ParadiseLost

I flew from swampy yesterday 13:00 and I have to say I spent less than 5 minutes in passport control! If you walk to the very end near U check-in block it seems there are more officials than passengers

Overall I had a very pleasant experience at the airport excepting for one thing - the price of drinking water is disgusting - at 7/11 (near domestic arrivals) small bottles are 7 baht, which obviously you cannot take through security but once inside the cheapest price for exactly the same product was 30 baht. I witnessed some fool buying a small bottle of Evian for 130 baht!!

I know we are talking small money compared to the price of flying but there is no need for such extortionate pricing, other than abject greed.

Johpa, on 2012-03-17 21:46:59, said:

damo, on 2012-03-17 21:55:03, said:

Agree with both; I was referring to the quantity though - it sure beats the hell out of recent busts!

Just the tip of the iceberg...

henleyd, on 2012-03-17 19:43:00, said:

That is all fine and well, but history has shown that you cannot 'take it away' - people actually want things, or do you believe that 'dealers' are actually 'pushers' and many are forced into partaking?

Prohibition was the last great experiment and that failed miserably; so badly that it changed the face of crime in the US and gave birth to real organised crime.

Today there are billions of dollars involved in the drug trade, with most of it going into criminal coffers. If you consider how far the US is moving towards letting big money influence their elections, how long will it be until dirty money trumps so-called good money?

IMO of course drugs should be legalised - not all drugs, but substances which adults can purchase and consume without running amok - pretty much the situation today but they are forced to buy from street dealers rather than bottle shops...

If this approach was taken many years ago, perhaps we would not have seen the likes of meth, ice, crack etc. - when last have you heard of a new alcoholic beverage? There are laws controlling brewing, distribution and accessibility and they seem to work quite well.

Of course there are the occasional idiots who overindulge, and there are many negative consequences to society overall - but, governments realise that banning alcohol would be far, far worse.

I am by no means an expert regarding the existing laws; well other than being married a few times, I know very little about the legal side but it seems to me that governments are always looking for ways to 'introduce new legislation'. One of the main faults with today's world is that there are far too many laws.

Would it not be simpler for them to take out any reference to sex in the current laws? If they are going to legalize same-sex marriage are there still going to be differences?

If so then they are just pandering and gay people should not accept this. IMHO of course.

As this thread is about problems with the airport I would like to add my own biggest beef - air conditioning.

Here is a warning; if you plan to overnight it to catch an early flight - bring clothing suitable for an Arctic winter! I made this mistake myself and really suffered: once you are through immigration you are 'trapped' and all shops etc. close around 11pm (as far as I can recall) and getting coffee was impossible.

I am not sure if other airports are different, but this was my worst experience by far...

Yes, that was me laying under a pile of t-shirts, newspapers and magazines...