Monday, April 16, 2012

Rubbing Elbows with Heads of State

Becky and I caught a 6 am flight from Bangkok to Colombo, which arrived in Sri Lanka around 9 am local time. We made it through immigration in a matter of minutes and were soon in a car headed to the Hilton Colombo, for a one night stay which I booked using Hilton Honors points. When you take an epic vacation that includes visits to multiple countries, you have to find ways to make it affordable, and for us that entailed cashing in multiple awards points in various hotels to lower our costs. Our night at the Hilton Colombo was free, and we were delighted, after an abridged night spent at a crappy transit hotel in Bangkok near Suvarnabhumi Airport, to sleep somewhere a little more upscale.

Upon our arrival to the Hilton, it was clear something very strange was going on. A phalanx of security guards and secret service types were crowded near the entrance ramp to the property, and the hotels front door was filled with men in uniform wielding machine guns. We got out of the car, and all our luggage was immediately put through a mobile x-ray machine in a truck, before we walked into the hotel to find ourselves standing on a plush red carpet surrounded by even more men in suits and shades looking anxious and skeptical at our rumpled clothing and bleary eyes. Turns out the President of Palestine, Mohammad Abbas was spending two nights at the hotel, and was about to depart for some meetings right at the moment we arrived.

We couldnt check in until he had exited the premises, so were ushered into some lobby chairs and made to wait until the man himself emerged from the elevator bank, flanked by one of the most formidable entourages Ive ever seen. They paraded past us and only after theyd left the premises were we allowed up to our room. The whole spectacle was amusing. Its been awhile since weve dealt with a security apparatus of that scale and seriousness. Getting on a plane in Thailand is not like getting on a plane in the USA, and even though Bangkok is sometimes subjected to random terrorist acts, the Thai people are among the least paranoid and most laid back of anyone youll find anywhere in the world. Sitting twenty feet away from the President of Palestine, we were scrutinized more in five minutes than I feel like weve been in 8 months in Thailand

This brief little interlude was the second time in a matter of days that we encountered a major political figure. On our first day in Angkor Wat, our tour guide pointed out an article in the local newspaper announcing the imminent arrival of 25,000 Red Shirts, along with former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, the current Thai Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. We hadnt anticipated spending a holiday in the midst of a Thai political rally. The Red Shirts showed up in droves that afternoon, in countless huge tour buses and private vehicles, having driven across the border just a few hours to the west of Siem Reap. They camped out en masse at a particular site, and by the end of our first night in the area, they were everywhere. Red shirts, red flags, and banners with Thaksins face printed all over them. Thaksin is currently banned from visiting Thailand, after a 2008 indictment by a Thai court on corruption charges, but apparently hes on great terms with the Prime Minister of Cambodia, to the point where his political rallies are welcomed by the government of Cambodia. By the time we left Siem Reap, the Red Shirts were everywhere. Becky and I are entirely apolitical in Thailand, as its not our place as guests in a country to have or express any opinions on the internal politics of our host nation. Red shirts, yellow shirts, black shirts, farang, we try our best to love everyone who crosses our path. However, its hard to think charitable thoughts about 25,000 people dressed identically suddenly overrunning the idyllic temple you were hoping to have to yourself. Lucky for us, we headed out to Phnom Penh before the worst of it, and left the political rallies behind us. The rest of our vacation promises to be fairly quiet, in the isolated mountains of Sri Lankas cultural triangle, and later on the beach. Ahhh The ideal vacation spot in someplace where no human politics can find me, off the beaten path, where I have no bars on my phone nor Wifi on my laptop, and where I cant respond to work e-mails. Sadly, no such place is on our itinerary. The work never ends, even in paradise. Thats OK. Work paid for this trip to paradise, and we are eternally thankful for everyone and everything our jobs have brought to us.

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