The Longest Journey from Bangkok to Singapore

11/28 – 7:15 PM local time. My flight was originally scheduled for 7:05 PM, but it’s now delayed until 10:50 PM to Singapore. It’s a special flight from Malaysia Airlines to bring people like me out of Bangkok, from Phuket Airport. I use to call myself “Le voyageur éternel”. I start travelling non-stop for work since 1994, except the year of 1999 when I was working at Mack Truck in Pennsylvania.
I have scheduled this trip with Lai Yee since early October. We wanted to bring SolidWorks Innovation to customers who can’t attend the regular events. First of all, they are important customers but because they are far away from major cities. This is the first time that we experiment such activities. On site, we have almost close to 40 attendees. I was very excited to show them Enterprise PDM and 3DVIA Composer.
Ved asked me on Monday morning whether I really wanted to make this trip. I did my homework and check with the airline. The flight was almost full and the previous flight was overbooked. That should be OK then, I won’t be alone in Bangkok. So I was heading to Bangkok. Arriving in Bangkok on Monday at 6:00 PM, it was business as usual. Several passengers from the same checked in at the same hotel than me.
On Tuesday, I went to Bangna and worked at Applicad office. We prepared for the event next day. I ran over and over the demo. I had to do it because I had the pre-Beta version of Enterprise PDM 2009 SP2. I don’t want to see it crash. I used the Beta version of 3DVIA Composer as well. Anyway, who know that I’m using the Beta version.
I took the taxi back to hotel around 4:00 PM. It was still business as usual. I decided to stop by Central, one of the biggest department stores in Bangkok. They gave me a special discount card valid for 2 years. I was quite happy, on top of this, if purchased using Amex, you can get 3% discount more. I bought few things for my daughters and a rose candle for my wife.
Just before going to bed, I received several calls from friends and family announcing the news, “Airport is closed”.
Ved called me early in the morning the next day, ordering me to take the first flight out of Thailand. I was on the way to the customer already. Let’s do it after the event then. The customer is not in Bangkok, they are in Ayuthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand, and about 90 minutes drive from Applicad office.

The event went very well with close to 30 attendees. Patipat and his team presented SolidWorks 2009 until lunch time. I had 90 minutes to present Enterprise PDM and 3DVIA Composer. Patipat told me he didn’t understand very well PDM but now he did. And he added that it was a very good demo.

Ayuthaya

We checked with our travel agent, she managed to get the last 2 seats from Chiang Mai to Singapore on next Monday. That meant we still had 4 days before heading north to Chiang Mai. OK, let’s go for another demo on Thursday in Chonburi.
Back to Bangkok on that Wednesday night, it was still business as usual in CentralWorld and Sukhumvit.
On Thursday, we drove to Chonburi. It was a Danish customer with facilities in Thailand. The Prince of Denmark visited them the day before and the whole delegation couldn’t leave Bangkok for the moment, just like us.
My agent called me again with good news. There might be a special charter flight from U-Tapao airport. I was told by our Thai reseller that U-Tapao was naval base and the opposition wouldn’t dare to come here. I was told by our travel agent to be ready around 6:00 PM; her local agent will pick up us at the Sukhumvit area for that special flight. We started joking on the car during the trip back to Bangkok from Chonburi about this flight. It could be a human smuggling operation and I might end up with a group of illegal migrants, etc …
Back to the hotel around 5:00 PM then the bad news came. There were not enough passengers for this special charter from U-Tapao. However, I have a chance to take the Malaysian Airlines flight from Phuket on Friday. I bought the idea and started arranging transportation from Bangkok to Phuket on Friday. Everything was in place, so I went down for dinner.
Once at the restaurant then I realized that it was Thanksgiving. Back in the States, we could celebrate with turkey and the whole family. And I was alone by myself.
I woke up very early on Friday morning, at 4:00. My driver and the car were ready for the long journey from Bangkok to Phuket. Mr Phon, the driver, was very happy because his business was good since Tuesday due to the political situation of Thailand. He drove a customer the day before from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia. And on Staurday, he will take another one from Bangkok to Krabi. His English is OK, not good enough to maintain a long conversation during this 9 hours journey from Bangkok to Phuket. Either he got lost or I got lost after 30 seconds of conversation.
We arrived at Phuket Airport around 2:00 PM and the International terminal was full. Every single queue was long. People just queued up even if they didn’t have ticket hoping that miracle came and they would get a seat.
I was happy with the boarding pass on hand after spending almost 1 hour on the queue. I passed the immigration and saw the announcement on the display board. It wasn’t a good new, my flight was delayed by almost 3 hours. Malaysian Airlines brought in the largest aircraft they could have in hand to get us out of here. That explained the delay.
11/28 – 9:00 PM. I’m still waiting at the airport but with a boarding pass in hand. I want to go home now. I don’t want to miss my daughter grading on Sunday. She will turn 8 in few weeks and she started Karate 3 months ago. I don’t know yet for what was the main reason but she decided to do Karate. She just told me one day “Daddy, I want to go to Karate with Ba-Thy”. Ba-Thy is my elder son and he is black belt karate. I was surprised hearing it. If this is what she wants, then let’s do it. She is wearing a white belt as beginner since August. The grading is scheduled for Sunday. And I don’t want to miss that event.
11/29 – 0:25 AM, I finally land in KLIA. Despite the early announcement that connecting flights in KLIA will wait for incoming passengers from Phuket, it doesn’t happen. I just got my new boarding pass for Singapore at 8:05 AM. In the meantime, we will be transported to hotel nearby. I can see on the electronic board that flights have been arranged to come to U-Tapao Airport.

Phuket Airport on 11/28 at 2:00 PM

Phuket Airport on 11/28 at 3:00 PM

11/29 – 3:00 AM, I got the key for hotel room at the Hotel Empress; about 20 minutes drive from KLIA.
11/29 – 5:30 AM, Wake up call to catch the bus to KLIA
11/29 – 7:05 AM, Gate G4 still not open yet for 8:05 AM flight.
11/29 – 9:05 AM, I landed in Changi Airport.

Ba Thong Phan / Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp