realthailand

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Suvanabhumi - a world class shithole that gives even the causual traveller a good idea of what Thailand is really like

What a piece of shit Suwannapoom (badly translated and official name: Suvnabhumi) is. Thais seems hell bent on 'developing' Thailand into a totally unliveable and unvisitable shithole. All with sort of mounting arrogance that makes one want to drop a nuclear weapon on the country.

New airport is a bad first and last impression of Thailand

I am a frequent traveller through Bangkok's new airport, Suvarnabhumi, and am sad to say that even with the billions of baht spent, I can't see any improvement on Don Muang. In fact, many aspects of the new airport are far worse than the old-looking but well organised and convenient Don Muang.

The merging of three terminals at the old airport into one at Suvarnabhumi makes checking in much noiser and slower; the cramming in of as many shops as possible makes the air-side corridors narrower; the design of the gates means enormous distances have to be walked; the general dirtiness and shoddy construction don't appeal; and the departure lounges are cold and unwelcoming.

Whilst previously I could feel sure of reaching Don Muang in 20 minutes from downtown, it now takes the best part of an hour to reach Suvarnabhumi.

It's a poor first and last impression many tourists and businessmen now have of what is still a wonderful country. I beg the Thai authorities to reopen Don Muang as an alternative to the hell of Suvarnabhumi for discerning travellers.

Many other cities in the world have a choice of airports, why not Bangkok?