I left Amsterdam on Thursday, the 2nd and landed at suvarnabhumi airport at around 10 am on Friday, the 3rd. We then went through document checking to see if we had a fit to fly certificate licensed by a doctor and a recommendation letter from the Thai embassy. They then checked our temperatures and brought us, and people from other flights into a room to wait. We weren’t told what we were waiting for. We were given water and euro cakes and mama noodles but not enough for everyone. Later they passed around small mcchicken burgers. 5 hours passed by and officials came to tell us that a new rule had passed while we were in the air, that everyone who lands in Thailand has to go through a 14 day quarantine (not at home). Shortly after, they had us form into queues to walk to get our checked baggage.

The officials couldn’t answer any questions about what we were doing next. They didn’t know where they were gonna take us, hell they didn’t even know which carousel our bags were gonna be on. (After having 5 hours to check these things). They kept telling us to wait and ask questions to the people who they were gonna drop us off with. After we got our bags, we loaded up in big buses (รถทัวร์) and they brought us to the AOT fire station near the airport and had us sit in chairs outside.

We arrived here at 4:30 pm (These chairs would later all be filled as more busses started to unload people) and again the officials would not answer any questions regarding what we were going to be doing. We were just told to sit and wait while some people (I assume lawmakers) were having a meeting about the procedure. About an hour later the man in charge there made an announcement that everyone that lived in Bangkok could have a relative come pick them up after they log some paperwork and people from outside of Bangkok would be transported to their town via tour busses. Some people (including myself) told family members to come to this fire station and await our pickup. Then at about 6 pm officials reversed course and said relatives can no longer pick us up and that we would all be getting on the tour busses to get medically tested for covid-19. Initially they would not tell us where we would be getting tested, or how long it would take. Then they said it would only be a quick test then we can go on our way. Then they said we will have to stay one night overnight. I asked police officers and AOT officials and representatives from the department of health what the situation really was and each one gave different answers. It was obvious none of them really knew what was going on (or if they did, they were not being honest about it). At this point, it is 6:30 and everyone is loaded up on tour busses. For some reason we didn’t leave the parking lot until 8 pm. After leaving, we finally found out from the bus driver that we were going to Sattahip (สัตหีบ). We then realized they were probably taking us to the navy base there where they recently quarantined students returning from Italy, and people from Wuhan before that. We still didn’t know whether we would be tested and released or have to stay there for 14 days because the last thing we heard from officials is that they are taking us to a “testing facility” for an unknown purpose. Along the way, we stopped at a gas station between chonburi and pattaya. We saw that the other busses were unloading and people were going to the bathroom (there were 7 busses with 126 people total) so we asked our bus driver if we could also get down and he said no, then left the bus. I went to the drivers seat and found the button to open the doors myself and we all got down. At this point we still haven’t gotten any real food since the mcchicken burger (which a lot of people were not satisfied with because it’s not ข้าว). I walked to the 7/11 to buy some food but was denied by the 7/11 staff as they said they were instructed by the police not to sell us anything. At this point some people on my bus found out from the news that 150 passengers from New York that landed in BKK hours after us had been let go to self quarantine at home.

So to paint the picture of the situation we were in at the time: it is now 9:30 pm and we haven’t eaten a real meal since being in the airplane, which also wasn’t much of a real meal. So really people hadn’t eaten for 11 and a half hours spent in the airport, fire station, and bus PLUS the 12 hours on the plane. Then we arrive at a gas station and are told we’re not allowed to leave the bus, so we break out, then we’re told we’re not allowed to purchase any food, then we find out that people who arrived after us had been let go. All this coupled with the fact that we still had no idea what we were going to do once we arrived at Sattahip navy base. This culminated in strong emotions and half the people on my bus started to protest getting back on the bus because we felt like the entire situation was managed extremely poorly and we were being treated inhumanely. The 2 police officers transporting us did not have a grip on the situation and after pleading with them to call their superiors, they finally did and 2 or 3 trucks of special police unloaded at the gas station. There were almost 20 police officers and the นายอำเภอ had come as well. These officers stood in a circle around us and threatened to take action if we did not get on the bus, so we got back on the bus.

I apologize for the quality of the images, they are screenshots from videos I took.

At midnight we finally arrived at Sattahip navy base. The bus unloaded and we were greeted by medical workers in hazmat like suits with some of them wearing what appeared to be gas masks. They fumigated our luggage and told us to form groups of 3 people of the same gender to share a room with. This was the first time we were informed of the details of the way we would be quarantined.

Each room has 3 people. There are only 2 beds that are about 1 meter apart from each other and the 3rd person has to sleep on the floor. No one is allowed to leave their room under any circumstance for 14 days. (Note: I’m not talking about the building, I’m talking about the actual room). Each room has a balcony and they have made a pully system using rope and baskets and they bring food to your room by putting it into the basket and pulling the rope so the basket reaches your balcony. I asked if my parents came to visit me, if I would be allowed to see them if I kept distance from them. They said no, only video calling is allowed.

I asked one of the medical workers there what her profession was. She said she’s a nurse. I asked her, as a nurse, could you recommend me to stay in a small room with 2 other strangers as a good decision for my health? She did not answer my question and looked uncomfortable. I asked another nurse sitting beside her and she said she didn’t know. Later on, I would ask one of the navy soldiers whether he would willingly stay in a room with 2 other people and he said ไม่มีทาง. 17 of us from my group had decided we were going to refuse to stay here on the grounds of it being a risky health decision. The officers and navy there did not force us to go but did not give us any other options either. At this point it’s 1:30 am. There is a lot of arguing going on between officers and my group as we tried to layout the whole picture of what we had been through up until this point and all the officers kept saying was “we understand but that was other officers and we don’t know anything about it”. No one was willing to accept any responsibility or call in anyone with more authority to assess the situation. They were standing their ground and so were we. This would go on for a few hours until around 3:30 am when they said they would bring us back to suvarnabhumi airport and let the authorities there handle us from there. We were not told what our options were once we got to the airport or what a likely scenario was. It was a big risk because we had no idea what would be awaiting us but we decided to go as we felt nothing could be worse than staying there at Sattahip. A bus came about 15 minutes later and we loaded ourselves on the bus. For some unknown reason the bus wouldn’t leave until 5 am. At this point we are very worn out. We still hadn’t eaten or slept since we landed in bkk nearly 20 hours earlier. Finally we arrived Bangkok but we were not taken to the airport, but the Elegant airport hotel near suvarnabhumi.

The hotel is operated by hotel staff and ส.ห military officers. They were however mostly very nice and apologetic of how we had been treated previously by their colleagues. We were given separate rooms and allowed to walk around the building every now and then but were instructed to stay in the room as much as possible. food is delivered by the hotel staff to your door 3 times a day. Everybody was satisfied with the situation here at the hotel and wished they had brought us here in the first place.

In conclusion: there are a lot of details regarding how we were treated that I could not expand on because I cannot remember the exact dialogue but believe me, the officers were very mean and rude to us, treating us like we were criminals rather than Thai citizens who they are supposed to be serving and protecting. The entire procedure was completely unorganized with different people telling different information, it was obvious there was no communication between different police units, airport officials, government lawmaking officials, and department of health officials. Disregarding all of that, the goal of the entire operation is to ensure the safety and health of us, a group of people considered to be at risk of contracting covid-19. The operation was a massive failure in all our eyes because we were constantly tightly packed with a lot people, such as the bus, the fire station, and the navy base in Sattahip. They did not insure our safely at all on that front during the entire day and a half we were under their direct watch. Not only that but the quarantine situation in Sattahip is what most people consider absolutely unacceptable. Even when I arrived at the elegant airport hotel, an officer who’s looking after us told me there is no way he could stay in a room with 3 people for 2 days and not go insane, let alone 14 days. The entire operation seemed to be put into place before it was properly thought through and ready to be put into action. It seemed like an effort to do SOMETHING and not เสียหน้า because of the man who died a few days prior on public transport after arriving on an international flight being very sick and was allowed to go home.

I wanted to write this to inform you of the situation from my point of view as I am seeing on the news that the press has not presented the POV of the passengers and people are turning on the passengers or disobeying authorities, going so far as suggesting the 150 passengers from the NY flight should be shot dead for endangering the country. This is an extremely uninformed opinion and I believe it is the job of the press to find the truth and shed light to it. The group from NY protested, and so did we, but only because we deserved better than what we were getting. Thank you very much for reading.