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I was in bed for many hours, staring at the clock on the table. I was getting up at 4.30 am to catch an early flight to Malaysia. So of course I could not sleep. The pressure of needing to sleep was enough to make me sleepless.
I nodded off for half an hour a couple of times between 2 and 3 am. That was all I got.
At 4.50 am I woke Chalerm and gave him money. I gave him 1500 baht for the next dentist appointment, 5000 for the term fee which was due at his university, and 2000 for living expenses while I was away.
We did a “kiss kiss” in the air and I was out the door.
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Last time I went to the airport, on Friday, we had a discussion in the taxi about which airport to go to. I said Suvarnapoom. The driver said that if the flight was to Phuket we should go to Don Muang.
I said all Air Asia flights, domestic or international, were from the new airport. Some Nok Air and THAI domestic routes go from the old airport. The driver made a funny face and said he could take us to Suvanapoom, but it would still be the wrong airport and we would miss our flight.
Chalerm believed the taxi driver. He called Air Asia from his mobile phone to ask even if I told him it was a waste of time. Air Asia told him I was right.
Why can’t they listen to me? Sometimes the foreigner knows what he is talking about.
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The Air Asia plane was in need of new paint. And the cockpit window had something that looked like duct tape on the top frame, probably to seal a water leak. But captain Somchai took me safely to Penang, and that is all that matters.
I had a bad thought while we were landing in rain and fog. It was: “Flying can’t be all that difficult if this Somchai guy could learn it”.
August 29th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
the ‘duck tape’ is some form of aviation steal and is very strong and I seen it on the body of aircrafts holding parts together…it wasn’t a water leak.. prob just adhering parts together
maybe a pilot reading this could clarify more but I seen this tape on airliners.net photo database a few times..
I forget the name of it
August 29th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Holding the parts together? That sounds worse. Like which parts: the wing to the fuselage? The engine to the wing?
August 29th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
You seem to do a lot of travelling…how often do you have to do a visa run?
August 29th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I do visa runs from once a month to every 3rd month, depending on what I can get from Thai Immigration.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:33 am
You’d think you might at least get time off for good behaviour…
September 1st, 2007 at 12:55 am
How do you get around the rule of not staying more than 3 out of every 6 months in LOS?