Wednesday, January 5, 2011

AIRPORT OF SMILES

They called the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport, the "Airport of Smiles". This may be true at the check-in counters but not at the arrival Immigration check points. It's all smiles from the front line check-in staff - friendly and courteous. According to the airport brochure, there is a total of 460 check-in counters including 100 counters for passengers without check-in baggage. Varieties of beautiful and colourful flowers especially Thai orchids were on display at the Check-in concourse.
Close-up of the beautiful and lovely Thai orchids.
Several of these giant "Yaksha" (Demons) statues were mounted in this airport. I was told that the "Yaksha" were guardians - protecting the good and keeping away evil spirits according to Buddhist mythology.
Another "Yaksah" near the entrance to departure hall.
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Immigration and security clearance was prompt - no complaint this time. The departure hall was another shopping mall with a wide selections of goods. There were still plenty to shop and dine before boarding the flight.

As our aircraft was pushed back for taxiing, I noticed an Air Asia A320 lining up for take-off and a Thai International aircraft taking off in the back ground. For the Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route, I believed that the low cost carrier Air Asia has the bigger market share than Malaysia Airlines as they operate 7x daily (including Thai Air Asia services) comparing to 4 x daily by Malaysia Airlines.

We departed Bangkok on time. It was an enjoyable 4D3N stay in such a wonderful city.