Day: November 15, 2006

Bangkok at 4 AM & The Free Hugs Campaign

While en route from Bangalore to Tokyo we switched planes in the new Bangkok airport. That new airport is truly a bizarre place… beyond huge… futuristic… planned to surpass Singapore as a regional hub for South East Asia. Two things made the airport bizarre… arriving into the old airport at 3:45 AM one often got lost trying to find the connection desk. A traveller really needed to know what they were doing to find it and at that time of day there was no one to ask where to go. Believe it or not, the same is true for the new airport. A Thai Airways personnel told us where to go to transit, but gave us the wrong directions. My companions found a place for a quick nap and massage while I hunted down the transit desk. The deja vu was weird. I thought to myself, "new airport, same dilemmas, but wow, I’m not in Kansas anymore."

Second, the airport could only be described as a shopping Walt Disney. There are stores everywhere but not your usual lay-out… all the stores flow with the lines of the facility… futuristic art deco cafes and bars lay about with various types of science fiction-like  mood lighting that all seem to come together as if one is inside a giant aircraft frame. Thanks to the transit issue I was unable to take pictures but next time through the airport I will capture the place in photos. Finally, while boarding, we were informed one of our bags was missing. (That turned out to be a clerical error and the bag promptly rolled off our plane in Tokyo.) After heavy security – the flight’s final destination was the US – we left the anomalous Bangkok airport. As we flew to Tokyo another phenomenon – at the other end of the spectrum from our Bangkok experience – was sweeping the planet: The Free Hugs Campaign. First, watch the video below and then go here to the Personal Democracy Forum to read the background. The articles author’s even reference back to the ground breaking Cluetrain Manifesto, which could only mean… somebody’s down-to-earth, grass roots idea has finally arrived. I watched it, read it and thought, "I’m not in Suvarnabhumi, anymore."

Bangalore Contrasts

The marathon trip – to be truthful it is not a marathon, more like a sprint – around Asia started on Sunday afternoon. We are now en route to Tokyo via Bangkok. While in Bangalore, amazingly, I stayed at The Leela Palace. This is probably the best hotel in Bangalore. Normally the price would be through the roof but we only paid US$ 360. That’s correct, ONLY. The hoteliers in Bangalore have been taking full advantage of the IT boom to charge outrageous prices. In the last six months the average price for a reliable hotel room has been around US$ 400 per night. So, the Leela was a deal this week. The Leela is also gorgeous as can be seen from the pictures below. I like this first picture because it captures the contrasts in India… the palatial luxury of life being touched up by a painter. On that note, I watched a various interesting program while battling jetlag this week. Either CNN or BBC interviewed an political activist in Mumbai, who reported that 60% of the Mumbai population still lives in slums, with no access to reliable drinking water or toilets. Yet, this same group is building Mumbai – what some might call the migrant, construction workforce. The interview took place on top of a low rise building. With different camera angles used throughout, one could see both slums and modern condos in the background. At one point the interviewee exclaimed, “Who do you think built that skyscraper over there? A condo there costs US$ 5 million and yet my people cant even get drinking water and toilets!” Certainly stops to make one think, “What’s wrong with this picture?” Meanwhile, at US$ 400 every time I stay in Bangalore, I wonder if I am enabling the problem.