This blog spots exceptional services and tips for travelers. Jotman also blogs about other developments, including:
Recently there have been reports that on some flights, toxic jet engine oil fumes have leaked into aircraft cabins, poisoning susceptible passengers. An expert interviewed by New Scientist observed: "Compressed air is routinely drawn off engines and supplied to aircraft cabins. If the seal inside the engine is not secure, engine oil can leak into the cabin and contaminating air with toxic tricresyl phosphate (TCP)." The two aircraft with the highest reported incidence of "reported cabin air contamination by toxic organophosphates in pyrolised engine oil fumes" are the 146/Avro RJ series [manufactured by British Aerospace/BAE Systems] and the Boeing 757."
But such hazards -- along with fears of catching a nasty virus on a flight -- may soon be a thing of the past. The Economist reports on a
new development could help passengers and crew breathe more easily. This week two British firms—BAE Systems, a defence and aerospace giant, and Quest International, a small producer of equipment used to sanitise the air in hospitals and nursing homes—announced that they had successfully adapted Quest’s technology for use in aircraft. They make bold claims for AirManager, their new system. It can be fitted during a routine overnight service and uses less power than a light bulb, but is capable of zapping just about all the bacteria, viruses and other biohazards in cabin air—as well as destroying chemical contaminants and pollutants. And it also removes nasty smells.BAE Systems,
The rights of crew and passengers whose health has already been ruined by neurotoxin fume events have to be properly recognised....
Within a month or two of today, Professor Clement Furlong of the University of Washington, Seattle, will have identified the biomarkers that scientifically link sickness in passengers and crew to aircraft fume events. Then the industry's lawyers will no longer be able to rely on legal technicalities to avoid facing reality.
At least the launch of AirManager is a sign that reality is beginning to be faced in a practical and beneficial way.
My habits of travel have evolved -- not always for the better. I started out as a big believer in packing light, carrying only a small pack on my first trip to Europe. Over the years I came up with excuses to carry more things. A moderately small pack gradually became a bigger and bigger one. I blame this trend toward carrying more stuff on my decision a few years back to carry a lightweight laptop.
I noticed that as the quantity of things I carried grew, my style of traveling changed. When I arrived at new destination, finding a reasonably secure place to leave my stuff become more of an issue. In essence, I was no longer a carefree traveler -- but like so many tourists -- I had come to resemble a small moving company.
I'm planning another trip, and I'm going light this time. Following are some items that might be considered essential for a trip to various locations in the developing world.
Sculptures really seem to come alive when the people crowd among them.
After work Friday thousands of Washingtonians headed to the sculpture garden at the National Museum of Art on the Mall. Every bench or patch of open grass occupied, people found places to sit among the sculptures where they could enjoy the free concert.
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I took these pictures with a Nikon D90 and one of its newest, smallest, and most affordable lens offerings.
According to the company propaganda: "The AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G optical design allows a different look and feel to images taken with zoom lenses, and its dimensions are ideal for discrete snapshots and landscape shooting with a picture angle that approximates that of the human eye."
First and foremost, travel is about mobility. I find that heavy camera gear gets in the way of getting to places and -- especially -- situations where you can take great pictures. Moreover, I like that this lens captures images better than almost any zoom in low-light conditions. So I have resolved to do an experiment: I will only carry this one lens and we'll see how it goes.
The Danish embassy has posted a warning about a scam at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The conspiracy may implicate the country's largest duty-free shop (King Power) and the Thai police (hat-tip David):
Be careful if you shop in stores in the international airport in Bangkok. You risk being arrested and charged of corruption of Thai airport officials.BBC correspondent Jonathan Head has a full report on the controversy. Jotman.com reader David puts this problem in perspective:
That is the warning from the Danish Embassy in Bangkok, who knows a young Danish woman who recently had problems at the airport.
"Be careful with the stores where there is open space, and it seems that you can freely move around," says Mads Beyer, who is deputy head of the embassy in Bangkok, to DR News.
Absolutely, I can not believe this goes on or is allowed to go on. Surely everyone knows the pain that Thailand has gone through in the last couple of years.... Any other country would hunt down this madness for the sake of the country’s reputation. It’s like they have tried to do everything possible to deter tourists. And God knows, Thailand needs every last tourist it can get.Once you are outside of duty free zone of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, it's worth mentioning that among those most eager to provide you with transport or lodgings are some liars and scam artists. A good rule of thumb is to refuse to do business with anyone who approaches you first.
It's one area of travel that you read far too little about, but that can really negatively impact the best-planned trip.
The shoe-shine you get takes not two minutes and frankly, he does a pathetic job. Half-assuming he was just returning the favor anyway, you hand the boy a euro. Needless to say the guy demands more. At this point, some people probably give him more -- not wanting to appear stingy.Interestingly, most of these criticisms only apply on a crowded day. Most such attractions are best avoided at times when there are hoards of tourists about anyway. I suspect if you were in New York during a cooler weekday off-season, the hike to the top of the crown could be a relatively safe adventure.Before Sept. 11, on a typical day, more than 1,000 people at once would wait in one long, single-file line along the 354 steps to the crown. After 9/11, the reality that there were no safe exits above the first floor of what is essentially a 20-story building was sobering. The National Park Service was right to close the statue while it took time to assess evacuation plans.
So almost five years later, why should the crown stay closed? While the original staircase used by maintenance workers was removed during the 1986 restoration of the statue, the double-helix staircase that replaced it, rising more than 110 feet from the statue's toes to her crown, is narrow, cramped and unsafe. With just over five feet of head clearance and less than 20 inches of width, the stairs barely fit within the statue's iron structure. When the crown was open, many people complained of claustrophobia, vertigo and heat exhaustion during their ascent; a tiny elevator that was used often to rescue stranded tourists can accommodate only one person, standing, at a time.
It seems that running in Valparaiso can be quite dangerous, but I didn't know that when I first set out for my run.
The city of Valparaiso is situated at the bottom of a steep hillside. Chile's largest port lines the harbor. In the distance Chile's main naval base is visible. Destroyers and a tall ship dock there.
Valparaiso has a bohemian reputation, in marked contrast to business-minded Santiago which lies a two and-a-half hour bus trip inland.
Since I love to run up a good hill, Valparaiso appeared to be an ideal city for running. In the mid afternoon on a Sunday, I took off for a run up the hill behind my guest house.
The road went straight up the hill at the maximum possible angle for vehicles. Now and again a bus passed me.
I was worried that if the breaks on any of the passing vehicles failed, I might be in trouble. Anyway, that was not what I should have been most worried about, apparently.
Block after block, I ran up, up, up the hill. I ran past ordinary looking houses, not terribly big, but well kept.
Finally, I was perhaps thirty blocks above the harbor -- an elevation of perhaps three hundred meters (photo at right).
The straight road I had followed up from my hotel turned into a fork.
First, I took the right fork -- clearly the road less traveled of the two. The road followed the hillside around a steep ravine (photo at left). Homes along this road were more shack-like in appearance than many other houses I had passed. But even here there were cars parked along the street. People in this neighborhood might not be able to afford big homes, but they seemed to own cars. The area wasn't rich, but it didn't look desperately poor.
In South America, the more impoverished people tend to live higher above the cities. For example, in La Paz, Bolivia, it makes sense that the more expensive dwellings would be at lower elevations. That's because the city is at such a high altitude that breathing can be difficult -- at least for a visitor.
Some dogs barked at me. I passed a couple old men talking by the side of the road and said hello. Eventually I came to a dead-end of houses. More barking dogs. I turned around.
On my way back to the fork, a red pick up truck passed me. Young men were sitting in the back. I said hello. The men stared back. The car sped by quickly. Which was just as well. The guys in the truck did not seem very friendly.
I made it back to the fork (photo at right), and then took the road that went further up the hillside. That's when I came across a lady with two children.
The lady pointed up the hill. Then she pointed at me. I nodded. Then the lady pulled her arm back and -- her hand outstretched -- made slicing motion across her throat. From her throat came a guttural sound.
The lady had just had given me the universal "turn around" gesture. She seemed quite confident. I decided I was not about to find out whether or not the warning was warranted.
I followed the lady and her kids down the hillside. At one point on a steep staircase between a row of houses, the older girl stopped to pick some flowers.
When I arrived near to my hotel, a man standing on the side of the road said, "Hello! Where are you from?"
I told him.
"What are you doing?" he asked, puzzled by my running outfit.
"I was running."
"Where?"
"Up the hillside."
"Don't go any higher on the hill than this. It's not safe for you."
"Not even up that street?" I pointed where I had just come from, but I didn't bother to explain that I had already been up that way.
"Two more streets up is OK, but then it becomes dangerous."
I had just descended from about 20 blocks higher than that. I thanked the man for his advice.
I think my low threshold for boredom would prevent me from ever contemplating getting a tattoo. (Soon after selecting a favorite photograph to serve as a desktop background, I get bored with the photo). So I can't imagine wanting to sport any particular body engraving for a lifetime.
I have noticed that many people choose to commemorate a trip to Asia with a tattoo. When lots of people do the same thing for more or less the same reason, I wonder why they bother. Getting a tattoo in Thailand just does not seem that special when everyone does it.
That's not to say I have never been impressed by traveler's tattoo. Sarah, an adventurous Englishwoman, showed me a tattoo she got on a four-week trek through the jungles of Sumatra. It seems a local tribesman had used nothing more than a safety pin to tattoo her arm. Sarah's tattoo -- crude though it was -- truly represented something special. I had to admire it.
As it happened, staying at the same Bali guesthouse where I met Sarah was a lovely blond twenty-six year old German woman named Beatrice. Beatrice told me of her intention to get a large tattoo of "boy riding a dolphin" on her back.
I pleaded with her not to do it. But Ludo, her boyfriend, was adamant that Beatrice should go through with it.
The night before her appointment with destiny, over dinner, I laid out my case.
"Beatrice," I began, "you don't know what is in those inks! This is Indonesia! Do you think they test the chemicals that go into the inks? Who knows what kind of poisons you could be injected with."
"Don't worry. They assured me they clean their needles so I won't get HIV," Beatrice replied.
I urged Beatrice should go back to Germany and get tattooed there, where shops are likely to practice better hygiene.
Beatrice would have none of this. She had already picked out the dolphin-rider picture, and spoken with the local tattoo "artist."
"Besides," said Beatrice, "I want the tattoo to remember this time in Bali." Ludo, arm around her shoulder, gave Beatrice a squeeze.
What I did not know back then was that even in the US, tattoo ink -- the ingredients that go into it -- are unregulated and potentially toxic. US News reported:
Delaware Valley College chemistry Prof. Ronald Petruso has found what he says are potentially carcinogenic substances manufactured solely for car paint in a yellow-orange pigment he tested. And traces of lead turned up in ink samples analyzed by a Northern Arizona University colleague, Jani Ingram. "It just boggles my mind that the federal government has never set regulations for anything like this," Petruso says. Experts believe these materials are being mixed into ink because they endure. "Look at your car—the color is there for 20 years," says Wolfgang Bäumler, assistant professor of experimental dermatology at the University of Regensburg in Germany. His own study of some 40 inks revealed that most contained potentially hazardous chemicals.Car paint? The bottom line is that there is probably no such thing as a safe tattoo, whether in Bali or Thailand, or anywhere else.
Also worrisome: Animal research has shown that pigment in ink doesn't stay put where it's injected but rather roams to the lymph nodes.
Chemists from several laboratories, including the government's National Center for Toxicological Research, have identified low levels of carcinogens in tattoo ink. But the laser removal process, which demolishes the pigment by scorching it with heat, triggers chemical reactions that generate carcinogenic and mutation-inducing breakdown products, which are then absorbed by the body.As for Beatrice's tattoo... How did that turn out? Well, I caught up with Beatrice in her guesthouse room, her back wrapped up in white bandages. She didn't look too happy. It seemed the "dolphin rider" mural intended for Beatrice's back did not end up looking quite the way Beatrice had anticipated.
Updated
Photos of Laleena guest house on Phi Phi Island where two tourists mysteriously died -- perhaps due to a "strange smell" in the rooms. Top photos shows the stream behind the house; bottom one shows the guesthouse itself.
Photos via Mustava Mond at Teak Door which has a number of updates. Frisko has more.
Update
I have updated this post -- my own theory.
SEE UPDATE (UPDATED MAY 11)
Thailand's Koh Phi Phi is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful tropical islands on the world. It has also seems to be one of the most deadly.
Sriracha John at ThaiVisa pieces together various news accounts and shows that there have been not two but five unexplained deaths on the island in the past 2 months:
1. The Norwegian woman, of the OP that died, is Julie Michelle Bergheim.The fiancée of 27 year old Jill Sheree St. Onge believes she was poisoned from chemical fumes coming from a nearby water treatment plant.
2. The Norwegian woman, that was Julie's companion and got ill but survived, identified as "Venninnen"?
3. The American woman, that died at the same guesthouse, is Jill Sheree St. Onge.
4. There was another Norwegian woman, at the same guesthouse that died in April, is unnamed. Her autopsy is not ready.
5. There was a 46 year-old Norwegian man, that died also in April, is unnamed.
[According to VG (Norwegian newspaper) "a 46-year-old Norwegian man died on the Phi Phi Islands for a month ago. He was on honeymoon when he became ill, probably suffering from food poisoning."]
6. There is an unidentified nationality man, that died this month, and found in the waters of Phi Phi and is the subject of the separate thread:
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Dead-Foreign...-I-t262091.html
That makes 5 unexplained deaths and 1 nearly died in Phi Phi, all in the very recent past.
I found out later that there is a water treatment plant right behind the guesthouse. I feel that Jill was poisoned by a chemical from that plant. She spent about 5 more hours in the room than I did. She was just breathing in the fumes for so long. The only reason I did not get deathly ill, is that I kept getting these short breaks from the air in the room, writes Ryan Kells on a family blog.Some people have commented that the Jill's symptoms (stomach pains, etc) resemble CO2 poisoning. The Andaman Times reports on a doctor's autopsy that cyanide was found in the body; Phuket Wan is covering it too; and the Seattle Times has a story. The brother of Jill St. Onge has blogged about the tragedy.
Jill was looking real bad, vomiting, I laid down with her to try to make her feel better still thinking it was the burger that was making her feel bad.Based on the information about the water treatment plant and the symptoms reported by Ryan, it seems to me that the most likely cause of death was chlorine gas poisoning. One of the chlorine storage tanks near the water treatment facility may have sprung a leak. As this report out of New York indicates, even a small leak of chlorine gas container calls for an evacuation:
Probably around 4 am I started to feel bad and vomiting myself. . . . They did CPR for about an hour to no avail. I now think that is why I didn't get sick, because I kept getting these breaks from the air in the room, while Jill kept staying in bed. She was exposed to the air in the room for probably 5 or six more hours than I was. I was vomiting at the hospital, but I thought it was just because of the situation. Now maybe it was from my shorter exposure to the air in the room
If a water treatment plant is, indeed, located near the hotel where the tourists died, then a chlorine storage container may have ruptured. The classic symptoms of chlorine gas poisoning include vomiting. Based on what Ryan has told us, a chlorine gas leak must be strongly suspected.A major use for chlorine is to treat water (disinfect it). Tanks of chlorine are often at both waste water treatment plants and municipal water supply treatment and intake facilities.
First Response To A Chlorine Gas Release
Those not especially trained and employed by the chlorine gas user should promptly evacuate the area as soon as the respiratory irritation is experienced. If the source is known and it is practical to do so without getting closer to the source, attempt to flee upwind from the gas release source. If it is practical to do so without getting closer to the source, attempt to flee to higher ground, especially if it is upwind from the release site. If there is little wind, the chlorine gas will tend to move, or stay, in low areas. Another option is to go inside a building and close off all outside air intakes and call emergency services on the telephone. However, evacuation is advised for 3 miles downwind of a small chlorine release, 5 miles downwind for a major release, and anywhere within 1500 feet of the source. The best defense is a gas mask with independent air supply and special fully encapsulating, vapor-protective clothing. (fire suits used by firefighters for structural fires are not adequate.)
The Bangkok Post reports that a Swedish woman was hit by a stray bullet and three Thai people are dead after a man started shot his ex-wife, their son, and her lover in the tourist district of Khao San Rd. The Swedish tourist, hit in the back, is expected to recover.
As if Bangkok has not had enough bad press already this year!
It's easy to spend a lot of money on a hotel room -- or in a restaurant -- and have a lousy experience. Why?
In Bali I got so disillusioned by poor service at so many restaurants -- price seemed to make no difference -- that I made a trip out to Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay. Although Jimbaran Bay is rated one of the best hotels in the world, the restaurant is not overpriced. Four Seasons Hotels are dependable that way: you invariably get value for your money.
WSJ reviewed a book by Four Seasons founder Isadore Sharp today, and this passage stuck out:
Expensive hotels that refuse to invest in their employees are never worth the money. Unfortunately, most hotels are like that.The core reason for the Four Season's staying power, Mr. Sharp believes, is a credo that may sound almost quaint: Follow the Golden Rule. Workers, he says, are vital assets who should be treated accordingly. At most hotel companies, he notes, housekeepers, cooks, bell staff, waiters and clerks are often the lowest paid and "the least motivated people." But at the Four Seasons, those who might otherwise be considered the most expendable "had to come first," because they were the ones "who could make or break a five-star service reputation."
Turning the top-down management philosophy on its head, Mr. Sharp authorized every Four Seasons employee to solve service problems as they arose and to remedy failures on the spot. Managers were told: "Keep your egos in check and let the people who work for you shine." Mr. Sharp says that it took years to weed out of the company the many managers who disagreed with this philosophy and could only see staffers as a cost.
Places where . . .
I've used the Nikon D40/D60 extensively and, more recently, the D90. I love the features of the D90 but I dearly miss the small size and weight of the D60.
If you are planning a journey by train -- just about anywhere in the world -- Seat61 has lots of maps showing train routes throughout every continent, and detailed information about national lines and rail passes.
Is it safe to visit South Africa? The country's high crime rate has reportedly led many former residents to leave the country. Now South Africans are fearful that tourists' apprehension about crime will deter them from visiting in 2010 when South Africa hosts the World Cup.
Blogging from Capetown, I can say there here are areas of high relatively high safety. These tend to be places where merchants or wealthy residents have paid for private security protection.
For example, in Capetown, one advantage to staying in the backpacker enclave of upper Long Street is that the the location is described as "the one area of downtown Capetown" where your security is pretty much assured "around-the-clock."
Although his assertion may be true in respect to thievess, the private security cameras and guards hired by local businesses to defend patrons from muggings do not regulate the traffic. And South Africa has some of the worst drivers in the world.
Calling some of these drivers "bad" is an understatement. A better description would be reckless. In Cambodia I encountered some similar drivers, but at least there the insane maniac drivers could probably have claim to have been fueled by drink or drugs. In South Africa, a number of apparently sober drivers -- like one taxi I took recently -- seem to have absolutely no regard whatsoever for pedestrians.
I am told that South Africa's crime problem and traffic safety woes stem from the low pay of the police force. Officers in the this rather developed country make as little as $400 a month. That's developing-world pay for professionals in what is, in fact, a fairly wealthy country. A South African told me that the situation had deteriorated so badly that millions were being spent on private security companies charged with the protecting police stations. The cops, it seems, are just about useless.
An Italian who recently arrived in Falluja appears to be the country's first tourist in years.
One of my guiding principles of going on any kind of trip is to travel light. That means not carrying any more than absolutely necessary.
Contemplating a trip to several countries, one stiff deterrent to living up to this principle can be the number of guidebooks you find yourself tempted to schelp in your backpack.
The obvious solution to this conundrum is to download e-book versions* of several Lonely Planets. It turns out, Lonely Planet has already made it possible to do even better than that. You can buy and download only the chapters of your choice from the publisher's array of guidebooks.
TravelVice has penned an extremely thoughtful post on this topic, full of some creative options -- even for people who don't want to carry a notebook computer or PDA with them!
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* I noticed that various Lonely Planet books are presently not available for download onto an Amazon Kindle. LP probably figures they can make more money selling the electronic copies on their own website. Nevertheless, the Kindle offers a great way to carry your other reading material, especially on an extended trip.
On Thailand's stunning Similan Islands, some tourists continued to sunbathe while refugees were tortured on the same beach. Phuket Wan reports:
Dozens of Rohingya refugees were beaten and detained for hours by the Thai Navy on an Andaman Sea tourist island, in scenes that unfolded in full view of foreign holidaymakers.The article continues and includes incredible photos. See also here.
Photographs of the December 23 incident in the Similan Islands were captured by Hong Kong-based tourist Andrew Jones.
Mr Jones, whose name has been changed for the purposes of this article, described how guards armed with M-16 rifles forced the refugees to lie face down in the sand for at least two hours, then ''whipped'' them about the head with a strap if they tried to sit up or move. The refugees were naked to the waist and bound at their wrists.
Some tourists appeared oblivious to the scenes just metres away, continuing to snorkel and sunbathe. Others who were shocked by the treatment of the men and tried to photograph the incident had their cameras snatched away by angry guards, who deleted the images.
''Some of them [the refugees] were trying to sit up and looked like they were complaining, but they were answered with a whip on the back and head,'' said Mr Jones, a 23-year-old Australian student . . .
The Bangkok Post reports:
No word on when it goes into effect. If you don't get a visa, and you come from a visa-waiver country, you only get a 30 day stay permit. This fee waver makes a Thai visa an especially good option. Also, consider that the government just reduced the length of stay permitted to those crossing into Thailand by land without a visa from visa-waiver countries to just 14 days! (Airport arrivals were still to get 30 days).Economic ministers have resolved to waive visa fees for tourists from all countries for three months to give the tourism industry a much-needed boost.
The decision was made yesterday at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, deputy government spokesman Puttipong Punnakan said.
The visa fee waiver will be forwarded to cabinet for approval on Jan 20.
In the wake of the seizure of Bangkok's airport by a mob in late November -- an illegal act which left hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists stranded (see these posts)-- Thai hotels now face low occupancy. Discounts may now abound in the Land of Smiles.
Recently on Bangkok Pundit blog, someone asked whether it made any sense to "reward" Thailand with a visit so soon after Thailand ruined so many peoples vacations. A deeper question is whether Thailand has not just been subjected to a "judicial coup" by which an urban elite has undemocratically deposed a government elected mainly by the rural poor. To go or not?
If you are interested in the discussion and some assessments concerning the state of Thai tourism, read Bangkok Pundit's post.
I am thinking about conversations I have had with a number of artists based in different regions of Southeast Asia. It seems to me the big problem, anywhere you go -- from Bangkok to Bali -- is that most Westerners do not buy art thoughtfully. They all seem to want paintings of flowers or Buddha heads or people surfing. Of course, it's worse than that: relatively few Westerners seem to know -- or care -- about the difference between a mass produced object and an original piece of artwork. I once assumed it was only Americans and Australians who bought art like this. These days, many Europeans are equally thoughtless.
Maybe the tourists like the art, you say. If they like how it looks, so what? What difference does it make if everybody does not appreciate the distinction between fake art and the real thing?
It matters to the local people and the local culture. As a result of the thoughtless consumption habits of Western tourists, in shop after shop, many talented local artists have little choice but to spend their days making knock-offs. I have watched real, talented local artists put in such a position. And I find it rather sad.
Because these artists are not living up to their full potential. They have so much more to give than what is asked of them by the Western consumer.
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The above is an extract from my most recent post at JOTMAN.COM.
Photo by Jotman of a painting bought from a Bangkok street artist.
A journalist in Afghanistan -- one of a handful not embedded in the military -- has advice that could prove useful to any traveler. Tech Radar reports:
Not long after he gave the interview for this report, the Alex used twitter to report that he had survived a bomb blast in a nearby neighborhood."Get yourself set up with a Twitter account. It's a nice, low-cost way of letting people know if you get into trouble or are kidnapped. You can agree on a keyword with friends to use if they need to start mobilising help for you and then you can just text that word when you are in such a situation."
That's the advice of Alex Strick van Linschoten. Sounds overly paranoid for everyday blogging, but then again, he's no everyday blogger.
Based in Afghanistan, van Linschoten is the only journalist in Kandahar who isn't embedded with the military. He feels his 'free-roaming' blog, From the Frontline, plays an important role in bringing the reality of the conflict to the outside world.
Veteran journalist Rob Crilly has put together a "decision model" for anyone thinking of making a trip to Somalia. It is designed for journalists, but anyone contemplating a trip to Somalia would be well advised to consult it.
The Straights Times reports on tourism to Thailand after the closure of the airports:
occupancy across Thailand has plunged to an average of around 20 to 30 per cent after protests closed Bangkok's two airports, the head of the Thai Hotels Association (THA) said on Thursday.Occupancy is normally at least 65 per cent in December, one of the key months in Thailand's tourist high season.
'We expect the December average occupancy will be only between 20 to 30 per cent. As of now, some five-star hotels in Bangkok have reported an occupancy rate of less than 10 per cent,' THA chief Prakit Chinamourphong told AFP.
It's almost doable. The BBC discusses the few remaining gaps in the line.
The Thai economy is said to be losing about $80 million a day in lost tourism revenue on account of the seizure of the country's two main airports by demonstrators prone to violence.
Reuters reports that it will take the country a week to reopen Bangkok's main airport terminal once the protesters either agree to leave or are forced to go. Some airport equipment may have been smashed reports Bangkok Pundit, who is a great source of up to date information about the situation in Bangkok generally.
Also, Bangkok-based journalist Newley Purnell has spoken with travelers at Bangkok's besieged airports and been posting updates at his blog. Newley recently reported from U-Tapao, a former US airbase converted into a make-shift international airport facility:
Meanwhile, France has hired a jumbo jet to fly French citizens home to safety. Why other countries are not responding like this is something of a mystery to me. There are supposedly 300,000 people stranded in Thailand!Some travel agents bussed passengers down to U-Tapao, which is near the tourist resort of Pattaya, but with information proving difficult to come by in Bangkok, others came on their own more in hope than expectation.
Huge traffic jams built up outside the sprawling compound. Thai soldiers with M16 rifles guarded the entrance to the airport to prevent anti-government protesters from gaining access, as travellers lugged their bags under the sun.
Once inside the terminal, it was standing room only. Travelers were unsure where they should check in. Long queues wound around the lone luggage scanner, where soldiers tried to hold back the surging crowd.
"It's complete chaos and pandemonium," said Bonnie Chan, 29, from San Diego, California.
"We've been given incorrect information from the airlines. The US embassy says they can't help us. We're high and dry. The airlines keep giving us the run-around."
New Mandala reports:
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has just raised its travel advisory for Bangkok to the second highest level: “reconsider your need to travel”. The advice for the rest of Thailand remains unchanged. This is the list of other places for which the Department provides the same level of warning: D.R. Congo, Angola, Haiti, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Pakistan…If you are leery about vacationing in Thailand, consider another Southeast Asian destination: Indonesia.
With protesters having commandeered Bangkok's two major international airports -- the old main airport at Don Mueang and the new Suvarnabhumi airport terminal -- flights are being diverted to an old air base. Reuters reports:
Bloomberg reports:The government began shuttling thousands of stranded tourists by bus to U-Tapao, a Vietnam War-era naval airbase 150 km (90 miles) east of Bangkok, as an alternative landing site for airlines.
According to a schedule hand written on a white board outside the terminal, flights from Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways and Malaysian Air Services were expected.
The anti-government mob that took over Bangkok's international airport not only stranded thousands of passengers, but potentially put tourists in the crossfire had clashes broken out between security forces and demonstrators. Reflecting on the situation at the airport, veteran Thailand blogger Fonzi lamented: "What is really astonishing to me is how the foreign embassies in Bangkok have remained silent over this crisis, except for worthless travel advisories."Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., which is evacuating people trapped in Thailand by protests, warned of “chaotic” conditions and long lines at a military airfield handling emergency flights. The carrier, Hong Kong’s biggest, is one of about a dozen airlines using U-tapao Airport, east of Bangkok near Pattaya.
More than 3,000 stranded travelers were evacuated to nearby hotels from Bangkok’s international airport yesterday. Thousands of people remain stranded in Thailand as the protests halt flights into the nation’s capital.
Some highlights of recent developments concerning the airport:
General picture:
- Suvarnabhumi is Thailand's main airport, one of the major airports of Asia.
- Anti-government protesters have taken control of the airport.
- Protesters succeeded have succeeded in preventing Thai PM from landing.
- Protesters say they won't leave the airport until the PM resigns. The army chief has also called for PM's resignation.
Situation at the airport:
- Restaurants in airport are closed.
- Staff friendly but clueless about what is happening.
- At least one grenade exploded by an highway overpass near the airport at 6:00am
- passengers being told to return to the city of Bangkok, and not hang around the airport waiting for flights.
- Hand grenade exploded Wednesday at an overpass near the airport.
CNN reports on the chaos at Bangkok's main airport:
The Nation newpaper provides this video shot at the airport:
A French tourist shot this video recently. It appears to have been filmed in the vicinity of the airport:
I continue to blog about the political upheaval in Thailand at Jotman.com.
