After a very long flight (17 hours), I finally arrived in Thailand at 6 o’clock this morning–that would be about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Montana time. (Ignore the date stamp at the bottom of my posts for the next two months–just add eleven hours to it to get the correct time that I’m making the entry.) I can always tell I’m in Thailand by the smells that greet me when I walk outside the airport to catch the bus into Bangkok. Mostly it’s gas, diesel and airplane fumes, mixed in with a bit of a sewer smell, especially in Bangkok. In the Big Mango itself, I’m surrounded by the smells of the various foods being cooked by the street vendors–grilled chicken, beef and seafood, corn on the cob, noodles and other Thai delicacies. There’s also the exhaust from the traffic, but also the sounds–a steady noise from all the automobiles, buses, tuk-tuks and motorbikes, sort of like a background white noise, always there. There are also the human noises from the densely packed sector of the city in which I’m staying, Sukhumvit, as I’m accosted by tuk-tuk and motorbike drivers, vendors trying to sell me shirts and what-not, beggars on the sidewalk, and others. Chaos incarnate. I love it!
I left for all this madness on Monday morning, Missoula time. I made a last minute stop at the bank to buy some travelers checks, and the haze from the past few days had dissipated somewhat. I had a one-hour delay in Salt Lake City, so I “only” had a 6-hour layover in Los Angeles. The Thai Airways flight was about half an hour late getting started, but we arrived in Bangkok right on time, 6:10 a.m. It was exciting to be in a truly international airport (LAX) once again, surrounded by different languages and clothing. The new Thai airport, Suvarnabhumi, is also quite interesting and beautiful, a step up from the older Don Muang Airport. I don’t feel as affected by jet lag as I did last year after flying from Bangkok to Montana. Hopefully, though, I’ll get a good night’s sleep later.
I was going to write down the menu we were offered on the flight over, but I seem to have left my complimentary copy back at the guesthouse. Yes, everyone was given a menu to choose from, with two choices for each of the three meals we had. I’ll post it here later if I can find it. I also had a choice of about 25 movies to view and, between catnaps I watched “The Last King of Scotland,” “Blades of Glory,” “Disturbia,” “The Incredibles,” and a Thai movie. As always, more later.
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