Club Med Phuket

Folks, Let's spare a thought for Vaughan and Celinecaux, who are (according to the calendar) in Phuket right now. As I understand it, the airport at Bangkok is under siege and no tourists are getting in or out.

Of course, this may mean that they are simply "trapped" at Club Med Phuket until the danger has passed. In that case, I suppose we should be jealous...

Trish

Dive now; work later!

Trish

Céline goes back tomorrow (to London) via Singapore (with a Swiss GM I am in contact with) with the new Airbus A380 (somewhat jealous here)!
Their flights Phuket-Singapore-London shouldn't be affected (maybe delayed though).

From what I understand, Phuket Airport operates more or less normally:
http://www.clubmedplanet.com/village_detail.asp?cntnt=flights&vilcode=PHUC

As I just read on the internet, flights to/from Bangkok are being diverted to Phuket (and Chang Mai). So, basically an advantage for tourists on the island right now, since they can hope for a direct flight home to wherever.
But then, not sure how these two small airports can handle all that traffic without any troubles and long waits...

As for Vaughan, I hope things will be back to normal until he leaves. High season is close and Thailand will lose lots of tourists, if they can't control the situation.

More in the Phuket Gazette:
http://www.phuketgazette.com/dailynews/index.asp?id=6923

I cross my fingers for Céline and Vaughan for a safe trip back home!

I will be emailing Robin today. She is a GO at the club. If I hear anything back about the situation at the club, I will let everyone know.

John

John,

According to the flight tracker, international flights to/from Phuket seem to be pretty much on schedule:
http://www.clubmedplanet.com/village_detail.asp?cntnt=flights&vilcode=PHUC

As for hearing anything IN the village itself, usually, GMs are a lot better informed about what's going on outside, since the GOs often don't have time to watch TV, read newspapers, check the web, etc.

Flights from Phuket are quite normal.
But a friend of mine who works with Air France has no flight scheduled anymore for Bangkok.
Some friends of this girl used to be closed in the palace of Bombay where it was so awful.

Céline,

HOW was your trip back home??

Hey thanks for thinking of me... I got back to London last night and the situation in Phuket on Wednesday was fine. Of course all the flights to Bangkok were cancelled and apart from a few Tiger flights things seemed pretty Ok at Phuket all things considered. We didn't even get delayed going to Singapore with Silkair.

There was a rather big group from Renault who had just arrived when we left the Club and they were traveling via Bankhok... Some 140 of them... We still have a Swiss friend in the Club for another week and apparently things are going as usual in the club and no one seems too worried...

Thanks again for checking on me :)

Céline

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kiki de M

Céline,

HOW was your trip back home??

---

Hi Kiki,

The trip back was rather smooth... No delays anywhere and the A380 is quite something!! I had already traveled on it on the way in and this second trip conforted my thoughts that this is the best airplane around... It's enormous, smooth and really quiet!

Am hoping the people still in Phuket will not have any issues traveling back but so far it seems this aiport is not affected. In our case I can't even say the airport felt particularly crowded or anything like that. However that might now have changed as more and more flights are cancelled and/or diverted from Banghok.

Have a lovely week-end
Céline

Céline

Happy to hear you are home safe. I can imagine that the A380 is quite something. CR was so much looking forward to that flight.

Bon weekend as well and courage for Monday (I believe that is when you go back to work).

Céline,

Glad to hear you are OK!

Kiki, I see now that the calendar can be very useful for things beside knowing who you're going to vacation with!

And Raab and others who know people who were in Mumbai: my thoughts are with you - I cannot begin to imiagine the nightmare it was to be in one of those hotels. SOBs like those guys who attack tourist sites in Third World countries that really need the tourism for their economies make me mad as Hell.

Bisous,
Trish



Dive now; work later!

I just heard from Robin, a GO at the club. It is still a mess, or as she put it, There is a lot of drama here at the club. No one is flying through Bangkok. Those who were to fly through Bangkok are now going through Singapore. However, as you can imagine, that has created a problem. All flights to Singapore are totally booked through December 10 at the earliest. Robin was supposed to go on a holiday and is stuck at the club.

There are GM's at the club who have been there for over a week waiting for a flight and can't get out and are now getting a little upset. The prediction is that Christmas at the club will now be a very quiet one. I would presume that there have been quite a few cancelled reservations.

If I hear more I will post an update.

John

Thanks John for that update from Robin.

Also, I believe, that the CDV Karim is not at the village right now, since my friends who left last week didn't meet him. He was off for a CDV meeting and most likely took some holidays at the same time. Must be pretty disturbing for him as well. Even more so, since his assistant Righetto has left the village mid-November for good.

Anyway, I wish the GO team, especially the planning and reception, and the GMs in the village lots of courage to get through this weird and disturbing times.

Well, some good news for the French at the Club.

This morning on the radio, it said that there are about 1600 French people trapped in Bangkok. So the military is sending a plane to get them out. That's what I love about the French government - unlike just about every other government, whenever there's a crisis abroad... they send in a military aircraft!

Of course, not sure what that means for the French at the CM Village because 1600 people doesn't sound like many - and maybe it's only French people who managed to register at their consulate in Bangkok.

In any event, as they assured us at CI in 2004 when Hurricane Frances was approaching: "If you are French, don't worry! The CM is working with the French government to send a military aircraft to evacuate you. If you are not French, we'll update you as soon as we know more..." (I kid you not!)

Trish

Dive now; work later!

My brother was at BKK during the crisis. He said, and confirmed by US Embassy, that it would be quite a while before BKK was restored, ditto Chaing Mai. He hired a driver to take him into Cambodia where he caught a flight to Singapore, and then home.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kiki de M

Thanks John for that update from Robin.

Also, I believe, that the CDV Karim is not at the village right now,

---

Hey Kiki,

Yes Karim was away in training last week so the village is currently without chef...

Hope everyone managed to get where they need to be GOs and GMs... Robin and the rest of the team are so lovely so am hoping stressed GMS are not giving them a hard time cos I guess there isn't much they can do...

Am sure the 150 people from Renault who had arrived and were leaving via Banghok must be quite a headache for everyone there since it's such a large group to find alternative flights for...

Hopefully things will improve soon,

Céline

There's hope that things are likely to go back to normal within the next days:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6372362

Also, Bangkok Post is a good source for breaking news:
http://www.bangkokpost.net/

While people who booked a package with a TO are better taken care of, backpackers and business travellers seem to struggle a lot and seem to be left alone.
A couple of planes chartered by the government brought back numerous stranded Swiss citizens already by using Phuket and Chang Mai airports.

Kiki,
Whew, that is good news. I pray that all of this can end without violence. I have the deepest respect for the Thai people. They have always made me feel very welcome. After the tsunami, the consulate here in Chicago had a reception for those of us who helped out, and it was a pleasure meeting the staff.

Let's hope for a good and fast ending to this.

John

This is kept well updated by the US Department of State:

http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1998.html

Sorry for the delay folks but thanks for your concern.
We were a bit worried about the problems at Bangkok airport and were relieved to hear the protest was ending. We heard the news on a tv news report as we were walking round on Phi Phi Island.
What a great day that was. Perfect blue skies all day. Wow what a beautiful place to spend time.
Left for London via Bangkok on Dec 7th with no delays.
Great holiday roll on the next one.

Vaughan