It was a bit of a marathon getting here, I think this must have been the most delayed trip I have ever done! Not a good start at Heathrow, all boarded then a wait for the de icers which weren't working too well to get rid of the ice on the wings, then some poor soul got ill and had to be taken off the plane, then the wait to take his bags off. By that time the wings had iced up again so another wait for the de icers that weren't working too well .... you get the picture! But no real problem, a glass or two of champagne kept me going! Then a few hours' stopover in Mumbai, never a place I have done well in. Most of the time was taken up with bureaucratic nonsense, all I wanted to do was get off one plane and onto another with the boarding pass issued in London... But that is far too simple for the Indian authorities. And Mumbai airport, if it were a beer, would be the worst in the world.... I was here just a few years back when it was being rebuilt so was expecting something quite shiny.... What I got was a smelly, grubby place with the guys in the lounge running round with those electronic tennis bats to try and keep down the mozzie population. Needless to say, I didn't eat and the gilljel was much used.
And so to Groundhog day 2. Boarded the Cathay flight on time, pulled away from the gate when the call goes out over the speakers for "any medical staff on board, we have a sickness problem with many of our passengers". I was hoping the "many of our passengers" was a slight error in translation... Whatever, whichever medical staff came to the rescue they worked, and about an hour later with no one being wheeled off the plane, we get away.
Now what is it people say about things happening in three's? I was pleased, when we boarded the Bangkok flight to Koh Samui on time with no last minute drama. I sat back to look forward to arriving in the Koh Samui island sunshine in 50 minutes time. Now I know I don't speak Thai, but even I could grasp from the Thai pilot's announcement in a regretful voice and the words "Bangkok" and "Suvarnabhumi", and the engine noises telling me we were doing a bit of circling that things were amiss. My first reaction when the English version came on was, I'll admit, relief, when it appeared it was just that the weather had closed in on Koh Samui and the visibility was too low to land. Obviously no instrument landings here, but I guess one can expect that when the airport is a series of, albeit charming, huts....
My second reaction was Groundhog day 3 as yet more flight delays appeared... My third reaction was what the hell was the weather playing at throwing huge thunderstorms on the island in the dry season..... Whatever the weather Gods were up to, we had no choice but to turn tail and head back to Bangkok... Two hours in the air to end up back at Bangkok airport! So we all pile back in the lounge and wait and wait and wait.... Eventually a flurry of announcements as plane after delayed plane scrambles to take off like Spitfires in the Battle of Britain to take advantage of the weather window that appeared over Samui. Back on we get, same people, same crew, same seats in another Groundhog episode. The only thing missing was the meal they normally serve, we had obviously all eaten that first time round...
But eventually, only seven hours late I arrive in a warm but damp Koh Samui, to yet more Groundhog stuff. I am staying somewhere I have been before, same staff, same room and of course same little swimming pool just outside the room. Some Groundhog days are good.
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