I got up early yesterday morning to capture the last sunrise of the year:
The tide was very low, leaving much of Chalong bay dry.
I was asleep during the first sunrise of 2009. To those still dragging themselves home from the countdown party, it may have looked like this, only completely out of focus:
Earlier this month, after dropping off a family member at the airport, we drove to Nai Yang beach. That’s the beach right next to Phuket airport. During the dry season (November-April), when the northeastern monsoon (wind) prevails, planes land at HKT coming in from the west. If you’re at Nai Yang beach, they fly right over your heads. They touch down a few hundred meters further.
That beach is actually part of a very small national park. It’s publicly accessible, but nothing can be built there. The result is a very large strech of beach with no tourists. On Sunday and school holidays you may find a bunch of locals hanging out.
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It’s been three weeks since Bangkok’s two airports have reopened, and air traffic has returned to normal. The airports had been closed down for a week by yellow-shirted anti-government protesters, seriously disrupting air traffic in Thailand and much of Southeast Asia, stranding about 350,000 passengers.
Thailand has a new government now, led by the Democrat party, which was previously the largest opposition party. They’ve formed a coalition with the coalition parties of the previous government, except the largest party. That party is accused of taking orders from Thaksin, the former prime minister much disliked by the anti-government protesters. Things are calm now, but the red-shirted pro-government protesters (supports of the previous government) have already announced a rally.
The odds of significant political unrest in Phuket are low. Thailand’s political system is highly centralized in Bangkok. That’s part of the present problems: Bangkok’s elite, represented by the yellow-shirted mob, want to keep the power they’ve enjoyed in the past. But the peasants that hail from Thailands poor northern and northeastern regions, many whom have moved to Bangkok in search for jobs, don’t want to be left out any more. It’s no wonder that after decades of neglect by Bangkok, they’re voting for politicians with populist policies, and have formed a red-shirted mob to counter the yellow guys. As long as policy is set in Bangkok, that’s where most of the protest will be.
Today it is 4 years ago that a tsunami struck the coasts around the Indian Ocean, including those of Phuket and Phang Nga (immediately north of Phuket), the greatest tragedy that struck Phuket in recent history. Though that had an immediate negative impact on tourism, the recovery followed quickly. 12 months later, tourist numbers were back up to previous levels.
The present combined forces of a global economic recession and political turmoil in Thailand are having a greater impact on tourist arrivals than the tsunami did. I certainly understand that people don’t want to spend their hard-earned money only to get stuck in a foreign airport. A country that has shot itself into the foot once can easily shoot the other foot too.
Still, if you’ve been considering a trip to Phuket, now would be a great time, if your financial situation allows. With hotel operators complaining about low occupancy rates, I wouldn’t be surprised if your tour operator can find you some good last-minute deals. And the place won’t be as crowded as usual during the peak season (December-January).
While things are likely to remain calm in Phuket, it’s hard to say what will happen in Bangkok. Fortunately, Phuket has its own international airport. You can fly directly to the island from many countries in Asia and Europe. Here’s a list of international flights arriving at Phuket I’ve gathered at flightstats.com for Dec 25, 26, and 27. There are plenty of ways to fly to Phuket without changing planes in Bangkok.
The list isn’t complete. I know there’s a charter flight operated by XL France that arrives today from Brussels. That’s the flight I took 3 weeks ago to get back here. The only dumb thing for me is that, being a charter flight, it can only be booked as a return trip originating in Brussels.
My jet lag seems to be wearing off. We got back from Europe last Friday, though Monday was the original plan.
Last month I had a conference in Berlin. We combined the trip with a family visit in Belgium.
When planning the trip, I had a choice to fly from Phuket to Munich and then to Berlin, or from Phuket to Bangkok and then to Berlin. I figured changing planes in Bangkok was the best choice. My wife has relatives there, so we’re not stranded if anything goes wrong. Munich is miles from everywhere in my world.
Bad idea. You saw the news.
At least the airline (LTU) was cool about it and offered to reschedule, reroute, or refund our flight at no charge, even though I’d bought non-refundable tickets and the airline could easily have claimed force majeure. Not their fault if yellow fruitcakes clog the airport. I’m still waiting for the refund to show up on my credit card, though.
I chose the refund because otherwise I’d still be in Belgium now. Lots of news coverage about people stuck in Bangkok. But lots of people stuck in Europe too. Empty flights to U-Tapao don’t increase the number of seats available.
Fortunately, a Belgian tour operator still had seats available on a charter flight that flies direct from Brussels to Phuket. Though that meant wasting about 1,000 euro on a useless return flight, I just didn’t want to deal with the uncertainty. I’ll comfort myself with the thought that I can waste that kind of money without affecting what shows up on my dinner plate, and that I don’t have to hope for a populist government to stay in power to be able to dream of a better future.
I don’t like populist governments, but I’ll take an elected populist government any day over mob rule.
Now I’m going to sleep off the last of my jet lag.