On Tuesday evening Josh, Shanda, and I were celebrating our last day in Bangkok, or so we thought. As we sat at the Black Swan, a quaint little British pub, eating beer-battered fish and chips we were reminiscing over our time in Asia and declaring our excitement for heading to Africa the next day. As we sat there listening to the British accents that filled the room, one voice trumpeted over the rest proclaiming, “Bloody hell the Airport is closed!” We all turned our attention to the man and then to the TV screen at the bar and sure enough, the Airport was closed due to rioting. We were astonished and told the owner that we were supposed to be departing for South Africa the next day. He just lifted his glass and said, “You won’t be going anywhere, might as well stay here and get pissed.” Then he gave us a hearty Cheers!
Pictures of the riots as well as all of those stranded at the Airport. I am very thankful that we had not yet arrived at the Airport when this happened.
Now it is Friday and we are still here in Bangkok awaiting the riots and protesting to stop so that the Airport can reopen. We have been informed that the Airport won’t open it’s doors until atleast Saturday evening. Please know that we are safe and are in contact with the US embassy. We are staying at the YWAM base until we are able to depart. To read more about what is going on check out these links from the Herald Tribune ad CNN.
