JOTMAN TRAVEL: November 2008

Bangkok travel detour: U-Tapao, Vietnam War-era naval airbase

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:

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.

Bloomberg reports:

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.

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."

Thailand blogger Happy has posted photos of tourists stranded in Bangkok (here and here) and has some shots of the airport demonstrators (here and here).

I continue to post updates about the situation in Bangkok at Jotman.com.

Situation at Suvarnabhumi International Airport

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.

Travel and the con artist

It's impossible to travel extensively and not at some point encounter a con artist. Zak investigates the biological mechanism that makes people prey to the confidence gamester:

The key to a con is not that you trust the conman, but that he shows he trusts you. Conmen ply their trade by appearing fragile or needing help, by seeming vulnerable.

First you want to help the con artist -- often in return for thoughtful gesture on his or her part. According to the neuroscience, greed kicks in only after you feel the desire to "reciprocate the trust" shown in you by the con artist.

How to avoid con-artists? It's easy to avoid the con artist once you how their games work. Know the typical games in the countries where you plan to visit: deals on jewelery in Bangkok, real estate in Bali, etc. In any country, be wary of invitations to step inside bars and nightclubs.

Another approach is to turn own emotions into a kind of radar system. That is, when you feel emotions such as an overwhelming desire to reciprocate trust or the desire to seize a "rare and fleeting opportunity" in the presence of a stranger, you know its time to make a break for it. You just have to get away, even though it is likely to make you feel like a jerk (at the time).

Zak blogs:

My laboratory studies of college students have shown that two percent of them are "unconditional nonreciprocators." That's a mouthful! This means that when they are trusted they don't return money to person who trusted them. . . What do we really call these people in my lab? Bastards. Yup, not folks that you would want to have a cup of coffee with. These people are deceptive, don't stay in relationships long, and enjoy taking advantage of others. Psychologically, they resemble sociopaths. Bastards are dangerous because they have learned how to simulate trustworthiness. . .

But, don't be too vigilant: two percent of bastards isn't so bad.

Based what I have seen traveling, it is evident to me that the so-called "bastards" Zak describes are not so evenly distributed by geography as in Zak's college classroom. There can be little doubt bastard is over-represented in urban -- and especially -- touristic places.* In places crawling with bastards, neither of my above-stated rules is sufficient to save you from exasperation.

In such places, because anyone who approaches you is likely to be out to manipulate you (perhaps not criminally, but nonetheless cunningly), I only deal with locals who have not approached me first. I find that only the strictest application of this rule makes visiting a city like Phnom Penh enjoyable.
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* The converse also seems to be true. Get off the beat-and-path, visit some rural areas of the developing world -- those places that have seldom seen a tourist -- and you are unlikely to encounter anything but kindness and generosity from local residents. Hat-tip: Sullivan and Schneier

Seven trashy wonders of the world

I have no interest in the contemporary "seven wonders of the world" list that has most recently circulated prominently in the mass media (I'm sorry Brazil, but the Jesus overlooking Rio does not merit ranking in among the top seven).

Far more to my taste is Aaron Labaree's proposal for the "Seven Wonders of the Garbage World":

1. The Eastern Garbage Patch, Pacific Ocean.
2. Fresh Kills Landfill, Staten Island, USA.
3. Roro Asbestos Dump, Jharkhand, India.
4. Smoky Mountain, Manila, Philipines.
5. Shipbreaking Yards, Alang, India.
6. Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA.
7. Electronic Waste Dumps, Guiyu, China.

Although it did not make Labaree's list of the top seven, check out this short video from my visit to the great garbage dump of Jakarta:

Jakarta's extravagant new shopping complexes

Indonesia -- a country where almost thirty percent live below the poverty line -- now has some of the most extravagant shopping malls in the world. Below are some photos I took inside a new mall adjacent to the Plaza Indonesia complex.

This photo at left shows cherry trees blooming in the "Japanese" section of the mall. The trees are fake, but they sure looked real to me.

Given the level of pollution, shopping is understandably a popular occupation of the city's well-off residents.

From a tourists' perspective, the malls employ many young locals, providing the friendliest service you are likely to find at a shopping mall anywhere in Asia.

One good thing about the big new malls going up in Jakarta is that these projects will probably encourage rich Indonesians to spend much more of their money within Indonesia (instead of heading overseas to Singapore or Hong Kong to shop).

Today, why would an Indonesian travel abroad to shop? The sheer opulence of newest shopping malls in Jakarta easily rival anything I have seen in Singapore, Europe, or North America.