Going home

March 19, Lund

2 days ago I landed in Copenhagen in a SNOW STORM!!!! The thing I had gone to Thailand to avoid. And there has been hardly any snow all winter. Now it came.

The trip home was tiresome but uneventful. I hate to be in a hurry when I travel, going to the airport hours before I have to and so on. So - I took minibus from my BKK hotel at 6PM already, although the plane did not leave until after midnight. But I was also lazy - said yes every time I was offered wheel chair transport in the airports, so most of the time I sat idle instead of slowly walking long corridors. I was at the BKK airport Suvarnabhumi before 7, at the checkup counter when it opened at 9 something, handed in the luggage, and - was offered a wheel chair, so why not.

Once in a wheel chair the rest of the crowd think I am worse off than I am, a little bit more lenient at the security checks and so on - I was driven to the shortest queue all the time, when leaving Thailand it was via the diplomat passport check....., then the guy pushing the wheel chair knew every emergency bypass there was, unfortunately it also meant that he took me immediately as far away as I could get, and no time to have a last beer or coffee.....

On to the plane, and then waiting there for more than an hour until it finally lifted off, he waited for some air transport I think, and then entered the queue - 20 planes or so, always such a queue for departure, the pilot told to explain the delay.

Boring flight - I sat at the front, and was too sleepy to find out how to get up the small tv monitor, so at least I could see where we were. And then the tail bone started to hurt........ as it does when I sit too long in most chairs. I had to twist and twiggle for hours, and never slept really well. And it is a long flight - forgot how long but - left 01:30 BKK time and arrived in London around 6 London time.

In London I was of course met by a wheel chair....., 3 wheel chairs met us oldies, I think; when I came in the other direction I walked for kilometers in those corridors and did not want that at all again, as I was rather tired. And sure, that lady knew every single emergency passage, so soon I sat in a VIP lounge with other half-dead people, waiting for the last short transport, and I guaranteed that I actually could walk down the stairs at the end, and down a slope out to the waiting bus - that had civilized height over the ground, not half a meter like the airport buses in Asia, so I always needed extra special transport there. Do they expect half a meter of rain or what? I would not expect a plane to take off then.

Out to the final little plane, and 1.5 hours to Copenhagen - when I heard the pilot saying there was snow storm I started to miss Thailand.......

Things worked to the end, handicap car a bit on Kastrup, but the difficult part - to get the big luggage off the belt, for that the guy did not come along, anyway asked another guy there, so no problem, same on and off the train to Lund. And a mix of snowstorm and rain in Lund, I had sent SMS to Yui from Kastrup when the train left, so she found me in the station. Wet and tired, still I got a lot of kisses that I returned, then she dragged the big bag to the bus outside and up the stairs and home!!!!!


March 14, Bangkok, evening.

I know I know, you have desperately waited for more info of my adventures. But...., getting old and tired I have concentrated on surviving until coming home.

I came to BKK as planned, evening March 11, and everything worked according to plans, Thai style. There are ALWAYS trouble lurking around the corner so only knowing that, it is fine. And there are often good surprises too.

Looking old and decrepit helps a lot in the Orient - both in Samui airport and BKK airport, both newly built and renovated, so nobody finds their way, young guys quickly picked me up and put me in a wheel chair, and -ah well, sometimes I protest but had decided not to do it now, as it is working fine....... They find the way, they pass all checks with minimum trouble, they pick up the luggage for me, put it in the right place, and - in the end, drove me in that wheel chair passing a long long queue to the taxi stand...., just stopping in the front... Neat!

And the friendly taxi guy here in BKK even asked if he should switch on the taxameter huh! Normally they get irritated when I demand it :) After all that is the idea of the official taxi queue, to follow the rules. Remember when I came to BKK a few months back, a bunch of idiots stood outside offering "official taxi trips" costing 2-3 times the normal......

The last days on Samui were as they had been. I said byebye to my eating places - I have sort of alternated between the restaurant - a real one costing tourist prices so I could not afford to go there more than every 2-3 evening, for the rest I usually went to the grill lady at the corner, picking up 3-4 sticks of grilled meat, chicken asses, chicken wings, pork, fish balls..... I took some bad photos in the restaurant and hoped to return in a year with my wife.