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Trying to leave BKK during a coup

Trying to leave BKK during a coup

Old Sep 19, 2006, 4:39 pm
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Trying to leave BKK during a coup

It's a little after 5:30 AM in BKK, and I've been up for the past three hours. My cell phone rang at 2:30 this morning and it was my wife telling me to look out the window. I'm at the Sheraton Grande and I see nothing except rainy streets. She asks, "do you see any tanks?" Nope, nothing. We hang up and I turn on CNN. Apparently we still have CNN (but not the BBC) while most of the city does not. While sending an e-mail to friends letting them know I'm OK, I hear gun shots from a distance a burst of three rounds. OK, this doesn't look good, so I'll try to get out today.

I'm booked on CX and figure that their BKK res office is closed, so I try HKG - no luck, my call can't go through. So since I booked on AA.com, I can get through to the US and get the EXP desk. The EXP angel books rebooks me on an 11ish flight BKK-HKG-SFO and then onward to QX to PDX. I know that the 950AM flight has an aircraft that gets in the night before, and I ask if I can move to that leg; again no problem. I head downstairs to the lobby and inquire about moving my check out to a few hours away and get a limo to the airport. The desk clerk acts like coups happen here all the time (well they do happen a lot) and gets me a limo for 6AM.

I'm packed up and ready to go. Supposidly the airport is running normally. I'll report in as the day progresses.
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Old Sep 19, 2006, 5:40 pm
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Wow... Keep us updated and good luck!
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Old Sep 19, 2006, 7:18 pm
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Safe travels! The Portland FT community will be happy buy you a few beers after your return.
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Old Sep 19, 2006, 10:51 pm
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Made it to HKG fine

I'm happy to say that I'm currently ensconsed in the Pier. So I'll pick up where I left off...

After ending the original post, I heard one more single gun shot; again it was from a distance. I made my way downstairs where there were quite a few people that just woke up and were trying to check out. Apparently, there was a little wait for taxis. I did purchase my airport departure tax ticket at the hotel figuring that it would save time.

Since I reserved the limo a couple of hours before, it was waiting for me when I checked out. It was just becoming light as we left the hotel. The streets were empty. I've gone to the airport at that time of morning, and we have always had a little bit of traffic, but the cars were few and far between this morning. We made it to the airport in under 20 minutes which is definitely a record for me in BKK. I did not see any military vehicles at all during the ride, and didn't see any from the hotel either.

I finally saw traffic when we got off the expressway at Don Muang airport. There were a lot of taxis/limos at the departure level; security at the airport though seemed lighter than normal. I was at the CX counter by 6:25 for my 9:50 AM flight and check in was already open. There was no one in the F line, and I got my boarding passes very quickly; the agent confirmed that many people had shown up trying (successfuly) to change flights to leave ASAP. I went through immigration breathing a sigh of relief.

I saw on the departure board a few flights canceled, but for the most part flights were leaving on time. I noticed that the CX flight at 8:20 to HKG was showing on-time, so when I went to the CX F lounge, I asked if I could switch to the earlier flight (just to get out of Dodge). The agent said the flight was full, but I could check back 40 minutes before departure. Figuring if lucky I would have a middle seat, I said that I'll just hang out and keep my window seat on the 9:50 departure. Ten minutes later the agent told me a window in J was available on the earlier flight, and a new boarding pass was handed to me.

The flight turned out to have 10 open seats in J, I did not check Y. Luckily, this will just turn into a story to tell in the future while I show my copy of the Bangkok Post around with the large black headline "Coup D'Etat."

And for those interested, the entree choices on CX 700 this morning was a choice of an Asparagus Omelette with veal sausage, rissole potatos and roast tomato, OR a stir fried turnip cake with shrimp and chili paste.

On to SFO and PDX in a few hours.
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 4:05 am
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Originally Posted by ak333
OR a stir fried turnip cake with shrimp and chili paste.
Yum.
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 4:41 am
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Originally Posted by ak333
I went through immigration breathing a sigh of relief...... Luckily, this will just turn into a story to tell in the future while I show my copy of the Bangkok Post around with the large black headline "Coup D'Etat."
Why all the drama? The airport is continuing to operate normally. The coup was entirely peaceful and did not affect travellers at all (aside from one report I saw of tourists getting detained at a check-point for not having their passports). Last night thousands of people were gathered peacefully at Government House watching the coup going down. Women were pictured on TV, standing in their street pyjamas, photographing tanks with their cellphones.

You write (very articulately I might add) as though you got out by the skin of your teeth (from your luxury hotel in your limo), just ahead of a foreign invasion or Prague August 1968 or something.

Last edited by billp; Sep 20, 2006 at 5:36 am
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 5:13 am
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Oh, and the reason the traffic was so light is that the Provisional Authority declared today a holiday, so government offices and banks are closed (although shops and businesses are open as usual). Not that people were afraid to go out or something.

Last edited by billp; Sep 20, 2006 at 5:49 am
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 6:52 am
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Originally Posted by billp
Why all the drama? The airport is continuing to operate normally. The coup was entirely peaceful and did not affect travellers at all (aside from one report I saw of tourists getting detained at a check-point for not having their passports). Last night thousands of people were gathered peacefully at Government House watching the coup going down. Women were pictured on TV, standing in their street pyjamas, photographing tanks with their cellphones.

You write (very articulately I might add) as though you got out by the skin of your teeth (from your luxury hotel in your limo), just ahead of a foreign invasion or Prague August 1968 or something.

I have actually been in a situation of political unrest and while it is typically "business as usual" for the most part it absolutely IS unnerving. There is always a possibility that travel to and from will be restricted and that is not a place you want to be. If you have ever been through a similar situation you would know what the "sigh of relief" was all about, waranted or not.
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 8:36 am
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Originally Posted by avidflyer
I have actually been in a situation of political unrest and while it is typically "business as usual" for the most part it absolutely IS unnerving. There is always a possibility that travel to and from will be restricted and that is not a place you want to be. If you have ever been through a similar situation you would know what the "sigh of relief" was all about, waranted or not.
Not to mention that sometimes things that begin on a small and peaceful scale sometimes grow rapidly out of hand... it has happened time and time again. The OP certainly had every right to be apprehensive.
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 8:37 am
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Originally Posted by avidflyer
I have actually been in a situation of political unrest and while it is typically "business as usual" for the most part it absolutely IS unnerving. There is always a possibility that travel to and from will be restricted and that is not a place you want to be. If you have ever been through a similar situation you would know what the "sigh of relief" was all about, waranted or not.
I do have to repeat the question: Why the drama? It seems to stem from the fact that you are not familiar with the history of Thai uprisings. Since the 1932 coup, famously known as the bloodless revolution, 18 puschs have taken place in Bangkok. And all have been peaceful and did not gravely hamper the lives of the locals and foreigners. (oh and the airport remained open)

Another thing: You said you heard several gunshots. But several media, including Reuters, reported otherwise:

"Not a shot was fired in the coup and the streets of Bangkok were quiet on Wednesday with very little military presence except around Government House and nearby army headquarters."

Could it be that it's all in your head?
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 8:47 am
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Give the guy (or gal) a break!

The closest most Americans have come to experiencing a coup is when Al Gore challenged the US election results a few years ago.

Third world country, tanks, government overthrown...yeah, a bit of trepidation doesn't seem out of line to me.
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 8:57 am
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All the commentary and pictures I've seen show infantry / cavalry troops carrying unloaded assault rifles. Only the guys going over the walls around government buildings, and standing outside at their gates had magazines loaded. Who knows, maybe they didn't even have ammunition in them.

What is the gun crime like in BKK though? Could easily explain gunshots, if it wasn't just something else that sounded similar.
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 9:19 am
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In Bangkok, Ive witnessed both the horrible events of May 1992 when they were shooting in the streets in Bangkok (mass student and middle class protests against the military regime then in place, which did not hestitate to shoot) and the calm peaceful coup of last night....

at times it IS unnerving (but mostly its more psychological than real because of the unknown and unexpected)...the sight of tanks in the streets and military transports with gun emplacements and full army units is not a normal tourist sight for most in the west.. so its understandable...

[but note, these sights were in the immediate government area---all day today I travelled around the city and saw no other sights or even hints of a coup, other than lighter than normal traffic because of the holiday announced today--the shopping malls were busy...]

but having said that, I feel safer in Bangkok psychologically and in reality (and in any district) at any time of night walking alone, than I do in say many places in Los Angeles or New York at normal times... so please dont get a distorted view of Bangkok...you will see what I mean if you visit Bangkok and get to know it (other than a quick visit) ^

Last edited by Trajan; Sep 20, 2006 at 9:25 am
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 10:38 am
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Originally Posted by Flyguy1971
Since the 1932 coup, famously known as the bloodless revolution, 18 puschs have taken place in Bangkok. And all have been peaceful and did not gravely hamper the lives of the locals and foreigners.
According to this article in today's Bangkok Post, it's true enough that the coups themselves did not involve bloodhsed. The same cannot be said for the after-effects, however: "The last military coup, in 1991, was extremely unpopular and was overthrown by violent opposition in the streets."

Seems to me that the OP acted prudently and reacted reasonably.
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Old Sep 20, 2006, 2:26 pm
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Originally Posted by ak333
It's a little after 5:30 AM in BKKI......I head downstairs to the lobby and inquire about moving my check out to a few hours away


I don't understand - why would anyone inquire in the morning to see if they could check out a few hours early? Hotels have a time before which you can't check out?? The night before, yes, but earlier the same morning??
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