it means "golden land"

Suvarnabhumi Airport, that is. Otherwise known as The New Airport. Otherwise known as It's How Far Away?

That means that the airport up north is now closed to commercial flights. That one is called Don Meuang. Otherwise known as The Old Airport. Otherwise known as Where The Heck Is Baggage Claim?

On my recent trip, I flew out of the old airport and into the new airport. It was the first day that the new airport was fully open, i.e. that it was being used exclusively. This after a few extremely confusing days in which both airports were semi-operational.

The new airport looks just like any other major international airport, which in my mind is a huge improvement over the old airport. There are signs. These signs are in English. There are now more than three desks at Immigration. Immigration, baggage claim, and Customs are all laid out in a straight line. OK, so you have to walk a gauntlet of about a half-mile of duty-free shops to get to Immigration, and there don't seem to be any bathrooms, but still, it's an improvement over Don Meuang.

I had an extremely easy time--my flight wasn't delayed, we didn't have to sit on the plane and wait for a gate, I didn't have any luggage to pick up, and I didn't have any trouble finding a taxi. Evidently I was lucky.

The newspaper has been carrying stories with headlines like "A Traveler's Woes." Apparently there have been some glitches--the system of gates isn't well-organized yet, and many flights are being boarded and...um...emptied (what's the word for that?) by bus. The baggage handling facilities are so inadequate that some of the soldiers (conveniently in town for the coup) have been assigned to carry baggage from the planes to baggage claim. Most ludicrous of all, the roads, the parking garage, the restaurants, and the bathrooms have been clogged with the ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE PER DAY who are coming up to the airport to sightsee.