Passengers board a Thai Airways flight to Sydney at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, the first international flight to depart after a week long anti-government protest paralyzed air travel December 3, 2008. Anti-government protesters lifted their crippling, eight-day blockade of Thailand's main airport on Wednesday, raising the hopes of 230,000 stranded tourists even though there is no end in sight to the wider political crisis. [China Daily via Agencies]