February at Thailand – Sawatdee Kaaa!

God certainly is good! Although this trip has been full of ups and downs, the fact that we got to kick off February in the land of smiles (literally, we flew on Feb. 1) is a huge blessing in itself. Granted, it’s for business and everything, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t go anywhere, did I? 🙂 Hoping that I can share, in this post and the next few ones, how God has proved Himself faithful in the most sublime and unexpected ways!

Instead of the usual NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport), our flight was to depart from the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (not so sure of the full name) in Clark. It’s a lot smaller – feels like a provincial airport, in fact – and if you don’t get there really early for your flight (we were 4 hours early!!), you won’t have a seat to wait on.

Couldn’t resist taking this. I love myself a strawberry Chupa Chups from time to time, but I can’t think of someone who’d actually finish this! A die-hard addict, perhaps?

One thing about waiting in airports is that you get to meet all sorts of people – even if it’s your first and last communication with them. Dude of the day: Svend the Swede! Hahaha

Touchdown: Suvarnabhumi Airport! (Yup, that took me about two reads to remember LOL) Can I just tell you, it’s not the biggest airport in Asia (daw) for nothing. The whole airport’s so minimalist clean and pretty, and designed very well! It had elements of Thai culture all over without being too in-your-face.

One thing about foreign airports is that upon landing and immediately seeing the change in language from familiar to unfamiliar, they always give me this jarring feeling that makes me feel, hey, I’m actually in foreign land now. It happened to me first in China, where it hit me that everything was now Mandarin, and it happened again here in Thailand. The jarring feeling being kinda stronger, though, because I can’t read a smidgen of Thai even if I tried to!

See? Even their baggage claim area has flowers and the signature Thai designs in gold. My dad and I observed a lot of the little things that they did and improved upon, and often remarked how the Philippines could do better to learn from countries like this. Sigh. Sometimes, going to another country and seeing how well they do in certain areas makes you think about the areas your own country isn’t doing well in, and that kinda makes you sad at times.

Dan being a good boy all through the process. Look how school-worthy he stood for the photo at immigration!

This outdoor smoking area is definitely one thing us Filipinos can learn from them, though. They all adhered to the rules of this area, and I didn’t see a single cigarette butt lying around the floors.