Pom Michael Posted January 23, 2015 Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 Army? Where did you get that from? Air Force maybe - but Army? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 23, 2015 Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 Airport was an Army idea, started long before Thakky was even in politics, and Singapore paid well for it to be built very slowly The idea was kicked around for years, but always got sidetracked. I remember a decision to build it near Nakorn Pathom instead, and then Chavalit (I think) wanted to build it out over the ocean on the coast below Bangkok. Thaksin brought it back to the swamp and started pushing its construction to take over Singapore's positon as the SE Asian hub. Bizarrely, it wasn't going to be all that much bigger than the old airport (Don Muang) it was meant to replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaiRai Posted January 23, 2015 Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 When going to Bangkok, I always fly out of LAX, Tom Bradley Int'l Terminal. Words cannot capture how god fucking awful that experience is. Always have to get there several hours early and go through absurdly long lines for security checks. You're herded like cattle and those security folks take rude to a new level, further you just have to sit there and take it without complaint because you don't want to be flagged or delayed. Then when I get to Swampy it takes me about 20-40 minutes. For fucking everything. Included in that is me stopping to pick up a SIM and exchange a little money. The experience is soooooooo much better. I mean maybe LAX is setting the bar pretty low - but you want to experience sheer misery - fly international from there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted January 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 I don't have too many issues with Swampy, but I think what most people comment about is the disparity between: the Thai marketing for everything which is all smiles, helpfulness and efficiency, and - the reality of King Power monopoly prices, long queues when there don't need to be and taxi drivers who attempt rip offs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 I haven't been in LAX in years, but I remember the last time I was there it was chaos. Also, Spanish seemed to be the prefered language for announcements. I'm old enough to remember when English was the first language in LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 Flash, we are minorities in So California! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YimSiam Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 It was a pretty good run - 165 years - but looks like the white/Latino-Hispanic pendulum has swung back the other way now. (The Native pendulum remains pretty much stuck, I guess.) Doesn't offer much competition, time-wise, with the reign of the Chakri Dynasty certainly, but 165 years is nothing to scoff at... Maybe the reason the Army/coup types were so upset around the time the airport opened is that it was by then clear that a plan that they had conceived and hatched, had been brought to (allegedly) benefit their opponent and his mates in the end, when many of the fat contracts were being handed out? Who knows. Not me. YimSiam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioman Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 A friend now sadly no longer with us told the tale back when he was an EU ambassador type in BKK how, many years ago a large US defence company offered to build and operate a new international airport in Bangkok for 20 years totally FOC. A 100% gold plated gift. It all fell apart once it was realised that the whole procurement/pension process would be out of Thai hands 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 31, 2015 Report Share Posted January 31, 2015 Remember when a US company offered to provide free Internet service for all of Thailand? That idea was immediately shot down in flames by the existing service providers and their backers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waerth Posted January 31, 2015 Report Share Posted January 31, 2015 The Dutch embassy offered free assistance during the great flood of 2011. Free help from the worlds foremost experts on the subject. The Thai government refused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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