded as usual by a load of private taxis offering to take us to our hotel. We are used to paying about 400 Baht for a taxi which is about eight pounds. Today the going rate was 1500 Baht which we were not settling for. It then became apparent that there were a few demonstrations on the motorway leading up to the airport and as a result the motorway had been closed. This was why the cost of the taxi had gone up - we would have to take a different route.
In the end we decided to queue up and get a public taxi and just see what the metre read. After two hours of queuing we got a taxi for 700 Baht. Driving down the road we saw all of the protestors lined up outside the airport. Thousands of them in double decker buses all wearing yellow t-shirts. The queue of traffic behind the demonstration went on for miles. We managed to get to Ko San Road with no problems and checked into the Ko San Palace - because it is cheap. (Not because it is a Palace).

That evening we toasted the holiday and went to our favourite restaurant. The meal ended in bitter dissapointment when Jane spotted a rat scurrying around the restaurant floor. Our starters arrived after our main courses and the food was cold. I ate half of my food and then opted for a happy meal from good old Mc Donalds down the road. We head out to a few bars and sipped on cocktails and laughed about the highlights of our trip. We head to bead at about 2am knowing that tomorrow was our last day and that we had a date with the Grand Palace!

We woke up, grabbed breakfast and set out to find a tuk tuk to take us to the Palace. Oddly enough most of the Tuk Tuks were relcutant to take anyone anywhere. So we found ourseleves a taxi driver - Mr Porn. Hilarious! This little man culd barely see over the top of the windshield and spent more time looking at Thai School Girls than anything else. But he was a big Liverpool fan so I let him off. Mr Porn explained that the airport was closed and that the demonstrators had effectively taken over the airport in an attempt to force the current prime minister to resign. Grenaded and bombs had gone off and there were no flights going in or out of Bangkok.
This put a bit of a spin on things. The Grand Palace no longer looked so Grand and after 20 minutes of looking round (and being photographed by a load of Thai School Kids) we head back to our hotel to try and contact our airlines.

All flights have been cancelled and all of us are stuck in Bangkok. Unfortunately Vicky has received some bad news and needs to get back to the UK asap for a funeral. Me and the rest of the gang have little choice but to sit tight in our hotel and hope that the fighting stops.
It looks as though the Prime Minister is refusing to budge and that the fighting might spread to other airports and other Political areas in Bangkok. We are however staying in a very touristy area away from the embassy and so should be ok.
There is an odd feel around Ko San Road. Every internet cafe is full of travellers trying to find their way out. Some people were taken to other airports. Some people have opted for buses and taxies to other parts of Asia. Suddenly everyone is talking to each other and grouping together in an attempt to buddy up with people trying to get to the same place.

The next avalible flight is the 30th November and I have asked Travel Nation to try and book me on this, working on the assumption that it is still avalible and will still be flying. Failing that I will remain here in Ko San Road and will keep you all posted.

Just when you thought it was all over eh! 😊

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