The last day had come, the last day of being Global Reporter, my last day in Thailand, my last day away from the place I call home.
I had woken up early, it was strange to open my eyes and knowing that it would be the last time in Thailand. This morning, I met Zad, a guy from London. We decided to have breakfast and found a nice bakery in the neighbourhood that served excellent tea and cookies. We started to talk about movies and decided to watch the movie Suriyothai a movie about a Thai woman that fought against the Burmese invasion. Kind of a female Braveheart. I thought it would be a nice way to finish my stay in Thailand. I am a movie buff and if its about Thailand – why not?
I first had to go to Richly because they had called the hostel to tell them that something was wrong with my flight. I was a bit confused because the flight wasn’t even booked with Richly. But about eight weeks ago, after I had been robbed, the travel agency was in contact with Swissair trying to find out how I could get replacement tickets. Somehow Swissair had kept the number of Richly and phoned them that morning. I hadn’t even booked my accommodation with Richly, but they knew where I was staying and phoned me. That’s what I call a excellent service, big compliments to both companies, Swissair and Richly!
I got the news that Swissair had gone bankrupt at a tailor. I chatted with the shop owner and told him that I was flying with Swissair and he answered: “Don’t you know, Swissair went bankrupt yesterday, all planes are grounded!”. I knew right then that he wasn’t lying, but for some reasons I started laughing. I made a few jokes about how I would walk home and promised him to come back if I wouldn’t leave Bangkok that night and buy a suit.
It was impossible to reach Swissair for nearly 1,5 hours, but I finally decided to try it one last time before I would go to their office personal. Before I dialled the number I told my self that everything was going to be fine and that I would fly home that night. And someone answered the phone! I asked what I was supposed to do and the guy on the other end of the line first told me that he didn’t know and that I had to issue a new ticket. Finally he said ‘I’m going to book you on another flight’, you leave at 12:30 am on the 4th of October, go to the Swissair Check-in counter and you will get new airline tickets. He also told me that I couldn’t fly straight from Zurich to Vienna, and that I had to fly via ‘Brkrwrrr’ to Vienna. Unfortunately I don’t know a city in Europe with that name… So all I knew about my flight from Zurich to Vienna was that I couldn’t go straight and I would stop in a city that starts with B. We have plenty of city’s in Europe that start with B, starting with Bruessel, Berlin and on to Belgrad. But I wasn’t worried at all, I knew everything was going to be fine. You definitely can call me an Optimist.
Well, but here is the rest of the day/story! Zad and I went to Siam Square to watch Suriyothai, but unfortunately there was only one screening that day, this one was in Thai and also to late for us. We thought about watching another movie, but finally decided to explore the city instead. We went to the railway station by bus and walk to Chinatown were we found a small Chinese market. I alsmost felt like in a Jackie Chan movie and started looking for some well dressed gangsters in their Mercedes and Jackie, jumping from one roof to the other.
We continued our walk and ended up at the “Tha Ratchawang” pier were we took the ferry up to Phra Sumane Port. The Phra Sumane Port is an old fortress, a huge white building with a nice gardens surrounding it. A great spot to escape from the nosy streets of Bangkok. The big walls of the fortress keep away the sound of the traffic and the trees and grass create a nice smell. We finished our trip at Khao San Road, the Mecca for Thailand-backpackers. We both agreed that it was an excellent idea to skip the cinema, and explore the city instead.
I should have been worrying about my flight, but instead I was discussing religion and politic with Zad the whole day, the idea that I might not would leave Thailand that night didn’t really bothered me at all. Zad was an Moslem and gave me an excellent insight to his religion.
Travelling changed the way I think about people in this world, all major religions or atheistic, I was able to have great conversations and a heck of fun with those people
My day ended at the airport, with no problems at the check-in counter and – for the first time on my trip, they didn’t forget my request for vegetarian food.