evdog

Exit Stage Left…

An odd situation, while Bangkok escalates into chaos, people celebrate Thai New Year on Koh Pha Ngan like all is good with the world. While there may be shots fired in the capital, the blasts on this island signal fireworks.

With a return trip to Bangkok planned for Friday and a follow on flight to Tokyo booked for Monday, I’ve been mulling my options. Should I stay or should I go now? (Incidentally, heard a Thai cover band play a positively rambuctious version of The Clash classic while in Chiang Mai.) The reports of a declared state of emergency in Bangkok tipped the balance, leave ASAP.

A few hours of Orbitz, Expedia, and miscellaneous local airline site acrobatics left me with a flight to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, on to Tokyo on Sunday. The only flaw, a four hour layover in Bangkok.

A check of Google News this morning revealed that things had gone from bad to worse in Bangkok, shots fired, full on chaos. Double checking my late night travel agent work, I realized I could bypass Bangkok by flying direct from Koh Samui to Singapore. D’oh! Five phone calls and countless web forms later and I’m now booked to fly direct to Singapore, followed by a train a day later to Kuala Lumpur. The costs of chaos avoidance…prudent or overreaction…leaning toward prudent.

Outside of time spent shifting the gears of travel, Koh Pha Ngan has proved to be a relaxed little island to hang out on. I’ve been taking it pretty easy, a little swimming, a lot of reading, sampling the local seafood, and periodic checks of the political situation. The sun has been full on shining the last three days, helping this little island fulfill it’s paradise like promise.

All in all this is one little twist I did not anticipate on sabbatical ‘09. No reason for concern, exit plan initiated…