I’m starting a long delayed exploration of Krabi province today – that’s the mainland of Thailand next to Phuket. It’s become popular in recent years as development on the big island has gotten a bit too much for some people.

I chose Nok Air for my flight to Krabi’s relatively new airport because they had an early evening flight that fit my schedule, and I wanted to save a few Baht. Now, one of my general rules of thumb for using low cost carriers is to avoid flights late in the day, since they’re almost always late. Sure enough, my 6:10 pm flight actually left at 8:30. However, around 10:00 am on the day of the flight I received an SMS message from Nok informing me of the delay.

The advance information was really welcome, since all of Nok’s domestic flights are out of the old Don Muang airport, which is a mere shadow of its former self. The airport was closed in October of 2006 when the all new Suvarnabhumi Airport opened, but over-crowding and flaws in the new structure caused authorities to re-open the old airport for domestic flights in March 2007.

While the old building remains exactly as it was when it was initially closed, there are no longer enough passengers to support all of the amenities and services that were originally found there. The concourse no longer has any shops or restaurants, so eat before you pass through security. Even outside of security, there aren’t as many options as there used to be.