[tbhotia]

My girlfriend and I were lucky to have confirmed our flights the night before the Tsunami and we asked the reception if the airport had reopened, to which he replied, “Yes, opened at 5pm”, we were delighted by the news but were unsure if we could get on the flight. We packed our luggage and went to bed, the alarm was set for 6:30 and our transportation was departing at 7:30. We checked out of the hotel and went to have a breakfast at the hotel, we where amazed to see a ‘Hong Kong’ tour group, all munching away and oblivious to what had happened on the other side of the town. We also realized that we were going to be sharing the bus to the Airport with this tour group, having figured out that this would be a nightmare for us considering the amount of people and the amount of luggage they possessed we opted to take a taxi. We a found a private taxi who was willing to take us to the Airport for 600 Baht, just a 100 Baht more than the bus. We grabbed this opportunity ASAP and began our journey to the Airport and within half an hour we arrived at the Phuket Airport.

The first things we needed to do was to see if there was anybody who could assist me with my situation as one cannot clear through immigration without a passport which had been lost in the mortorbike rental shop. I went to the information desk and explained my situation and they asked me to return at 9 am, as there was nobody who could help me at this moment. Our plane (Orient Thai) was to depart at 10:30 am and since nobody could help us out at the time, we decided to line up on the counters allocated for this flight. There were three counters and we lined up on counter number 12, which was clearly marked, as our flight. In front of us there stood a Chinese man from Hong Kong and behind us a line of over 50 people from various countries, even local Hong Kong Chinese who weren’t apart of a tour group. As the counter opened up the man in front signaled to a group a people who weren’t in the line and before we knew it the porters from the Airport started to dumped over 4O luggage right in front of us, we realized that the man from a tour group leader and he was queuing for the whole group. This really was not ethically correct and we quickly confronted the individual and his entourage, the man replied that this was a Group checking counter only, however there were no sign to indicate this. Since we’d already queued for over an hour, we didn’t want to waste any more time and quickly went to another counter.

We were sure this was no group check-in counter and there was only 3 counters opened and surely the Airline wouldn’t turn two out of three as Group counters. We waited in line patiently and this time in front of us was a family from Hong Kong who had been golfing in Thailand, in front of them a Chinese lady from Hong Kong and then a couple more people (max two), behind us was a British guy who was living in Hong Kong and had just survived the same ordeal as us but in a different location, Kata Beach. We quickly became friends through sharing our experience of the disaster. Another 20-30 minutes passed and the family in front of us began to complain why the line was not moving forward, to our amazement there was another group leader for another group in this line, this time it was a Chinese lady. As this lady began to signal to her group, a line of baggage and people began zone into he front of the queue and created their own line at a 30-degree angle from the main line in which we were standing. By this time we had already experienced our second tour group who were behaving unethically and inhumane. These people where from the “Morning Star” and “Sun Flower”, both of them Hong Kong local tour groups. All these people were oblivious to what was going on in Phuket and had no concern for the rest of the people at the Airport. We also began to realize that these tour group had most of the Airport staff in their pockets as the way they were treated even when a handle for people began to show their frustration at these group and the Airport staff, some of the people even began to climb on the weighing machine in order to prevent these tour group’s luggage being weighed. Within minutes the rest of the people began arguing with the tour leader, the group and with the Airport staff and the arguments were heating up and I too began to feel this heat. Both my girlfriend and I began to attack these people (tour group) with words of concern, explaining to them that everybody has to line up and also that the country was in a ‘State of Emergency’ to which we received a reply “I don’t know, I’m with the tour guide”. As this was happening one of the Airport staff behind the counter stuck a piece of paper, which read “Group Check-in Only”, this was no proper sign it had just been written by hand behind the counter. This note took the situation to the next level and I began to sense that something was going to go horribly wrong if the note did not disappear within seconds. Everybody was not apart of the group started screaming and shouting “take it off, otherwise”, well I knew in my mind what the otherwise would be and I would definitely have been in the heart of this, but in the end we all had been through so much and we knew how to behave and act like human beings, unlike for these Tour groups. Because of the out cry, the staff took down the sign and I still could see and feel the tension in the air, there were reporters there taking people while all this was happening, unfortunately I did not have any film left in my camera to take pictures to prove my story and also to show pictures of these ‘tour group from Asia’s World City’ or shall we rephrase it to ‘Asia’s Worst City’.

Once everything settled down and the lines began to move slowly and my turn was up. I explained to the lady behind the counter of situation and she explained that she could not help me, instead gave a me a number of a gentleman who was handling all British Nationals in Phuket, unfortunately this person was not based in the Airport (in Patong we were told he was in the Airport) but in Phuket town, I explained to them that I have a identification card of Hong Kong which has all my details, still there couldn’t help me. I went back to the information counter to check whether the person who could help me was back as it was already 9:30am. The counter pointed out a person from the immigration that explained that I would have to go back to Phuket Town to get my documents, each time I explained that my flight was leaving soon. By this time, it was 10 to 10 and I only had a few minutes left (if the flight was leaving in time), suddenly I heard my girlfriend call for me “they can let you through with your I.D. card”, I was surprised and happy and annoyed at the same time. As I got to the counter, there was the lady who had posted the sign “Tour Group Check-in Only”, she explained to me that I could go through with only my I.D. and she hurriedly went to make copies of my card, at the same moment I looked over the counter and cursed at the lady who previously told me I need my passport in order to get through and she replied “this is a special privilege which was just created” both my girlfriend and I knew this was unlikely.

The lady rushed us through the immigration counter and we entered the room where to two top dogs of the immigration resided, in this room we saw loads of people who’s lives had been destroyed by this disaster, they had nothing accept the clothes they was where and some of them in wheel chairs. The process only took a few minutes and before we knew it we were sitting at the waiting room for our flight back to Hong Kong, our British friend who we had met during the line for the check-in greeted us and we began to share more of our experiences during this time of darkness in Phuket. Our plane was delayed for two hours and we weren’t complaining, as we knew we were going home. We arrived at Hong Kong International Airport around 7:30, the local Television crew and reporter were waiting, in mist of the reporter we saw some of the tour groups being interview, both my girlfriend and I said to each “They didn’t see or experience shit”.


To all those of you left behind in Thailand and the rest of Asia, wish you all the best and hope you all recovery soon, to those of you who have lost loved ones my deepest condolences and to those who were in these tour groups “open your hearts and minds”.

My thanks to the management and staff at the Burasari Hotel and to the people of Thailand. I look forward to revisiting you soon.


PS: Lets give blood and make a donation, even a buck counts. Can you forward this message onto many people as you can as part of my reason for this report is to make people aware of these Tour Groups from Hong Kong and to make sure they (tour groups) understand the way the they operate and the people they employ. Pls, make sure you cc me as your forward this on.


Best Regards,



Tsewang Norboo Bhotia

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