AIRPORT REVIEW!! SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT, THAILAND

**THE RESURRECTION OF THE LEGENDARY FAILURE**

Suvarnabhumi Airport is one of the newest airport of its size that opened recently.  Opened in 2006, its history dated back to 1960s where the second international airport for Bangkok was planned.  It took almost a decade for the Thai government during that time to purchase the 8,000 acre (32 km²) in a once low-lying marsh, formerly known as Nong Ngu Hao (Thai: หนองงูเห่า, lit. "Cobra Swamp")  in 1973 but the project was shelved and critised as one of the legendary failure since then.  Another well known project which failed to finish is the Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System (BERTS, Thai: โครงการระบบการขนส่งทางรถไฟยกระดับในกรุงเทพมหานคร), commonly known as the Hopewell Project (โครงการโฮปเวลล์) which was cancelled in 1998 due to the heavily corruption problem and the Asian financial crisis.

Although, the need to build a second international airport for Bangkok to add to - if not to replace - the Don Mueang International Airport which was opened commercially since 1924, is still there and every time the Thai government concerned about the need, the Nong Ngu Hao project seemed like a solution to the problem, the project did not have a serious progress until 1996 when  the"New Bangkok International Airport" company was formed.  After a long land reclaimation processes, the construction began in 2002.  In 2005, the Airport of Thailand Plc. took control of the construction supervision ad management.  After many criticism, corruption, and budget overruns, the phase one of the airport was finished (using ฿155 billion - that's US$3.8 billion), commissioned, and opened for commercial purpose on 28 September 2006.

Despite the flaws and problems found later, the Suvarnabhumi Airport (meaning 'Golden Land') has the world's largest terminal built in one phase (currently fourth biggest passenger building in the world) and the world's tallest air-traffic control tower, with 2 parallel runways and the passenger capacity of 45 million passengers a year.  The airport can be upgraded to have 4 runways, 2 satellite buildings, and 1 low cost terminal to handle upto 135 million passengers.  Thus concludes this half century project.

**MY FIRST TIME AT SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT**

On my part, I visited this airport before it's opened commercially on the business purpose and was stunned by its size.  My first flight at the golden land airport happened only a month after its grand opening.  I has been appointed to join in the ASEAN GMP Task force which is a part of the 12th ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standard and Quality - Pharmaceutical Product Working Group (ACCSQ - PPWG) Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Since it was my second time in the same city and I did not travel to many new places, the highlight of that trip was the brand new airport.

 

The pasenger terminal is extremely huge.  One wrong turn and you may miss the flight. Apart from the fact that the airport was designed by one of the greatest in this job, I could not like the look of the passenger building, especially from the inside.  'It looks like a series of tent and scrap metals.  Just a month and it looks old already' I thought.  It also lacks the oriental touch which I think is more important than the innovative design.

 

I proved I was not the only one who criticised about the eastern art.  When I entered the duty free area, I found places were decorated with very 'Thai' decorations trying to show the uniqueness of the culture.  One of the great decorations is the "Scene of The Churning of The Milk Ocean" sculpture.

 

 

There was a sign written that "This scene depict the Vishnu Kurmavatara and the churning of the Milk Ocean. The naga (the king of serpents), Vasuki, is curled around the mountain Mandara. Vishnu, incarnated in the form of a great turtle, supports the mountain on his back. Devas (demigods) and Asuras (demons) pull on the naga's body to churn the water of the ocean for the thousands of years in order to produce the nectar of immortality, Amrita.  From the churning, numerous opulent items produced, including Dhanvantari carrying the pot of Amrita.  In the end, the cooperation between Devas and Asuras is shattered.  The Devas, fulfill their plan of acquiring Amrita, disperse the Asuras out of Heaven to the Underworld."

On the way to my Departure gate, there are a few more spectacular things to enlighten my mood on the airport poor signing system and the toilets.  The tunnel to the departure gate also looked stunning, at least in pictures.

On my departure and arrival, the airport control was working smoothly through contact gates.  The place was far less crowded than the old Don Mueang International Airport.  I walked to the baggage claim area which became my favourite path in the airport with the fantastic wall paintings and the duplicates of the Bangkok City Protection Giants to welcome me home... To put it in another context... Welcome to Thailand!!

== Suvarnabhumi Airport Short Fact File ==
Airport Type : Public
Operator : Airport of Thailand Plc. (AOT)
Serves: Bangkok
Website: SuvarnabhumiAirport.com

DOI PHA HOM POK, CHIANG MAI 2006 Part 10

This story continues from Part 9 - The index of this series is here

**THE RETURN TRIP**

After spending half of the day at the royal research centre, the driver led our group back on the Thai-Myanmar border Road heading toward the 'Thanatorn' Orange farm.  He stopped half way to let us enjoy the gorgeous cross-border scenaries, including the famous Thai military camp which is on the country border.  Even though it's the military camp, it's also a tourist attraction.  We took some good pictures in the camp.  The one with the heavy machine gun here was not really allowed, actually. ;¬)

Spending a brief time @ the military camp, we headed back to our car (or the pick-up truck, to be more specific) to continue our journey to the Orange farm.  Thanatorn Orange farm is famous for producing its own sweet and unique orange called Thanatorn Tangerine.  In Thailand, tangerine is more of the local favourite than other kind of oranges.  Thanatorn variety replaced the Bang Mod Tangerine which became distinguished since all the land in Bang Mod province was bought and developed to something else back in the days when Bangkok was expanding vigorously.

Thanatorn is never my favourite kind of orange, and never it will be.  Its taste is too gentle, I thought to myself.  However, the farm visit was fantastic.  We went up and down the border road, headed back to the more safe lands in the country.  After a while, the road was a slightly less rough and we could enjoy the scenery more than the rest of the day.  The driver did a good job leading us to the spot where we can see the whole range of the farm.

The company arrived at the farm in the perfect timeing.  The afternoon Sun was doing her job brilliantly against the evergreen trees and the reservoir which created the mirror image of the nearby farm.  The stunning view relieved us a bit from the heat we're battling.

At the tourist-friendly Thanatorn Orange Farm, we enjoyed the shuttle connecting each attraction spot; from the orange farm of the spectacular size and varieties, to the gorgeous northern style wooden houses.  More importantly, Green and Orange colour from Oranges on the trees is one of the most perfection for photo sessions, which, of course, we did click a lot of pictures here.

Even though, we enjoyed the farm a lot, we didn't have enough time to do all the things we wanted.  We had to rush back to the town so that we didn't miss our coach.  However, the whole trip was so immense and extraordinary.  On the returning coach, I slept most of the way, holding the hand of the one I love.  Such a beautiful trip it was...

Thus conclude my trip to DOI PHA HOM POK in 2006.  The trip was so great that I made a return journey there a year later.  This time with my parents and my younger brother.  DOI PHA HOM POK, alone or together with DOI ANG KHANG, is a 5 stars trip.  See you next time...