"8:06.60N 98:18.80"
Colombo VCBI to Phuket VTSP in Thailand
We left the hotel in a rainy dark morning and made our way to the
airport in the same taxi as the previous afternoon. On
the way there,
there where a lot of military personnel and roadblocks
visible, this
because the uncertain terrorist situation in this country
Sri Lanka is
basically at war with the Tamil Tigers, which are
fighting against the
central government in the north of the island. At the
moment this
country is facing a difficult time, as the so much needed
tourists are
staying away of this troubled zone. The people we met in
Colombo were
friendly and very helpful.
Once at the airport, things markedly slowed down and the
ordered three
drums of fuel for 05:00, only arrived two and a half
hours later Weather
forecast en route to Phuket was good, VFR all the way,
with the
exception of the mainland area with some CB's around.
After about seven hours into the flight, we flew over the
chain
of the
Nicobar Islands (Indian possessions) and we took some photos
and Videos as we
slowly over flew this island chain.
Over the gulf of Siam
En route we were first in HF contact with Colombo, the
all the
way up to
the Indonesian FIR, we gave regular position reports
to Chennai (India).
Approaching the main land of Thailand, some
build-ups started to appear on the
horizon. Phuket approach gave
us permission for a straight- in approach for
runway 09, and we
had not to change our inbound heading at all to avoid clouds.
Once parked on the apron, we were on our own from the
time we
shut
down the engine. No
body came!
Phucket
Rolf spent some time in the aircraft, getting all the
needed maps and
approach charts from our voluminous collection of
Jeppesen binders for
our next leg from Phuket to Singapore.
Nightfall came very rapidly and we unloaded everything we
needed
for the
coming days and then headed by foot across the apron to
the International
Arrivals hall.
Once in the arrivals hall, there was only one customs
days and
then
headed by foot across the apron to the International Arrivals
hall. Once in the
arrivals hall, there was only one customs official
and with no passport or
luggage check, we were waved through the
various gates with a hearty welcome
and a smile. Once outside in
the public arrival area, nobody seemed to have
been waiting for us.
Sweating and very thirsty we spotted a nice customer
lounge from
the Meridian hotel which was empty, and we decided to sit down
there
and get somehow adjusted and ready to make some phone calls to our
two
friends and partners of the Phuket Airpark Adrian and Robert
and the two
employees at the Phuket airpark. At this time Adrian
and Robert were seemingly
still travelling at St Petersburg in Russia
and we managed to get hold of them
with our mobile telephone via
Switzerland. After about half an hour the
representative of the
Meridian Hotel appeared in his lounge this man, in
typical Thai
fashion greeted us and lent his help, although we were seemingly
not one of his customers. Note, the local manager of the Airpark
came out with
the company car and then drove us to the airpark,
which was just 20 minutes
away. As welcomed and awaited guests,
we were then given our guest rooms at the
park and were then
treated with a welcome beer and some light Thai dinner,
prepared by Notes lovely wife Lam Yai.
Yesterday morning we of course went for a walk around the
Airpark
with its grass runway and all the construction sites. The official
opening is planned for the 14th of January 2009.
In sunny morning weather, Note and Lam Yan drove us in
the company van
around the Island of Phuket.
On safe grounds
We were driven all around the Island and visited towns
and many beaches.
Kamala, Patong and Kata. It was those beaches which were
badly hit by
the Zunami two years ago. We visited the new hotel of
Robert, our
generous host. This construction in the heights of the
Patong beach and
has a magnificent view over the beach and the town of
Patong.
From Robert's new "Boutique Hotel"
En route back to the Airpark we stopped at various Vista
points
and were
invited to a light lunch in a road restaurant way above
the coast. In the
evening we invited our lovely guest couple and
their 6 year old son Mig for a
nice dinner in a local Seafood
restaurant the Laemhin at sea
shore. Back in our quarters we went to sleep rather
early.
Lam, Manfred, Robert (the owner), Rolf, Note.
Today the 1st of July we had a relaxing day at the
airpark and did
all
the preparations for our next leg to Singapore tomorrow. Today
the 1st of July
we had a relaxing day at the airpark and did all
the preparations for our next
leg to Singapore tomorrow. Flight
planning, Meteo, etc.