David Sutton, a graphic designer for the South China Morning Post, arrived in Bangkok before the airport siege began on November 25. Stranded, his hopes soared when he heard that the Hong Kong government was sponsoring flights out of Thailand for Hongkongers, only to be dashed.
Colleagues in Hong Kong told me at 9.30am on Tuesday that the government had organised charter flights to get residents out of Thailand, so I checked the government's website, which said one flight would leave at 1.30pm on Tuesday from U-Tapao military airfield.
U-Tapao is about three hours' drive from Bangkok and about one hour from the resort city of Pattaya. I was in Bangkok and there was no way I was going to get there by the 11am check-in time.
I called the hotline and was told there would be flights at 3.30pm, 5.30pm and 7.30pm and I should go to the Hong Kong Express desk at the airport. I packed as fast as I could and took a taxi to U-Tapao.
I arrived at 2pm and found the atmosphere similar to a street carnival.
A man dressed in camouflage and sporting a rifle held the door open for me. 'Check in over there,' he said. 'Free food here.'