how to leave thailand?...

last night, as you can imagine what with the airports in bangkok shutdown because of the PAD, the main topic of discussions amongst the expats in the lobby was - how do we get out of thailand?

the following is some of the responses I received from lounge lizards stranded here..
1) leave via airport at utapao airport - controlled by military. (2 hours away).
2) travel by train to malaysia, bus from malaysia to singapore. plane to usa.
3) bus from thailand to singapore. plane to usa.

I asked guys why they don't go to cambodia, vietnam, laos, and depart from there? their reply was - you need to get visas from the embassies of those countries first before entering - more headache. malaysia, indonesia, and singapore have transit visas. singapore is international hub.

there was a rumor going around saying that the airports in thailand would reopen at 6pm today. (in 2 hours) but with the time approaching very quickly, the feeling is that this won't happen.

how do foreigners feel about the shutdown of the airports by the PAD, you ask? ..most of the people that I spoke to are frustrated by it all. some are disgusted. one or two cannot believe that a major international hub even allowed the event to happen. yet another small group are happy that they are able to extend their vacations here in the land of smiles. hehehe.

so, how do I feel about it, you ask? ..I studied the recent history of thailand since the 70's. and from what I read, coups are a normal event in this country. with coups happening on average every 4 years. the key word is - routine.

anyway, back to the ok corral....

last night started out with a bunch of us meeting up at the soi 7 food court at 7:30pm for dinner. after dinner, we all went to the soi 7 beer garden to hangout and chat. lounge lizards attending the dinner include tripod, tiger, da brain, dennis the menace, errol flynn, bangkokbuddy.

from the beer garden, some of us went to the parking lot. I bumped into miguel hidalgo, pancho villa, the guru and denver terry. we do the routine - chat and oogle. for some reason, the guru treats me to a beer.

later on, miguel hidalgo, tiger and denver terry want to go to the big T. so, off we went. at the big T, I bumped into big jim. haven't seen big jim in a long time. find out he's stuck in town too. there was a crowd outside the big T. so, I thought of just hanging out there. miguel says to me quote, "come join us in the big T, I'll treat you to a drink." wow! ..free drink I thought. I got a coffee. there was some major talent in the big T.

from the big T, went back to the parking lot. bumped into duece bigalow, jacques cousteau, craig constantine, lady puu, gorgeous, sweetheart, clint eastwood, kilroy the stud. the temperature outside was nice. had a great time hanging out.

another hour, and my feet started hurting me. so, I went into the lobby to sit down. guess who was there. the sarge, the analog man, the silicon valley man, da pope. sarge asks me if I would like to share a pepper beef sandwich with him. why not? I reply. we munch quietly on the sandwich while oogling the scene.

3 times last night, lounge lizards treated me to something. why? ..I don't know. but hey, I am not complaining. as long as nobody expects me to "bend over" for them, I'm happy.

after I was rested, I went back out to the parking lot. bumped into the priest. talk, talk, chat, chat, look, look, oogle, oogle. really late, kid galahad comes by.

went home around 4:30am - I think. I was so tired, I didn't finish up the night with a snack at mcdonalds or burger king.

my last thoughts before going to sleep. it is the king's birthday in about 6 days.

december 5.