since I last posted. I've been too busy to put together any entries on any of my blogs - just doing twitter to remind myself and everyone else that I'm still alive. Over this past weekend, I had some time while I was in Bangkok - then come to find out that blogspot is still blocked there! There had been controversy over blog posts and pictures about a year ago, but I thought that was all over.
Well, goes to show how long it's been since I was last in Bangkok. Up till July last year, I was going every two/ three months for doctors' and dental visits. When I went on home leave, I spent the night going and coming in the airport. That was no fun.
Which leads me to my next thought. This month on NaBloPoMo, the topic is food. So this next is about airport food.
The old Don Meuang airport, closer to central Bangkok was a pretty boring place in comparison with the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, which just opened two years ago. When I worked in Thailand in the refugee camps, I often would arrange to meet up with my refugee staff members for a last round of good-byes. One day, I met Duc who was on his way to the Philippines for cultural orientation and English language training before going to the US. I took him to the one restaurant where we could get a final bowl of noodle soup.
He was so nervous, he kept knocking things over and saying things wrong in Thai (Duc is Vietnames). The total for the bowl of soup was 100 Baht, the equivalent of 4 USD at that time. Considering that we had only been allowed to pay our refugee staff in kind for the equivalent of 10 Baht for day, he was both overly thankful and apologetic about eating. I laughed and told him that it was the time together before we parted was worth more than simple money. "Besides you don't pay to eat airport food everyday."
My overnights in the new airport were very long. Even though there were fancy shops (I've never seen such a shopping mall pass for an airport) and restaurants, all I wanted was a place to sleep and a safe plane trip.
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