Krung Thep At Last!

So Suvarnabhumi airport is pronounced “Suwannapum.” Not that you would ever know that by reading the official spelling, which has its roots in Sanskrit, I believe. The airport is a gigantic structure constructed mainly from steel, glass, and concrete. Magnificent, yet drab. Stately, yet cold. I’m not a good guess when it comes to giving estimates on a building’s special dimensions, but I’d say the ceilings were about 200 feet from the ground. Is that considered very high for a building like this?? For those who know the SU campus, it’s about the height from the ground floor of the student center to the ceiling at the uppermost floor. Feel free to correct me for the benefit of all =).

As I wound my way through the airport, I noticed just how new the airport really is. Many of the shops were abuzz with workers scrambling to load the shelves and counters! This was after midnight. I’m guessing that’s probably the normal time for those kinds of tasks to be taken care of anyway. It was still interesting to see that many parts of the airport were undergoing the final stages of construction in the form of detail work like decorative floor panels and such. It took about 10 minutes to get through customs since I had the right kind of visa and nothing to declare. Once I got my bags, I was stopped momentarily by an airport security worker at the exit gate who said something to me in Thai as he pointed at one of my bags. When I reacted with a confused look, he asked me in English, where are you from? Seattle, WA, USA. He smiled and with a nod, motioned for me to go ahead. Something tells me that that wasn’t the original question he asked me and that my being an American expedited my move through to the gate.

Finally, I reach the area where friends and family of my fellow passengers were eagerly awaiting their arrival. It was almost like a press conference with people looking as though they were about to jump the metal fences between us. I was told to look for a sign with my name on it. Easier said than done, there’s got to be at least two dozen other name signs in that crowd! Finally, I see a plain black and white sign with “Mr. Hong Chhuor” on it. It was being held by a young lady with a bright yellow polo on. I’ve seen those shirts before, it’s the King’s color and was worn as a sign of the people’s love and support for him throughout the recent coup. I make my way over to her and introduce myself. Hi, I’m Hong. I’m Golf, nice to meet you, Khun Kritt is waiting for you, I will call him now. Mr. Kritt (first name) owns the condo that I’ll be living in for the next year. My fabulous Thai friend Nika, who lives in Seattle, helped me with all of the negotiations on landing my place. It has been explained to me in a most simplistic sense that the word “Khun” is a customary and polite title that means something like “you.”

I see Khun Kritt as he makes his way through the crowds. We load the car and drive off to the condo in Sukhumvit. He asks me all sorts of questions – is this your first time in Bangkok? Thailand? What will you be doing here again? What have you heard about Thailand. I’m in the middle of answering all of his questions when Khun Kritt’s cell phone rings – it’s Nika. Honey! How are you? How was your flight? Is everything ok? Are you hungry? Tired? I assure her that everything was just fine. She wants to speak to Mr. Kritt. I hand him the phone and she proceeds to subject him to a barrage of questions. He hands me the phone again. After I say goodbye to Nika, Khun Kritt turns to me and says, Ping Pong (Nika’s nickname), she’s very worried about you! I know, she’s such a good friend so helpful with everything! Khun Kritt takes me for a short spin around the city and points out a lot of places that I’ll need to get to in the next few days. The bank, the Fulbright Office, Chula, the 5,000 7-Elevens in my neighborhood. He too, asks me if I’m hungry. A little, yes. What would you like? Anything is fine, I’m not picky. They take me to a small open air market and we walk up to one of the street vendors. “Kuaytiaw kiaw,” which amounted to an order of noodles with wonton, which cost me all of 30 baht ( about 80 cents, I’m going to love eating in Thailand!).

We make a pit stop at one of the 7-Elevens and I get a large container of water, juice, and some other items. And head to the condo. By this point, it was almost 2 am. Still, my guides didn’t look phased. I signed the lease and they gave me a bunch of papers that included a map of Bangkok showing where my building is as well as the Fulbright office and Chula. Also circled on the map are shopping centers. Khun Kritt takes extra care to describe to me the different shopping destinations. I wonder why the fixation on shopping centers. I’ll probably be spending more time at the cultural destinations like museums and temples. I thought maybe it had something do with my being American. Still, I was very grateful. Also included in the stack of papers was information about the BTS or Sky Train. It’s essentially a fast moving monorail type transit system in that it’s above ground. It moves pretty quickly though, not unlike BART in the San Francisco area, except it doesn’t go underground. They gave me a brief sketch of the routes as well as the fares. By the time they left, it was nearly 3 am! What an incredibly long day of traveling. Tomorrow I head to the Fulbright office and meet with my academic advisor Dr. Isra Sarntisart of the Faculty of Economics.