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Published: August 22nd 2017
Aircraft Graveyard
The B747 is on the right. One MD-82 is on the left, and various sections of the second MD-82 are behind.A few years ago, I learned about a field in the eastern side of Bangkok where several aircraft had been abandoned. I immediately knew I had to experience this myself. When planning this flashpacking trip, I blinked in disbelief when I saw on united.com that I could fly Singapore-Bangkok-Sydney and return on Thai Airways for a paltry 70,000 miles, with BKK-SYD in First Class and the rest of the sectors in Business Class. I booked this award ticket without hesitation and scheduled a ten hour layover so that I could seek out this aircraft graveyard.
The Journey to the Aircraft Graveyard
I arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 9am. Since I was flying First Class on my next segment, I suspected there would be someone to meet me at arrival. Sure thing, there was an earnest young agent holding up a placard with my name on it. I explained to her that I was going into town. She looked rather concerned and asked me where I was going. At this point, I thought a white lie might be prudent, so I told her I was going to Terminal 21 Mall to meet a friend for lunch. She seemed perturbed
Arrival at Bangkok
Being driven to immigration on the buggy. that I was taking public transport; I think she would have fainted if I told her the truth about where I was going and that I was planning to take the klong taxi to get there. She made sure I knew where to change trains for my fake lunch date. I tried to shake her off several times but she would have none of that. I was driven to the fast track immigration counter via buggy, and then she accompanied me to the arrivals halls and to the elevator to the airport link station. I finally shook her off then!
I had made tentative plans to meet a friend and fellow avgeek (aviation geek) at the Aircraft Graveyard at 11am, so I had a bit of time to get there. There was a chance my friend could not make it due to business commitments, but there was no way to communicate with him in real time. We agreed I would proceed if he didn't show up. Anyway, this meant I had a little bit of extra time to get to the Aircraft Graveyard via my favorite means of transport in Bangkok - the water taxi on Klong Saen Saep!
Klong Taxi
Passengers getting on. Each stop was very quick, and passengers had to be fast embarking and disembarking. My first mode of transport was the Airport Link train to Makkasan station. After alighting the train, I made my way down Petchaburi Road to the canal (klong) platform. From there, I hopped aboard an eastbound boat to Wat Si Bun Ruang. It is actually very easy to get to the Aircraft Graveyard this way. Wat Si Bun Ruang is at Ramkamhaeng Soi 107 and it is at the last eastbound stop on the klong taxi. From there, make your way to Ramkamhaeng Road, then turn right. The Aircraft Graveyard is two streets down at Soi 103. Taking the klong taxi is also a blast and it beats sitting in Bangkok traffic anytime!
Ex Machina
The Aircraft Graveyard is visible from Ramkamhaeng Road. I arrived on time at 11.00am, waited until 11.15am, and proceeded without my friend when he didn't show up by then. The aircraft are fenced in, and there are several families living in some of the abandoned hulls. At the gate, I caught the attention of a young boy, who collected 200 baht (about US$6) from me before unlocking the gate and letting me in. Wow, what a sight. There is one Boeing 747-400 and
Aircraft Graveyard
Selfie in the MD-82 cockpit. two McDonnell Douglas MD-82s in the field. One of the MD-82s had been written off after a crash in Phuket with fatalities.
According to other websites I read, the last operator of all three aircraft was Orient Thai. They were purchased by a businessman and brought to this field to be dismantled and sold for scrap. Everything that was salvageable had been stripped out. I'm not sure what the story is about the families living in the Aircraft Graveyard and whether they have permission to live there.
Anyway, I was like a kid in a candy shop. The nose section of the B747 was relatively intact. I climbed into the B747 via a cargo door, and accessed the main deck by climbing up a ladder. The main deck was where first class would have been. The stairs to the upper deck were still intact and so I went up to where the business class cabin would have been, and peeked into the cockpit. One of the two MD-82s was also relatively intact. I climbed into it and went to the cockpit and sat in the captain's chair!
This was such a neat experience. I've labeled all my
Aircraft Graveyard
The escape hatch of the B747. photos so you can see what I saw and experienced.
The Castration of Tuptim
Since the Aircraft Graveyard was near the klong taxi route, I decided that I would see other sights along the klong. One fun site I visited when I lived in Bangkok was a fertility shrine to a goddess named Tuptim. This shrine was near the Wireless Road klong taxi stop. It was located behind a luxury hotel and one had to walk through the hotel grounds to get to it. What was unique about this shrine was that devotees left hundreds of wooden penises there. I'm not kidding. There were piles and piles of them. They were of varying sizes, shapes, colors. C***ks everywhere. I thought this would be a fun place to reconnect with.
Getting off the klong taxi at Wireless Road, I immediately saw that things had changed. The hotel was now fenced in and it looked as if it was being renovated. A passerby sensed my confusion and he told me the shrine had been relocated. He walked with me for a bit and then told me where to go. He even told me it was okay to enter even though
Tuptim Shrine
Castrated! Imagine what the old shrine was like, with hundreds of phalluses of every imaginable shape, size and color piled up all over. a sign said no entry. So, I went where he indicated and I was crestfallen when I got there. The shrine had been sanitized. I could count the phalluses on my fingers and toes. It was a shadow of its former self. In short, Tuptim had been castrated.
A guard came up to me and told me I could not return from where I came and he pointed to an alternative exit that would cut me off from the klong taxi. Ugh. That spoiled my lunch plan which was to seek out an old haunt at Pratunam.
Cabbages and Condoms
When the guard pointed me towards the exit I had to take, I was put on a course towards Chidlom and Sukhumvit. I decided to make my way towards Cabbages and Condoms to fulfill my craving for
miang kam, a snack that I haven't found in the US. When I lived in Bangkok, an itinerant hawker used to come by and sell us DIY packets of the stuff. I loved this snack. My staff used to assemble the bite sized snack for me and then giggle as I ate it because they put extra chilies in it...
Cabbages and Condoms
This is a spiffed up miang kam. On top of each betel nut leaf is fried coconut, peanuts, lime (skin on), ginger, shallots, and dried shrimp. Add chilies and tangy sauce to taste, wrap the leaf around the filling, and you have a tasty little snack. as if I didn't suspect. I would put on a grave face while they guffawed at me trying not to give them the satisfaction of reacting to the extra chilies. As this was primarily street food sold by mobile hawkers, I did not know where to get it other than at Cabbages and Condoms, which had
miang kam as an appetizer. Cabbages and Condoms was about a mile away from where I was. Walking through Chidlom and Sukhumvit, I reveled in the street scene and the smells. While not always pleasant, they brought me back to my time in Bangkok.
At Cabbages and Condoms, I ordered a
miang kam and a small
pad thai. Indulge me a quick rant. In the US, people seem to think that
pad thai is the definitive Thai dish, and they order it all the time. Apart from one restaurant in Wheaton, Maryland, all the
pad thai I have eaten in the US is really bad.
Pad thai is actually street food in Thailand; few restaurants, other than tourist oriented ones, would even dare to have it on their menu because it will draw comparisons with street vendors who have perfected their art by
Cabbages and Condoms
Mannequins dressed in outfits made of condoms. cooking nothing but
pad thai for decades. I missed decent
pad thai, so I decided to order one at Cabbages and Condoms because, well, I was in Thailand... I mean how bad can it be? Well, it was a soggy mess. I couldn't finish it. The
miang kam was great though. Coincidentally, the canape for my dinner on board my flight to Sydney later that evening was
miang kam. So, my craving was satisfied. Twice over.
Cabbages and Condoms was established by a man who advocates for STD prevention and family planning by encouraging condom use In Thailand. After eating, I checked out the condom art before heading to Makkasan station and then back to the airport where I took a much needed shower at the lounge before boarding my flight to Sydney. As I was on a B747-400 (which few airlines still operate nowadays), I was constantly drawing comparisons between what I saw on my flight versus what I saw in the B747 at the Aircraft Graveyard. I've posted one set of side-by-side comparisons photos of the first class cabin. I may post more later as I will be flying on the upper deck back to Bangkok nine
Aircraft Graveyard
Me on the wing of the MD-82. days from now.
Post-Publication Note: I uploaded additional photographs on 8/30/17 as I flew on the upper deck of a B747 today. The new photographs show the contrast between the hollowed out B747 and a functioning airworthy one.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Miang Kham
I didn't realise this was essentially street food - that would explain why I couldn't find it in any restaurants we went to over there. My fave Thai restaurant in Melbourne does a miang kham with pomelo, green papaya, peanuts and coconut on a betel leaf... it's divine! :)