THAILAND
Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok
An airport is not traditionally a place you look forward to spending time in, but Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi makes a long layover almost pleasurable. Eighteen miles east of the capital, the $3.8 billion airport (also known as the New Bangkok International Airport) replaces the perpetually overtaxed Don Muang. The main passenger terminal, by Chicago-based Murphy/Jahn Architects, is a nearly five-thousand-foot-long snaking line of steel and glass that shelters fifty gates and more than six and a half million square feet of facilities—too much, it seems, for some passengers to handle: Many have been complaining about the vast distances between gates. Still, Suvarnabhumi does offer respite for the frayed traveler: The south side looks out on plantings of native reeds and flowers, and metal seagulls in flight promise a safe journey home (bangkokairportonline.com).

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