(Mis)adventures of Overnight Layovers in Airports

Hat Yai is a bad-ass city in southern Thailand where insurgence has militated against all the colorful touristy elements typical of Thailand. Even the airport has been bombed once. As soon as I arrived in the city, I made a beeline for the airport even though my flight was the next day. I snuggled in my newly found sweet spot and fell into a lovely sleep. I was woken up by a policeman with intimidating moustache. He couldn't speak English so he elegantly kicked me out of the airport which was empty now. After inquiring a little more affable lady who, fortunately, could also speak English, I came to know the airport had been closed. Like a restaurant. All my pleas to let me stay fell on deaf pointy ears of the inexorable policeman and his malicious aide. I decided to find a place just outside the airport but the pesky man in uniform balked at the idea. He began to call up a hotel to have me picked up. At this point I uttered with little forethought "No money!!". It was apparent that he understood my words. He mumbled something to his aide who then asked me to follow him. The policeman gave me a very warm smile. I was led to a small prayer room, with a stairway in the corner that led to a toilet downstairs. "Very nice place", he said. I thanked him. He locked me inside and said, "I will open it tomorrow morning. It is the rule." I thanked him again. 

Jinmen is a small, pretty much neglected island that belongs to Taiwan and is a thirty minute ferry ride from Xiamen in China. I spent one night here. I was annoyed to learn that even this airport closes at night. Like a restaurant. With unshakable bullheadedness I decided not to spend money on another expensive hotel. There were no cheap hotels around. In the evening I left for a stroll outside. The slowness and antiquity of the town was intoxicating. I came back at night; the airport was empty, and closed. Fortunately the entrance was open. I went to the security and said "我要去太北明天早上。我想在这里睡觉". The man in uniform said,"沒問題 (no problem)". Sweet! It is a lovely and strange feeling sleeping in such a huge enclosed area all alone.

I landed at Guangzhou airport at night, and I had a flight to catch the next morning. It was a biting winter. I was looking for a tea/coffee shop in the sprawling airport. A tiny man in formal black attire approached me and asked me in broken English where I was going. I showed him the ticket of the flight next morning. "You have to go out", he said constantly nudging me towards the exit. 

"Why?"

"Your flight tomorrow morning. Come tomorrow. Airport closed now."

"But there are people still sitting here inside."

"They have flight now."

A small argument ensued. I was outside the building out in the open now, arguing with him, being a little chary talking to someone in command. He called a shabby van and asked me to get in, "This will take you to a hotel. It's very cheap." Nasty bugger, I thought, he is just a broker. 

"I am going back in." I told him angrily. 

"You can't go back now. It's closed. Go to the hotel."

I tried a few doors operated by optical sensors. None of them worked. "Okay. So I will spend the night here in the open. I am NOT going anywhere. No hotel", I said to him dauntingly. He looked at me for a few seconds. Realizing I was having none of him, he said in a tone of dejection,"Ookayy, go to gate number five." I went to gate number five, and it magically opened. Boom!

I have never seen a city in Asia where real estate is as expensive as Hong Kong. That was one time when I bolted to the airport with a single-minded intent of saving money. And I have never seen an airport where so many people come to sleep overnight. The connection is simple. And the airport security doesn't seem to mind so many people dozing there. 

My overnight stopovers in other airports have been rather uneventful, just the way I wanted them to be. It's interesting how the repetitiveness of even a mundane activity brings forth interesting patterns. And you manage to save a few bucks in the meanwhile!

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Trips that never happened - Sekong in Laos

Aside the regular sightseeing, there were two things I particularly wanted to see in Laos - 

i) the opium fields (that I thought were) flourishing somewhere in hidden vales of northern uplands, and
ii) clearing the land of UXOs.

I didn't read much about Un-Xploded Ordnance (UXO) ridden fields until I reached Pakse. I intended to get some sketchy info on this but soon the topic piqued my interest. I delved deeper and scouring the web became rather discursive as I read about Hmong tribes, coup attempts, Indo-China wars and recent changes in government polities. 

A few decades ago the US rained oodles of different explosives on Laos many of which failed to explode. Some of these UXOs are occasionally discovered by locals who tamper with them recklessly and usually end up grievously injured or dead. The most common of these UXOs is cluster ammunitions or bombies. The touristy areas in Laos have been cleared of UXOs, but the least developed areas of the country still remain blighted with them. 

Sekong is a province in southern Laos - it is one of the most inaccessible areas of Laos, and one of the few areas still infested with UXOs. It hard to dig out much information about the place. Towing the line of generality, a few tourism websites call it utterly beautiful. The area is indeed rugged, rivers and waterfalls sprawl out, and its rustic way of life has hardly been affected by extraneous developments. Most months of the year don't see the road leading to Sekong town, and it becomes a herculean attempt to reach the place in rainy season.

I was in Pakse when I was reading all this. Sekong is a day's bumpy bus ride from Pakse. I was nearing the end of my third week in Laos and I had about a week left before my visa expired. I was weighing my options.

Phoenix Clearance Limited (PCL) is a company from NZ that specializes in clearing unexploded bombs. It has a strong presence in Laos, particularly Sekong. I wanted to see how they cleared the UXOs. Recently Laos government has curtailed the transparency of all UXO related activities. All the volunteering activities to help the victims of UXOs have been terminated. Skimming the web, I came across the account of one brave lady who has been covering the Ho Chi Minh trail and other areas on a frail bike. She writes down her escapades by the name of 'The Itinerant' on Facebook. I don't know how she did it, but I think she volunteered with MAG in UXO clearing in Laos. Other than that, I couldn't find any personal account of someone having been there during my rather perfunctory search.

A little spurred after all this reading, I decided to take a bus to Sekong the next morning. I was sober enough the next morning to think about the practicalities of making such a trip. I talked to a guy while having breakfast. He reaffirmed the route was nefarious in the least. I had to buy inventory to deal with inclement weather and hazardous insects. It was the month of May; it was rainy season at its peak.

I desperately wanted to be there - a world left behind in time, still trying to convalesce from a decades old devastating attack, discreetly cooped in a corner of the country, and forgotten by the world.

Of all the countries that I visited in Asia, Laos haunts me the most. It certainly lacks in creature comforts but its rugged landscape and antediluvian human settlements make up for it. I am not sure if or when I will visit Laos again, but if and when I do, this is one trip I will have to make.

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