Flying solo from bangkok to chittagong
Trip Start
May 01, 2002
1
32
64
Trip End
May 01, 2009
Chittagong,
Bangladesh
Saturday, December 30, 2006
drove to suvarnabhumi airport in bangkok and parked in the long term parking lot which also serves as "a long way to the terminal" parking lot. they charge 140 baht per day. you have to take a bus to the terminal building. the buses look like they are designed to shuttle airport employees and not passengers so it is a little freaky getting your luggage in and out and trying to figure out where to get off and once off trying to get to the departure lounge. this bus service is not a service for passengers. there is no shuttle service for passengers. the smartly dressed airport employees stared at me in disbelief as if i were an alien from space and i may well have been one.
i did get to the terminal eventually and right on time too. i was told to check in at 2:30pm for my flight to chittagong on gmg airlines and i arrived at the check-in counter at 2:37pm
patenga
. wow, talk about punctual. of course the counter was not open yet. i hung around and called pencil to kill time. it's fun to call her because she is always thrilled to hear from me no matter how many times i call. eventually some staff arrived and i was able to check in. i had to take my golf bag over to the oversize luggage place but that was not a big deal. soon i was through all formalities and down by gate 43 looking for gmg airlines but there was no one there and the gate was closed although the computer screens showed that the flight was boarding. i walked around and asked anyone wearing a coat and a badge but no one seemed to know that gmg airlines even existed.when the gate did open, it turned out that i was the only passenger on flight z5072 from bkk-cgp on dec 16, 2006. it was weird flying all alone on big md-82 aircraft. you would think that with one customer and six flight attendants the customer would get pretty good service but you would be wrong. there is an hrm management theory at work here. there is an optimal level of work at which workers are most productive. if there is too much work they can't keep up and they lose productivity. if there is too little work, workers tend to goof off and lose productivity that way. on my flight the staff were too busy partying and gossiping to realize that they actually had one guy on the flight. when i finally did get my dinner, it was ice cold but i was hungry so i ate it. there was no beer or wine or alcohol of any kind so i pulled out my little bottle of rum that i keep for these occasions. i took a nap and when i awoke we were landing and i could see the lights of chittagong.
mine was the only international flight to land in cgp (chittagong patenga airport) that evening. it was an eery experience being the only passenger in a large arrival hall. there were two or three immigration counters open but they had no customers except for me. my immigration officer was named "rejaul" and he was very friendly. on the luggage carousel there was only one piece of luggage. it was mine, of course. with several airport employees in tow, i came out of the terminal buildng and found a taxi. soon i was on my way to hotel st. martin, on sheikh mujib road, in chittagong for the astronomical fare of 600 taka.
the ride was long and scary. there were two guys in the car and it was late at night. they said that the traffic was heavy along the main roads so they would take a detour and off they went along the boondocks. we rode through the boondocks quietly. no one spoke. the big fat guy was fidgeting with a piece of rope that could have been used for strangulation. i was sure that i would be killed and robbed that evening. i even found myself rationalizing my fate saying to myself that i had just had one hell of a round of golf at sawang resort and a sweet time with pencil and that my life was quite complete and if the lord wanted me she could have me. what the heck.
the lord did not want me. the taxi pulled up to the st. martin hotel and i checked in and immediately called room service for chicken tikka masala and cold beer and they arrived in due time and the waiter even hung around to turn on the tv and turn it to the cricket game. pakistan was hammering the west indies bowlers hitting fours and sixes almost at will. the chicken tikka was out of this world. the heineken was very cold and so very welcome. good night y'all.
